Emma Williams

Emma Williams draws on her experience working in forensic psychiatric services to write fiction

that explores the unsettling space between humour and darkness. Her work blends

psychological insight with sharp, often subversive comedy.

Her latest novel, Edgar, is a darkly comic psychological thriller following a highly intelligent but

deeply unreliable narrator detained in a high-security psychiatric hospital. When he hears a

story about himself on the radio, he becomes convinced of a connection with its author — and

escapes to find her. What follows is a tense, unsettling, and often darkly funny journey through a

world he barely understands, accompanied by the voice in his head that may be leading him

further into chaos.

Her short story How to Be Normal appeared in The Most Normal Town in England, and her

fiction has been recognised in multiple competitions, with Best Served Cold winning the 2021

Segora International Prize.

Emma’s debut novel, The Tortoise, is a murder mystery about friendship, betrayal and revenge,

told with dark humour and a satirical edge — featuring an amateur sleuth, a gay detective, a

retired doctor, and, of course, a tortoise.

She lives in Shropshire, she spends her time walking in the woods, watching wildlife, and visiting remote lighthouses — all places where, much like her stories, have a habit of taking unexpected turns.