About

Sarah-Joy ‘SJ’ Longthorne (formerly ‘Wickes’) is a professional writer and a Senior Narrative Designer at The Chinese Room. She has previously worked at 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 has a first-class degree in Scriptwriting and Performance from the University of East Anglia (UEA). As of September 2021, she has returned to UEA part-time for an MA in Creative Writing: Prose, considered ‘the oldest and most prestigious Creative Writing programme in the UK’.

Sarah has published a short story, titled Hilary’s Feast. She 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.

Sarah has spoken at Norwich Games Festival, Womanize!, LudoNarraCon, The University of Nottingham and Teeside University. She has been interviewed for MCV, Pocket Gamer, Womenize! and Into Games.

Sarah is mentored by Greg Buchanan. She has mentored five other writers to date, three of whom now work full-time in the games industry. She was also a beta reader for Buchanan’s best-selling debut novel, Sixteen Horses, and is presently working on her own debut, a fantasy novel titled Uthervold.

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