Val Wood | |
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 Val Wood with a selection of her best-selling novels | |
| Born | Valerie Wood Castleford, West Yorkshire, England |
| Occupation | Author |
| Years active | 1993–present |
| Website | www |
Val Wood, also known as Valerie Wood, is a British author of historical romance novels. She has written over 25 novels, all set in and around the city of Kingston upon Hull published by Transworld. [1] She was born in Castleford and lives in Beverley, East Riding of Yorkshire
Wood's first novel, The Hungry Tide, was published in 1993 after winning the Catherine Cookson Prize for Romantic Fiction. Wood has released many novels including The Innkeeper's Daughter, [2] and The Doorstep Girls which were named in The Times best-seller list in 2013 and 2015 respectively.
Her 19th novel, His Brother's Wife, was released in September 2013 and reached number 11 in the Bookseller charts. The Hungry Tide was also re-released to celebrate the novel's 20th anniversary along with the rest of the author's back catalogue, many titles of which have made the Times best-seller list.
Val Wood takes inspiration from the heritage of her surroundings, and in 2012 she launched a website and trail [3] to coincide with the release of her novel The Harbour Girl [4] and to promote tourism in both Scarborough and Hull where the novel is set. The trail was promoted via a free library tour in summer 2012. [5] A further trail was created to promote tourism in Beverley and coincided with the reissue of her novel The Kitchen Maid.
Wood is a proponent of the benefits of library services. In November 2012 her catalogue of books were named amongst the top loaned titles in UK libraries on BBC Radio 4's Open Book show presented by Mariella Frostrup [6] and in 2016 Val was featured in the BBC Television documentary series The Books That Made Britain.
When she is not writing, Wood volunteers for a number of charities including Hull and District Talking Magazine where she has been a reader and editor for 28 years. [7] Wood is also patron of Home Start and Friends of Hull Memory Clinic and has spoken at a number of events to raise awareness of dementia issues. Dementia is an issue close to Wood's heart after losing her husband Peter to dementia in 2009. [8]
In 2016 Val was announced as the Vice President of HERIB and in 2017 Val was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from The University of Hull.
Miss Jane Marple is a fictional character in Agatha Christie's crime novels and short stories. Miss Marple lives in the village of St. Mary Mead and acts as an amateur consulting detective. Often characterized as an elderly spinster, she is one of Christie's best-known characters and has been portrayed numerous times on screen. Her first appearance was in a short story published in The Royal Magazine in December 1927, "The Tuesday Night Club", which later became the first chapter of The Thirteen Problems (1932). Her first appearance in a full-length novel was in The Murder at the Vicarage in 1930, and her last appearance was in Sleeping Murder in 1976.
Kingston upon Hull, usually shortened to Hull, is a port city and unitary authority area in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It lies upon the River Hull at its confluence with the Humber Estuary, 25 miles (40 km) inland from the North Sea and 37 miles (60 km) south-east of York, the historic county town. With a population of 268,852 (2022), it is the fourth-largest city in the Yorkshire and the Humber region after Leeds, Sheffield and Bradford.
Beverley is a market town and civil parish in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It is located 27 miles (43 km) south-east of York and 9 miles (14 km) north-west of Hull. At the 2021 census the built-up area of the town had a population of 30,930, and the smaller civil parish had a population of 18,014. It is the county town of the East Riding of Yorkshire.
The East Riding of Yorkshire, often abbreviated to the East Riding or East Yorkshire, is a ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire to the north and west, South Yorkshire to the south-west, and Lincolnshire to the south across the Humber Estuary. The city of Kingston upon Hull is the largest settlement.
The River Hull is a navigable river in the East Riding of Yorkshire in Northern England. It rises from a series of springs to the west of Driffield, and enters the Humber Estuary at Kingston upon Hull. Following a period when the Archbishops of York charged tolls for its use, it became a free navigation. The upper reaches became part of the Driffield Navigation from 1770, after which they were again subject to tolls, and the section within the city of Hull came under the jurisdiction of the Port of Hull, with the same result.
Amy Johnson was a pioneering English pilot, who was the first woman to fly solo from London to Australia.
Julie Goodyear MBE is an English retired actress. She is known for portraying Bet Lynch in the long-running ITV soap opera Coronation Street. She first appeared as Bet for nine episodes in 1966, before becoming a series regular from 1970 to 1995. She returned for eight episodes in 2002 and another seven in 2003. For her role on Coronation Street, she received the Special Recognition Award at the 1995 National Television Awards. She was made an MBE in the 1996 New Year Honours.
Dame Catherine Ann Cookson, DBE, was a British writer. She is in the top 20 of the most widely read British novelists, with sales topping 100 million, while she retained a relatively low profile in the world of celebrity writers. Her books were inspired by her deprived youth in South Shields, North East England, the setting for her novels. With 104 titles written in her own name or two other pen names, she is one of the most prolific British novelists.
Market Weighton is a town and civil parish in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It is one of the main towns in the East Yorkshire Wolds and lies midway between Hull and York, about 20 miles (32 km) from either one. According to the 2011 UK census, Market Weighton parish had a population of 6,429, an increase on the 2001 UK census figure of 5,212.
Winifred Holtby was an English novelist and journalist, now best known for her novel South Riding, which was posthumously published in 1936.
Beverley Road is one of several major roads that run out of the city of Hull in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. The road is noted for being a major arterial route into, and out of Hull. It also known for its student population and being the location of a shop (Turners), whose slogan was used by the pop band, Everything But the Girl. In 1994, just over 1-mile (1.6 km) of the road was designated as a conservation area.
Sheila Quigley was a British author of thrillers.
Grace Dent is a British columnist, broadcaster and author. She is a restaurant critic for The Guardian and from 2011 to 2017 wrote a restaurant column for the Evening Standard. She is a regular critic on the BBC's MasterChef UK and has appeared on Channel 4's television series Very British Problems.
Bonbibi, is a legendary lady of the forest, dubbed as a guardian spirit of the forests and venerated by both the Hindu and the Muslim residents of the Sundarbans. She is called upon mostly by the honey-collectors and the woodcutters before entering the forest for protection against the attacks from the tigers. It is believed that the demon king, Dakkhin Rai, an arch-enemy of Banbibi actually appears in the disguise of a tiger and attacks human beings.
Greener Grass, published in 2009, is the second novel of Canadian author Caroline Pignat. The story revolves around a 14-year-old girl, Kit Byrne, living during the Great Famine of 1847 in Ireland. The Byrne family faces imminent eviction when their landlord, Lord Fraser, wants to repossess their land. He attempts to drive them out by raising the rent and having his estate manager, Lynch, set fires in the surrounding area. Kit works as a kitchen maid in the main house, but when she loses her job her mother is forced to sell precious family heirlooms and furniture. With her father dead, she must fight for survival and help her ailing mother and siblings escape Ireland for good.
Larkin 25 was an arts festival and cultural event in Kingston upon Hull, England, organised to mark the 25th anniversary of the death of the poet and University of Hull librarian, Philip Larkin. The festival was launched at Hull Truck Theatre on 14 June 2010 and concluded on 2 December 2010, the twenty-fifth anniversary of the poet's death, with the unveiling of a statue in his likeness at Hull Paragon Interchange.
"Red-Handed" is the 15th episode of the American fairy tale/drama television series Once Upon a Time, which aired in the United States on ABC on March 11, 2012.
Julie Klassen is an American author of Regency romance novels. She is the winner of several Christy Awards and a Midwest Book Award.
Jean Hartley was an English autobiographer and publisher. She and her husband George Hartley co-founded the publication company Marvell Press in 1954, which published volumes of poetry. They also founded the record company Listen Records. After Hartley separated from her husband and left Marvell Press, she earned degrees in English Literature and Victorian Studies from the University of Hull in the early 1970s. She taught English at her former secondary school and lectured at the Hull College of Further Education. In 1995, Hartley was made vice-chairman of the Philip Larkin Society to promote the life and works of her friend and poet Philip Larkin. She was on the steering committee of the Larkin 25 committee in 2010. The Hull History Centre holds a collection of items on Hartley's life and career.
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