Suzanne Ruthven is the former editor of the popular monthly creative writing magazine, The New Writer, and now commissioning editor for Compass Books and Writers’ Wheel magaine – the writer’s resource imprint for the international John Hunt Publishing company. She has also regularly contributed freelance articles to a variety of publications as diverse as The Lady, The Countryman, Prediction, and the Funeral Director’s Journal, while providing a regular column for several other publicationsShe started her professional writing career in 1987 when she founded the small press writers’ magazine, Quartos, which ran for nine years until its merger with Acclaim in 1996 to become The New Writer. In addition to acting as judge for national writing competitions, she has also tutored at writers’ workshops including The Annual Writers’ Conference (Winchester College), The Summer School (University of Wales), Horncastle College (Lincolnshire) and the Cheltenham Literature Festival. The original idea for the From the Editor’s Desk workshops was taken from her creative writing book of the same name, with both proving to be highly popular with writers’ groups. As a result of a successful series for The Welsh Academy, she was invited to become a full member of the Academi in recognition of her contribution to literature in Wales. She extended her literary interests still further in 1994 by founding ignotus press to market and promote new authors in the increasingly popular Mind, Body & Spirit area. For over 10 years the press was recognised as one of the leading publishers in the metaphysical genre, and remained so until her move to Ireland in 2007. She is the author of over 30 titles in the metaphysical, country and folklore genre, and ‘ghost written’ 10 books for other writers including an autobiography for one of Britain’s leading field sportsmen, which was nominated for the William Hill Sports Book of the Year in 2005. Her first novel, Whittlewood was published in 1997, and her latest 'faction' title is Charnel House Blues: The Vampyre's Tale, which sees a return to her first love of fiction writing in the Gothic genre.