Anita
Anita Chapman studied French and Italian at Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge. As part of her degree, she studied in Grenoble and Siena, where she also au paired.
After graduating, she moved to London to work in derivatives documentation for Deutsche Bank, Merrill Lynch, and Credit Suisse; then returning to Deutsche Bank where she managed the structured derivatives documentation team as an Assistant Vice President.
(credit: Sharon Booth)
In October 2011, Anita started a writer’s blog and has been using Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram since then. She’s worked at National Trust property, Polesden Lacey, Surrey as a website and social media volunteer, and was Social Media Manager for the Historical Novel Society from 2014-16 where she set up and trained a team using Skype. Anita was Publicity Officer for the HNS Conference, Oxford in September 2016 with guests including Tracy Chevalier, Melvyn Bragg and Fay Weldon. Anita has run many social media courses for writers in London, Surrey, Kent and York; plus she’s worked as a tutor at Richmond and Hillcroft Adult Community College, Surrey.
at RNA Party
Anita is an Associate Member of the Romantic Novelists’ Association and attends most RNA events, including the summer conference. She’s been a member since 2010 (formerly New Writers’ Scheme). She is also a member of The Alliance of Independent Authors. As a writer, and someone who spends a lot of time with author friends, Anita understands how frustrated some authors feel when having to juggle precious writing/editing hours with social media use, and she advises clients how to get maximum engagement while minimising time spent online.
Anita self-published her debut novel, The Venice Secret in March 2023 – a dual timeline about the discovery of a hidden painting in a loft. The Venice Secret spent six weeks in the UK Kindle overall Top 100, reaching number thirty-eight. In 2024, Anita had two more novels published: The Florence Letter and The Tuscan Diary by Bookouture, digital-first division of Hachette. Her author website can be found here at anitachapman.com. Much of Anita’s free time is spent visiting art galleries and country houses as well as reading research books about the era she’s working on, while keeping up with her TBR (to-be-read) pile. She likes to read physical copies of books by favourite authors such as Anne Tyler and William Boyd, but takes her Kindle everywhere, and is enjoying the way audiobooks allow her to get through more of the books she wants to read.
