The next JK Rowling?

By Janet Maitland
A teacher from East Finchley, who wrote a children’s book in her spare time, was recently short- listed for a competition to find the next J.K. Rowling. Anne-Marie Conway, 42, beat off competition from more than 2,000 entries to make it onto a shortlist of five for The Times / Chickenhouse Children’s Fiction Competition.
“We believe that great work for children is important and life changing: our short list proved it,” said Barry Cunningham, managing director of Chickenhouse, the company he set up after discovering J.K. Rowling. Although Anne-Marie didn’t win the competition, she is optimistic. “I hope someone spots the book and takes a chance and publishes it,” she said.

Anne-Marie wrote her book in between working as a teacher at Northside School in North Finchley, running the Barnet-based children’s drama group Full Circle, and looking after her sons aged four and six. “I just stopped watching TV,” said Anne-Marie, who took two years to write the book.

The Secret Life of Jemma Jones began as a simple story about a children’s drama group. But gradually the drama group became just the backdrop to a dark tale of a schoolgirl whose older sister has gone missing. “Once I started it, the story took on a life of its own,” said Ann-Marie, whose only previous writing experience is producing sketches for Full Circle. The Times described the book as a “heart-warming modern day story of fractured family life.”

The Archer

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