Yvonne Roberts

Yvonne Roberts is a freelance English writer and journalist. She was born in 1948 in Newport Pagnell, Buckinghamshire and has worked in newspaper and television journalism. She has published sixteen books, including novels and discussions of human relations and parenting.

Early life and education

Roberts' family moved to Madrid when she was a few months old and lived there for three years. She lived in a number of locations through the rest of her childhood. She was educated at Warwick University between 1967 and 1969, where one of her tutors was historian E. P. Thompson.

Career Roberts began her career in journalism in 1969-1971 as a reporter and feature writer at the Northampton Chronicle & Echo. In 1971 she was winner of the Young Journalist of the Year Award. She was employed on London Weekend Television's Weekend World (1972–77), The London Programme (1977–79) and ITV's This Week from 1988. She worked on the short-lived tabloid the News on Sunday, and contributed to The Times, Evening Standard, New Statesman and The Independent. In 1990 she joined the staff of The Observer, to which she had previously contributed as chief leader writer. and Grace Scott, with her husband Stephen Scott, who was a producer on BBC's Panorama.

She was the first Political Writer in Residence at Sussex University

Roberts also believes that the system frequently fails psychiatric patients. She wrote about Sarah Reed, a seriously mentally ill woman who died on remand in Holloway Prison following what a coroner's inquest said was neglect and inappropriate treatment. According to Roberts: "The inability of mental health services to cope means [that] thousands of vulnerable women like Sarah are on a conveyor belt to understaffed prisons where, frequently, harsh discipline is imposed".