CLAIRE McGLASSON
Stories are how I make sense of the world. I love to discover, research and tell them and, in recent years, I’ve discovered a passion for helping others to do the same.
I began my career writing for local newspapers and magazines before moving to ITV News Anglia where I’ve had a go at most jobs in the newsroom – producer, newsreader, weather presenter and correspondent.
On the road with my TV camera in Cambridgeshire, I very often start my day not knowing where it will take me, and have a matter of hours to research, shoot, script and edit a report for that evening’s programme. I get to interview celebrities and politicians, and step behind-the-scenes at places I’d never ordinarily get to go. But the biggest privilege is spending time with people at the very best, and very worst, times of their lives and helping them to share their stories.
When I travelled to the Panacea Museum in Bedford to film a feature called Hidden Histories, I was hooked. Of all the stories I’d ever covered, this was the one I kept returning to. Every time I interviewed an author, I would tell them about the true story that was stranger than fiction: a group of ladies who had moved to Bedford in the 1920s, believing that their leader, Octavia, was the daughter of God. ‘Why don’t you write it?’ one suggested. And so I did - finding the freedom of fiction and lack of deadline to be liberating and terrifying in equal measure.
My second novel, The Misadventures of Margaret Finch, was based on another eccentric chapter of British history which allowed me to indulge my love of dusty archives.
As course director of the undergraduate certificate/diplomas in Creative Writing at the University of Cambridge, I taught emerging writers how to hone their craft. I now focus my time on the more collaborative role of mentor - working 1-to-1 to help writers to find their own distinct voices.