[7] From 2009-2019 she combined employment as a teacher and a role as Writer in Residence at Oxford Spires Academy, a multicultural comprehensive school.
[19] This was followed by a novel, Meeting the English,[20] which was shortlisted for the Costa Prize, and a collection of short stories, The Not Dead and the Saved.
[21] Clanchy has written and adapted for BBC Radio since 2001 with 12 plays and serials produced, notably Hester, A Little Princess,[22] which starred Adjoa Andoh and Enduring Love.
In 2015 her broadcast anthology of her pupils' work, We Are Writing a Poem About Home,[23] was shortlisted for the Ted Hughes Award.
[27] Clanchy was criticised by other authors, including Chimene Suleyman, Monisha Rajesh and Sunny Singh, who received large amounts of abuse in the following months.
[27][26] Further statements of apology were made following an interview[31] with Philip Gwyn Jones, Publisher of Picador, in the Daily Telegraph in December 2021.
[32] Clanchy was defended in articles by Sonia Sodha, who stated that 'the strand of anti-racist thinking that is obsessed with the blame and shame all white people should bear for structural discrimination is (so) corrosive to common cause and understanding'[33] and by Clive Davis,[34] Tomiwa Owolade,[35] Shukria Rezaei,[36] Carmen Callil[37] Amanda Craig and Philip Pullman.
[29] In an interview for UnHerd, Clanchy said that the apology put out by Pan Macmillan had been made "over her head" and without consulting her.