Hi there.
Emily Koch is the award-winning author of three novels, If I Die Before I Wake, Keep Him Close and What July Knew.
Her latest novel, What July Knew, was described as ‘touchingly effective in conveying a childhoof lived in fear’ by The Sunday Times, and ‘totally heartbreaking, but also uplifting,’ by The Sun, who added, ‘this is a real gem of a read’. Heat magazine praised its ‘compelling plot’ and called it ‘an emotional read’.
Emily’s debut If I Die Before I Wake was shortlisted for the CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger award. It was also longlisted for the Authors’ Club Best First Novel Award, selected as a Waterstones Thriller of the Month, and was one of Waterstones’ top paperbacks of 2019. In 2021, the French translation won the inaugural Prix du Bureau des Lecteurs for crime fiction.
Her second novel Keep Him Close was described by the Sunday Times as ‘a tense drama’ and Literary Review said it was ‘a moving account of family relationships and…devastating criminality’. The Sun described it as ‘twisty, emotional and addictive’, while Waterstones said it cemented her place as ‘one of the most exciting new crime writers of our day.’
Picking up the award for Young Journalist of the Year 2012
JOURNALISM
Emily worked as a journalist before her first novel was published.
She started off as a trainee reporter at the Bristol Post, later becoming the paper’s website editor and deputy news editor. She left the Post in 2014 to study for a masters degree in creative writing at Bath Spa University, and to finish her debut novel.
During her time at the Post she was named Young Journalist of the Year in the 2012 Regional Press Awards – won in part for an investigation revealing a violent former henchman of Robert Mugabe working in a Bristol care home.
WRITING WORKSHOPS
Working with good friend and fellow writer Alison Powell, Emily co-founded Bristol-based WriteClub in 2016, running creative writing workshops. Emily left the business a couple of years later when she had her eldest daughter, but you can check out the latest workshops on offer from WriteClub here.
Find Emily on Instagram.
