Jean Rafferty is an award winning journalist who has refused to specialise but who has excelled in the fields of feature writing, travel writing, medical journalism and sport.
She has a doctorate in creative writing from the University of Strathclyde for her novel, Myra, Beyond Saddleworth, now represented by Guy Rose of Futerman Rose, www.futermanrose.co.uk
Rafferty is a writer with unusual range. She has written long-form journalism on such dark topics as ritual abuse and rape for Guardian Weekend and the Sunday Times Magazine, yet has also provided light-hearted comment for tabloids such as the Sunday People and the Daily Record.
Rafferty has been shortlisted twice in the UK Press Awards, an unusual distinction for a freelance writer, and has won a Rowntree Journalist's Fellowship for her work on prostitution.
Author of two books on sport, she has won both a Travelex Travel Writing Award and a Norwich Union Medical Journalism Award.
She is also an inspirational trainer who has worked for universities, unions, local councils and in many countries throughout the world.
