Ann Cleeves Ann Cleeves Ann Cleeves (born 1954) is an English crime-writer. In 2006 she won the inaugural Duncan Lawrie Dagger, the richest crime-writing prize in the world, for her novel "Raven Black". Cleeves studied English at Sussex University but dropped out. She then took up various jobs including cook, auxiliary coastguard, probation officer, library outreach worker and child care officer. She lives in Whitley Bay, and is widowed with two daughters. The Vera Stanhope novels have been dramatized as the TV detective series "Vera" and the Jimmy Perez novels as the series "Shetland". In 2014 Cleeves was awarded an Honorary Doctorate
Vera Chaplina practical.” Vera Chaplina worked at the Moscow Zoo until 1946, writing stories when she could find the time. Since then she has devoted more time to literary pursuits and became a full-time writer. Chaplina`s stories were translated into English, German, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Japanese Chinese, Hebrew, Polish, Czech, Hungarian, Latvian, Estonian, Romanian, Danish, Swedish, and Serbian. Vera Chaplina Vera Vasilievna Chaplina (; 24 April 1908 – 19 December 1994) was a Soviet children's literature writer and naturalist. Vera Chaplina was born in Moscow, her grandfather, Vladimir Chaplin, was an engineer, professor and educator of the architect Melnikov. After the Revolution