Carmel Thomason is a published author, journalist, academic, speaker and digital storyteller. Passionate about telling inspirational stories of real people, her books will open your eyes to the extraordinary to be found in the every day.
Bio
Carmel is an award-winning writer and journalist, specialising in features writing and creative non-fiction.
She holds a first class BSc hons degree and PhD from the University of Bristol and is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.
Her books: Every Moment Counts: A Life of Mary Butterwick (Darton, Longman and Todd 2011); Against The Odds:True Stories of Forgiveness and Healing (BRF 2014) and Believe in Miracles: a spiritual journey of positive change (BRF 2016), were all listed in the Church Times top 10 books.
She also contributed to the The Way, The Truth and The Life series published by the Teachers’ Enterprise in Religious Education and collaborated with the Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu writing the stories for his Faith Stories, Hope Stories and Agape Love Stories books. The Sentamu books were voted Best Series in the 2017 Eden Book Awards.
Her latest book, Anxious Times was published by BRF in 2018.
Carmel began working as a journalist in 1999 and has held staff positions including, reporter, feature writer, columnist, showbiz editor, and health editor. She spent 8 years on the management team for the Manchester Evening News working across print, online, radio and TV for the Guardian Media Group.
As a freelance journalist Carmel has travelled widely and contributed to many media outlets including: The Mail, The Sunday People, The Mirror, The Sunday Times, The Metro, The BBC, Channel 4, Premier Radio, Mersey TV, The Lady, The Tablet, Nursing Times, Health Service Journal, Independent Nurse, Prescriber, Mslexia, Family Tree Magazine, Viestra Magazine and Woman Alive.
Combining her academic background and specialism in health journalism in 2009 joined the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) as Senior Publishing Manager where she established and edited a monthly digital publication for health and social care professionals as well as regularly contributing to specialist health media. She later worked for NICE as Implementation Adviser for Mental Health and was a member of the IAPT (improving access to psychological therapies) for SMI (severe mental illness) Expert Reference Group.
Carmel currently works as a Senior Lecturer in Journalism at Manchester Metropolitan University.
She has covered the arts and entertainment scene in Manchester since 2001, and edits Quays Life, a culture and lifestyle website based at Salford Quays.