Jacqueline Yallop

Jacqueline Yallop is an award-winning author of fiction and creative non-fiction, described as a ‘writer of rare fine judgement and delicacy’. Her latest book, Into the Dark, was published in November 2023 (London: Icon Books): it looks at darkness in all its forms, in science, literature, art, philosophy and history. Her novel, Obedience (London: Atlantic) was nominated for the Man Booker Prize. Big Pig Little Pig (London: Figtree) a memoir, was Radio 4 Book of the Week. Her work has been translated into several languages. 

As Director of the Centre for Creativity and Wellbeing, Jacqueline brings together people from many disciplines working in Wales to improve opportunities to wellbeing through creative practice. She is currently working with The Fathom Trust on a making and writing project with carers and NHS staff.

Jacqueline has always been fascinated by beautiful, historic and quirky things. Having trained as a curator, she worked with collections in Manchester and Sheffield, including Ruskin's Guild of St George Collection. Her PhD explored narrative in display, museum and the novel in the nineteenth century which included, among many other things, the eccentric lives of Victorian collectors.

Jacqueline is the author of three novels, Kissing Alice (Atlantic Books: 2010), shortlisted for the McKitterick Prize, Obedience (Atlantic Books: 2011), nominated for the Man Booker Prize and Marlford (Atlantic Books: 2014).  Her novels have been translated into several languages and are published in the US by Penguin books. She also writes creative non-fiction, and has published Magpies, Squirrels and Thieves: How the Victorians Collected the World (Atlantic Books: 2011), which was shortlisted for the Longman-History Today Book of the Year 2012; Dreamstreets: A Journey Through Britain's Utopian Villages (Cape: 2014) and Big Pig Little Pig (Figtree: 2017) which was BBC Radio 4 Book of the Week. Her latest work, Into the Dark, was published by Icon Books in November 2023. 

In addition to the novel, Jacqueline's research interests include nineteenth-century history and fiction, and interdisciplinary approaches to texts, art objects and display. She is involved with a number of public engagement and impact projects, often examining ways in which creative practice can inform approaches to wellbeing and is Director of the Centre for Creativity and Wellbeing.

Jacqueline teaches prose fiction and creative non-fiction. She takes an interdisciplinary approach to teaching, encouraging students to draw on their knowledge of areas such as art, film, theatre, history or nature to inform their work as writers. Her PhD students are writing novels exploring a variety of ideas and historical settings, including an examination of post first-world war rural life, a contemporary insomnia thriller, and an experimental fictional memoir of pain. She welcomes PhD inquiries in her areas of interest.

Jacqueline is Scheme Leader for Creative Writing and Director of the Centre for Creativity and Wellbeing.