24 May, 2010 @ 13:00
1 min read

Big boon for Romantic writer in Andalucia

A ROMANTIC author won a prestigious literary award – the night before she was due to give birth to her first child.

Lucy King, real name Lucy Roberts, from Jerez, scooped a top award for her debut novel Damsel in Distress released last year.

Heavily pregnant, the 37-year-old was unable to attend the UK awards dinner hosted by the Romantic Novelists’ Association (RNA).

“I thought the news might send me to hospital early!”

King, originally from London, triumphed to collect the Joan Hessayon Award.

“I thought the news might send me to hospital early!” explained King, who has lived in Spain for four and a half years.

“To say I was speechless was something of an understatement. It even took my mind off the impending arrival.”

Out of hundreds of authors, King was chosen to feature on the three-strong shortlist.

“To have a book published and to even feature on the shortlist is an honour in itself, but to win was beyond my wildest dreams,” added King.

The author’s second novel, Propositioned by the Billionaire, is due out in July and she is now working on her third.

Jon Clarke (Publisher & Editor)

Jon Clarke is a Londoner who worked at the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday as an investigative journalist before moving to Spain in 2003 where he helped set up the Olive Press.

After studying Geography at Manchester University he fell in love with Spain during a two-year stint teaching English in Madrid.

On returning to London, he studied journalism and landed his first job at the weekly Informer newspaper in Teddington, covering hundreds of stories in areas including Hounslow, Richmond and Harrow.

This led on to work at the Sunday Telegraph, Sunday Mirror, Standard and even the Sun, before he landed his first full time job at the Daily Mail.

After a year on the Newsdesk he worked as a Showbiz correspondent covering mostly music, including the rise of the Spice Girls, the rivalry between Oasis and Blur and interviewed many famous musicians such as Joe Strummer and Ray Manzarak, as well as Peter Gabriel and Bjorn from Abba on his own private island.

After a year as the News Editor at the UK’s largest-selling magazine Now, he returned to work as an investigative journalist in Features at the Mail on Sunday.

As well as tracking down Jimi Hendrix’ sole living heir in Sweden, while there he also helped lead the initial investigation into Prince Andrew’s seedy links to Jeffrey Epstein during three trips to America.

He had dozens of exclusive stories, while his travel writing took him to Jamaica, Brazil and Belarus.

He is the author of three books; Costa Killer, Dining Secrets of Andalucia and My Search for Madeleine.

Contact jon@theolivepress.es

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