Anthea Courtenay

I have been interested in the arts since childhood, enjoying acting and painting as well as writing. On leaving school I initially attended a drama school and have worked from time to time as a professional actress. (My last acting job was at the Edinburgh Fringe, playing a both a mental patient and a psychiatrist!) I worked for a few years as an advertising copywriter, and then went freelance, doing editorial work and publishing a number of short stories in women's magazines. In the late 1970s I began pursuing my interest in alternative medicine, healing and self-development, working as a freelance journalist in this area for publications like Time Out, Here's Health, and Woman's Journal, and attending many New Age workshops and events. This led to me writing and co-writing books in the same field, including subjects like alternative medicine, healing, spiritual growth and reincarnation. All this gave me a rich source of material for fiction, and the result is my novel Circle Dance, published by Matador in July 2022. The book has been through many re-writes, with periods sitting on a shelf, and it wasn't until I was 82 that I achieved a version that I was satisfied with. I am now 86 and wondering if this is a record for publishing a first novel.