Ann Cleeves, the author of the bestselling Shetland and Vera Stanhope novels, was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Letters by the University of Sunderland at the summer graduation ceremonies in July 2015 in recognition of her outstanding achievements as a crime writer.
Ann was born in Herefordshire, and grew up in North Devon. After a varied career as a childcare officer, a woman’s refuge leader, a bird observatory cook and probation officer, she began writing.
Ann’s first novel, A Bird in the Hand, was published in 1986. In the same year Ann and her family moved to the North East, a region that became a major inspiration in her later work.
In 2006 Ann was the first winner of the Duncan Lawrie Dagger Award of the Crime Writers’ Association for her novel Raven Black, and began writing full time. More awards and critical acclaim followed, and in 2012 she was admitted into the Crime Thriller Hall of Fame.
She recently came back to the University to deliver a public lecture 'Jimmy Perez, Vera Stanhope and me'. The author previously met some alumni for a question and answer session.
In her talk Anne Cleeves introduced the audience to some of the much-loved characters in her best-selling books, and explained how they grew out of the places she has lived and the people she has met.