​Photo credit: Photography by Gem (2020)

Helen Cooper is a writer of psychological thrillers from Derby, England.

She has taught English and Academic Writing in both Further and Higher Education and was Head of Learning Enhancement at the University of Birmingham. She has a MA in Creative Writing from Nottingham Trent University and has been published in Writers’ Forum, Mslexia, the Lincolnshire Echo and Derbyshire Life. She was shortlisted for the Bath Short Story Prize in 2014 and came third in the Leicester Writes Short Story Prize in 2018.

Her first novel,The Downstairs Neighbour, is published by Hodder & Stoughton in the UK and Putnam in the US. It tells the story of three families sharing a converted Georgian townhouse in south west London, whose lives drastically unravel after the disappearance of the 17-year-old girl from the top floor apartment.

Helen has also co-authored two books on academic writing for university students, Where's Your Argument? and Using Feedback to Boost Your Grades, published by Red Globe Press and written in collaboration with Michael Shoolbred.

She loves reading, running, pyjamas, pasta, and wine, and lives in Leicester with her partner and his daughter.

Her agent is Hellie Ogden, Janklow & Nesbit UK.