Hire Debra

Debra Murphy — Author, Storyteller and Speaker

A proud Yorkshire lass who has made Scotland her home, Debra Murphy is an author, self-publishing consultant, storyteller and speaker with a career built on reinvention, resilience and an absolute refusal to give up.

She discovered cycling as a teenager — using it to escape childhood trauma — and went on to race against the legendary Beryl Burton. Reluctantly, she traded Yorkshire for Scotland — still escaping, but this time for good.

Debra then spent nine years running her own vocational training company, delivering professional qualifications to organisations including Clydesdale Bank, Co-op and United Biscuits. Then came a tearoom, a pandemic, major surgery, a heart attack on a Scottish mountain, and arthritis that put paid to her Munro-bagging plans.

So she returned to her bike. And she is currently training to cycle Land’s End to John O’Groats.

A little left-handed girl who was born to read and write, she is now a published author of multiple books — and is still very much writing.

She has performed at the Victoria Theatre in Halifax, been featured at the Edinburgh Book Festival, and spoken at libraries across Scotland from Aberdeenshire to Lanarkshire.

What Debra Offers

My Author Journey: From a little left-handed girl in infant school who was born to read and write, through the heartbreak of closing her beloved tearoom during Covid, needing to be rescued by her Border Collie when she had a heart attack at the top of a Scottish mountain, to becoming a published author of multiple books — this is a talk about dealing with adversity, following your dreams and never giving up. Funny, honest, and genuinely moving, it works for literary festivals, libraries, community groups, and anyone who has ever had a dream they weren’t sure they were allowed to have.

My Body Had Other Plans: Major surgery, instant menopause, a heart attack on a Scottish mountain, arthritis, and an upcoming attempt to cycle Land’s End to John O’Groats. This is a talk about what happens when your body repeatedly has other ideas — and how you find your way back every single time, with your sense of humour stubbornly intact. For women’s groups, health and wellbeing events, and anyone who has ever had to completely reinvent their plans.

Writing Workshop — Idea to Author: A practical and inspiring workshop guiding participants from the seed of an idea to taking the first steps in writing. Debra’s warm and encouraging style makes this accessible to complete beginners while remaining genuinely useful for more experienced writers.

Self-Publishing Workshop: Demystifying the world of self-publishing, this workshop covers everything from manuscript to finished book — editing, cover design, typesetting, printing, and getting your book into the world. Drawn from Debra’s own experience and her work as a self-publishing consultant, this is practical, honest, and genuinely useful.

Previous Engagements

Victoria Theatre, Halifax — solo show
 Edinburgh Book Festival — featured author
Dunfermline Book Festival — author talk and self-publishing workshop
Libraries across Scotland, including Aberdeenshire, Stirlingshire, Lanarkshire and East Dunbartonshire — author talks, writing and self-publishing workshops

Book Debra

If you’d like to discuss having Debra speak or run a workshop at your event, please get in touch at debra@mothermurphys.co.uk