Dr Vanessa Harbour

Biography

Dr Vanessa Harbour is a Programme Leader for both Creative Writing and Creative and Professional Writing Degrees from August 2023. She is also a Senior Lecturer. She got her creative practice PhD at the University of Winchester in 2011 where she explored the representation of sex, drugs and alcohol in young adult fiction and completed a young adult novel. Her middle-grade novel,  Flight, was published in 2018. It was longlisted for the Branford Boase and shortlisted for the Sheffield Children's Book Award. The EmpathyLabUK included Flighted in the Guide for Empathy Reading list. The Welsh Book Council sent copies of Flight to every primary school in Wales. The focus being on mental health and wellbeing. Flight was also published in the US by Feiwell & Friends in 2021. The sequel to Flight, called Safe, was published in September 2022. She is currently working on another novel based in World War Two but this time aimed at adults entitled The Accidental Agent. Dr Harbour utilises her previous business experience when exploring employability and creative practice.