Tara Gould studied visual arts at Brighton University and an MA at Sussex University. Her short stories have been published in anthologies including the Asham Anthology for Women Writers, and her plays have been broadcast on BBC Radio 4. In 2016 she was Writer in Residence at Creative Futures. She lives in East Sussex.
Tara’s short story, The Haunting of Strawberry Water, is part of the Spotlight Books series and will be published in January 2020.
See all six Spotlight Books HERE.
Interviews and Features
Must-Reads with Sussex Life magazine
The Haunting of Strawberry Water by Tara Gould and Cora Vincent by Georgina Aboud from the Spotlight Books series were both chosen as must-reads by Sussex Life magazine.
‘Of the first six books, five are by Sussex-based authors. Tara Gould is one, with a beautifully-written tale of a motherless girl growing up to become a mother struggling against her destiny. Hove resident Georgina Aboud’s story is very different: a disjointed account of scenes and events in an actress’ life as she prepares to return to the stage. Judging by these excellent little books, Spotlight Books deserves success.’
Special Mentions in the 2020 Saboteur Awards
We’re so pleased to announce that several Myriad authors received special mentions for the 2020 Saboteur Awards, including Elaine Chiew for The Heartsick Disapora and our Spotlight Authors Ana Tewson-Bozic, Elizabeth Ridout, Georgina Aboud, Jacqueline Haskell, Tara Gould and Sarah Windebank for the Spotlight Books series. Tara received a second mention for her novella, The Haunting of Strawberry Water.
You can review the entire shortlist here.
Tara Gould on motherhood and writing for New Writing South
Is there a writer you particularly admire, and what about their work is powerful to you?
‘I don’t have one writer who has inspired or influenced me above all others. My tastes and obsessions change with each phase of life. More recently my stand out favourites have been Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders, Grief is a Thing with Feathers by Max Porter, On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong and the Elena Ferrante’s Neapolitan novels.
When I was writing The Haunting of Strawberry Water, I revisited some of my favourite scary stories – The Turn of the Screw by Henry James, The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters, The Haunting of Hill House and We Have Always Lived at the Castle by Shirley Jackson, The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. I’ve always enjoyed the place where the supernatural and psychological disturbance meet in literature. I wanted to write a traditional ghost story with universal themes but to update it so that it had relevance now, especially to women. I drew partly on my own experiences of childbirth and postnatal depression to explore that most sacred of bonds, the mother daughter relationship and transport it into the territory of the uncanny, to the uncomfortable margins between the paranormal and the psychopathological.’
Tara Gould is author of The Haunting of Strawberry Water. Read the full interview on the New Writing South blog.
VIVA Brighton on the Spotlight series
‘The series is dazzling. Such small books, making such noise… These collections have been sending ripples through the local literary scene.’
VIVA Brighton showcased the Spotlight series in their March 2020 issue. Read the full review by columnist Anna Burtt.