Annie Ross was a successful television drama director. She is the author of three crime novels and one historical novel and has written one stage play and one screenplay.
As a youngster, growing up in the north of Scotland, she loved cowboy movies. She tried to persuade her parents to let her leave school and ride the range toting a couple of sixshooters. It was only later, as a student at the University of Kansas in Lawrence, that she became fascinated by the diaries and accounts of pioneer women and those who followed the Oregon Trail. These were ordinary women who proved themselves capable of extraordinary achievements. What intrigued her most was that their account of life on the frontier and their attitudes to Native Americans was very different from that presented by men and popularised by Hollywood. The experiences of these pioneer women became a model of resourcefulness and resilience for generations to come and informs the women’s movement to this day.
Annie Ross lives in London.