Louise Doughty

Louise Doughty is an English fiction and non-fiction writer, and a playwright and journalist. She has worked as a The Daily Telegraph columnist and as a BBC Radio 4 presenter. Her ninth novel appeared in 2019.

Louise Doughty is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. In 2019 she received an honorary doctorate (D.Litt.) from the University of East Anglia.

Her short story "Fat White Cop with Ginger Eyebrows" was long-listed for the 2015 Sunday Times EFG Private Bank Short Story Award.

Her Apple Tree Yard was selected as a Richard & Judy Book Choice in the spring of 2014 and adapted for television (Apple Tree Yard) in 2017 with Emily Watson. Hilary Mantel commented on the novel, "There can’t be a woman alive who hasn't once realised, in a moment of panic, that she's in the wrong place at the wrong time with the wrong man. Louise Doughty... leads her unnerved reader into dark territory. A compelling and bravely written book."

Doughty's novel Whatever You Love was short-listed for the Costa Book Award for fiction in 2010 and long-listed for the Orange Prize in 2011.

Doughty has written novels, non-fiction and plays for radio. She has worked as a cultural critic for newspapers and magazines. Her weekly column for The Daily Telegraph was published as A Novel in a Year in 2007. Doughty was the presenter of the BBC Radio 4 programme A Good Read in 1998 to 2001.

Doughty was born on 4 September 1963 in Melton Mowbray and grew up in Oakham, Rutland. She attended Oakham School and is an alumna of Leeds University and of the University of East Anglia. She has lectured and contributed on creative writing in several countries of the world.