Background

Anna Hope was born in 1974 in Manchester and grew up in a village on the Lancashire moors, with year-long forays to New Orleans and Arizona, while her dad was teaching at the universities there.

Education

Anna studied English at Wadham College, Oxford University and after graduating traveled in Central America before moving to London to train to be an actor at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. She also graduated from Birkbeck College with a Master of Arts in Creative Writing in 2001.

Career

Anna spent a good while as a professional actor, of which one of the highlights is a role of Novice Hame in Doctor Who, who first appeared in the webcast TARDISODE 1 - "New Earth" before appearing in the television episodes "New Earth" and "Gridlock," and later as Senator Hame in the Big Finish Productions audio set Tales from New Earth. She has also appeared as the character of detective inspector Patricia Menzies in the 6th Doctor audio plays The Condemned, The Raincloud Man, and The Crimes of Thomas Brewster. Hope's other appearances include Crime and Punishment, Waking the Dead, and Coronation Street.

Alongside her acting career, Anna started writing short stories. Her first novel Wake was published by Doubleday in the United Kingdom and Random House in the United States in 2014. Wake has since been published in 11 languages. It was chosen as a Radio 2 Bookclub read, shortlisted for New Writer of the Year at the National Book Awards, and longlisted for the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction.

Hope's second novel, The Ballroom, was published in February 2016. It was chosen as Richard and Judy Bookclub pick in September 2016. Her most recent work, a novel Expectation, was published in July 2019.

Hope also teaches creative writing and is a Visiting Fellow at the University of Essex, where she is lecturing on some of her primary research interests, Rebecca Solnit, Virginia Woolf, and the Politics of Uncertainty.

Achievements

• Anna Hope is a famous actress and writer. She is best known for her Doctor Who role of Novice Hame. Her debut novel Wake was shortlisted for the Historical Writers’ Association Debut Crown.

Works

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• book

  • Wake

    (Anna Hope’s brilliant debut unfolds over the course of fi...)

    2014
  • Expectation

    (Hannah, Cate, and Lissa are young, vibrant and inseparabl...)

    2019
  • The Ballroom

    (England, 1911. At Sharston Asylum, men and women are sepa...)

    2016