About

Sarah-Joy ‘SJ’ Longthorne (formerly ‘Wickes’) is an award-winning game writer and narrative designer-turned-author currently working on her debut dark fantasy novel. She has previously worked at The Chinese Room, Sumo Digital (Nottingham), Fusebox Games, and Jagex. Her work spans indie and AAA, console, PC, and mobile titles, including well-known IPs such as Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines 2, Hogwarts Legacy, and Love Island.

Sarah was also a finalist for the Rising Star of the Year (Development) Award in the MCV Women in Games Awards 2019, was listed as one of MCV’s 30 Under 30 ‘best young talent in the industry’ in 2021 and won a Game Dev Heroes award in the Writing and Narrative category in 2023. She has also been interviewed and/or been cited by multiple outlets spanning her extensive games career, and has given a number of talks on narrative design.

Sarah has a first-class BA in Scriptwriting and Performance and a first-class MA in Creative Writing: Prose from the University of East Anglia (UEA). Her short story, Hilary’s Feast, was published by Claret Press in 2018, while a condensed extract from her debut novel was published in the UEA MA Non-Fiction & Prose Fiction Anthology by Egg Box Publishing in 2025.

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