Stella Duffy is a writer and theatre-maker.

She has written thirteen novels, fifty short stories and ten plays. Her novels The Room of Lost Things and State of Happiness were both longlisted for the Orange Prize. The Room of Lost Things won Stonewall Writer of the Year 2008, Theodora won Stonewall Writer of the Year 2010. She won the 2002 CWA Short Story Dagger for Martha Grace, and again in 2013 for Come Away With Me.

She has written/adapted ten plays: The Book of Ruth (and Naomi) (Sixty Six Books, Bush Theatre); The Wedding (Manchester Royal Exchange), Medea (The Scoop & Assembly Rooms, Edinburgh); Prime Resident (NYT, Soho Theatre); Immaculate Conceit (NYT, Lyric Hammersmith); Crocodiles and Bears (Steam Industry, BAC); Close to You (Assembly Rooms, Edinburgh); The Hand (Gay Sweatshop, national tour); and two solo shows Breaststrokes (BAC) and The Tedious Predictability of Falling in Love (Oval House).  She has adapted her novel State of Happiness for film for Fiesta/Zentropa, and HBO have optioned both of her latest novels for a television series. 

Stella has worked in improvised and devised theatre for over twenty-five years. She has directed nine plays, five for Shaky Isles with whom she is an Associate Artist. As a director she specialises in collaborative, devised and physical theatre, often made in Open Space. She is also an Associate Artist with Improbable, and has been a member of Improbable’s Lifegame company since 1998, touring the UK (incl. National - Cottesloe, Bristol Old Vic, Lyric Hammersmith), and to the US (off-Broadway and La Jolla, San Diego), and Australia. She is founder of the Chaosbaby Project, a large-scale, group-devised piece made entirely in Open Space. She is currently heading Fun Palaces 2014, creating a series of Fun Palaces across the UK and beyond in October 2014 to celebrate Joan Littlewood’s centenary.