About Me

With a background spanning writing, education and social impact, I bring a creative and versatile approach to my work. I have over 25 years’ experience in journalism, creative writing, communications, research and facilitation. I was the creative director and founder of social enterprise Sharing A Story CIC (2019-2026) which won the Health and Social Care Alliance Scotland Self Management Award in the Self-Management Through the Arts category (2025).

Books

As a creative writer, my work has won and been shortlisted for numerous awards. My novel A Summer House on Arran won First Place for Romance at the 2025 Feathered Quill Book Awards, and my writing has been shortlisted for The People’s Book Prize, Write to End Violence Against Women Awards, Adventures in Fiction, Penguin Michael Joseph’s Christmas Novel Award, and won the George Markstein Fiction Prize.

I write under the names Ellie Henderson & Lorna Henderson and have multiple fiction titles published by Joffe Books, including A Scottish Summer Escape (2026), A Scottish Christmas Hideaway; A Summer of Secrets on Arran (2025), A Summer House on Arran; A Christmas Wish on Arran; Two Sisters, The Stepfather (2024); A Christmas Escape to Arran and A Summer Wedding on Arran (2023) with further titles forthcoming.

Academic Research and Roles

I held an AHRC studentship for my PhD at Stirling University, researching women in Scottish and Nordic crime fiction and gender-based violence. As a result I published the novel, The Invisible Chains, with proceeds going to the Trafficking Awareness Raising Alliance (TARA) and Survivors of Human Trafficking in Scotland (SOHTIS). I presented my research at national and international conferences, chaired panels, published in academic journals, and contributed chapters to Bloomsbury’s Noir in the North and Contemporary Crime Fiction: Crossing Boundaries, Merging Genres.

I was Senior Project Facilitator on BOLD (Bringing Leaders Out in Dementia, 2019–2024), a collaborative project between the University of Edinburgh and Queen Margaret University, which won an MHR Incubator Award in 2022. I am now a Director of BOLD CIC.

Community Work

I have run creative workshops for a range of community organisations across Scotland and have worked with asylum seekers, survivors of domestic abuse, people affected by mental health challenges, older adults, people living with dementia and their carers, individuals with acquired brain injuries, disengaged young people and students across FE and HE and schools. I have held Writer-in-Residence roles with Women’s Aid East & Midlothian and Luminate/Edinburgh Erskine Care Home, and was Storyteller in Residence at Fringe by the Sea. I am an accredited Trainer in First Aid for Mental Health and a Health and Wellbeing Coach.