Val Wood

Val Wood
Val Wood with a selection of her best-selling novels
Born	Valerie Wood Castleford, West Yorkshire, England
Occupation	Author
Years active	1993–present
Website	www.valeriewood.co.uk

Val Wood (also known as Valerie Wood) is a British author of historical romance novels. She has written over 20 novels, all set in and around the city of Hull published by Transworld. She was born in Castleford and lives in Beverley, East Riding of Yorkshire

Wood's first novel, The Hungry Tide, was published in 1993 after winning the Catherine Cookson Prize for Romantic Fiction. Wood has released many novels including The Innkeeper's Daughter, which was named in The Times best-seller list in 2013.

Her 19th novel His Brother's Wife was released in September 2013 and reached number 11 in the Bookseller charts. The Hungry Tide was also re-released to celebrate the novel's 20th anniversary along with the rest of the author's back catalogue, many titles of which have made the Times best-seller list.

Val Wood takes inspiration from the heritage of her surroundings and in 2012 she launched a website and trail to coincide with the release of her novel The Harbour Girl and to promote tourism in both Scarborough and Hull where the novel is set. The trail was promoted via a free library tour in summer 2012.

Wood is a proponent of the benefits of library services. In November 2012 her catalogue of books were named amongst the top loaned titles in UK libraries on BBC Radio 4's Open Book show presented by Mariella Frostrup and in 2016 Val was featured in the BBC Television documentary series The Books That Made Britain.

When she is not writing, Wood volunteers for a number of charities including Hull and District Talking Magazine where she has been a reader and editor for 28 years. Wood is also patron of Home Start and Friends of Hull Memory Clinic and has spoken at a number of events to raise awareness of dementia issues. Dementia is an issue close to Wood's heart after losing her husband Peter to dementia in 2009.