Kenna Anderson has been writing stories since she was a child – and has followed in her mum’s footsteps in becoming an author.
Her mum is none other than renowned Scots writer and P&J Doric columnist Sheena Blackhall.
The pair have joined forces for Sheena’s latest collection, with Kenna collaborating with her mum as a guest writer.
Kenna, of Aberdeen, who says she has been “scribbling away” since she was old enough to write, worked in corporate communications, but recently her fiction writing has gathered pace.
‘Biggest fan and best critic’
As she said: “I can’t stop writing now”.
Kenna, who is mum to daughter Skye, 7, has her recent crime story Local detective crowned a hero, featured in her mum’s latest collection Robin Reidbreist’s Testament. The title includes more of Sheena’s Scots and English poetry and short stories.
After the birth of her daughter, Kenna, who had previously worked for firms such as Shell and Wood Group PSN, turned her focus to freelance writing.
The collaboration with her mum meant that Sheena was essentially Kenna’s editor – however, this is something she’s no stranger to.
She explained: “I send everything that I write to my mum especially when I was writing my novel she reviewed every single chapter. She’s my biggest fan, but she’s also one of my best critics too!”
Kenna added: “We are both passionate writers with different audiences. She’s the first one it tells me if she thinks something’s really good. She’s just honest.”
Making a name for herself
She has been steadily making a name for herself in writing circles. Last year Kenna was invited to read at the Granite Noir crime writing festival as an emerging crime writer for her story Bobby Was Gone.
That year she was also a featured author for the Scottish Mountaineering Press for her story, The Beautiful Skye, written in tribute to the origin of her own daughter’s name.
While this year her story I hope, was included in the Scottish Book Trust’s Hope campaign. She also completed her first romance novel Can Two Broken Hearts Become A Whole?
Kenna’s work is often centred around romance, but she also likes crime writing. And the strength of the crime writing genre and the growing audience for it is something Kenna is thrilled by, saying there is a “quite a market” for it with many people “diehard” fans of it.
But does Kenna have a favourite work of her mum’s? She tells me she loves her poetry.
She added: “She always has something that is just so off the cuff and so funny!”
