Abigail Jane Kathryn Tarttelin is an English novelist and former actress. Her second book, Golden Boy, was described as a "dazzling debut" by Oprah's Book Club. Published in 2013, the book was translated into several languages and on the Evening Standard's 2013 "25 people under 25" list. She is a 2014 recipient of the Alex Awards.
Her first acting role was Fenella in The Butterfly Tattoo. The following year she was the lead in independent sci-fi 'Schrodinger's Girl playing three versions of the same woman in parallel worlds. The film premiered in 2009 at the San Diego Comic-Con International. She attended Comic-Con and Cannes Film Festival with The Butterfly Tattoo and Triple Hit, and in 2009 was one of two actresses listed in magazine's "ones to watch" selection of British artists working in independent film. She also appeared in the film Three Stags, directed by Mark Locke, and bilingual thriller Taxi Rider in 2010. In addition her involvement with Equity saw her elected as Chairperson for the inaugural Young Members' Committee. She has directed trailers for Flick'' and Golden Boy, the music video for Michael Reeve's cover of Flume by Bon Iver, and in 2016 a television pilot called The Danelaw. In 2016 she was a judge for the 2016 BIFA's.
Writing
Tarttelin's debut novel, Flick, was first published by Beautiful Books in April 2011, then repubished in 2015 by W&N who republished. The story follows a disaffected teenage boy named Flick in a small factory town in northern England, where "bleak and sometimes treacherous circumstances make the taste of a love affair even sweeter." It was hailed "a slow-burn cult classic" by GQ who found it "both authentic and compelling" In 2013, she published her second novel Golden Boy, about an intersex teenager. It has since been published in Chinese, Spanish and Portuguese. It won a 2014 Alex Awards from the American Library Association, was one of School Library Journal's best books of 2013, and was shortlisted for the 2014 LAMBDA Award for Best Debut LGBT Fiction. The book has been well received by readers and the film rights are also in discussion. Her third novel, Dead Girls, was published in 2018. It is set in a small English village and is narrated in first person by eleven-year-old Thera Wilde, who takes matters into her own hands following the sudden disappearance of her best friend. In addition to her three novels Tarttelin was a screenwriter for Academy Award short film shortlist filmmaker Chris Jones. as well as writing the screenplay for the television pilot of The Danelaw. She has also written for the blog Women & Hollywood and founded and edits the publication I Hope You Like Feminist Rants.
