About Sarah

Sarah Ridout has a Masters in Creative Writing (First Class Honours), from University College Dublin (UCD). UCD is the alma mater of James Joyce, John McGahern, Neil Jordan, Colm Tóibín, and Emma Donoghue, among others. 

Photo credit: Merilyn Smith Photography

Over the past eleven years she has lived in four countries with her husband and two children. Her eight years surrounded by the vineyards and chateaux of southern France produced a baby, family of Francophiles, and the seed of this novel, completed in Dublin, Ireland. Le Chateau draws on her experiences as an expatriate, her knowledge of France, its people and customs. 

Le Chateau was selected to participate in the prestigious Queensland Writers Centre /Hachette Australia Manuscript Development Program before it was acquired by Bonnier Publishing Australia (Echo Publishing).

Sarah has been writing throughout her public relations career, before commencing memoir and novel writing.

The complexities of the role of women interest her as do identity and place as signifiers, and the multiple effects of displacement on identity. 

Sarah loves travel and the immersion into other cultures provided by her twelve years living in Europe. She enjoys reading, film, music (especially David Bowie), and is an avid art lover and collector.