Where it all started
I grew up in Reading and West Dorset, living a strange mixture of rural and urban life. I spent most of my childhood with my nose in a book – the only exercise I got in Reading was cycling to the library twice a week to replenish my pile of reading material. In Dorset, I had to wait for the fortnightly visits of the mobile library. School and I didn’t get on at all, and I had very few friends – mostly explained much later when, aged 54, I discovered I’m autistic. I managed to scrape together enough A-levels to get to university though.
I’ve had a varied career, starting with a Psychology BSc (1987) followed by a Computer Science PhD (1990) investigating organisational workflow support – both at the University of Nottingham. I continued research in that area for a further four years before moving into the corporate world as a software developer at Experian. During my time there I programmed in C++, Java, JavaScript and ASP on a PC/Windows platform, developing standalone software and web applications. By the time I left in 2008 I was managing a team of software developers and had acquired skills in business analysis, user interface design, training, software documentation, and project management (Prince2 and Agile Software Development). I’d also spent a few years designing and typesetting programming journals.
Back to university
I returned to the University of Nottingham in 2009, studying for a BA in Creative and Professional Writing. At the time this was one of the few UK creative writing degrees to offer a significant level of teaching on the practicalities of the writing industries – as well as learning about the craft of writing I learned how the publishing and bookselling industry works. I graduated in 2013 with first class honours. In 2012 I successfully completed the Publishing Training Centre’s industry-standard basic proofreading course. Later I studied part-time for an MA in Creative Writing, once again at the University of Nottingham. I graduated in 2020 with a distinction. My MA dissertation involved the creation and critical evaluation of a sequence of digital poems.
Becoming a publisher and bookseller
During my first year of study on the BA CPW I set up and managed a student-run project (which continued until the course closed in 2016)to publish an annual anthology of student writing. As a result of my work on that project I got a job with an independent publisher – Five Leaves Publications – in 2010, where I still work on a part-time basis. My role at Five Leaves includes all aspects of publishing, from editing and proofreading submitted manuscripts, through layout and cover design, typesetting, liaising with printers, to marketing and organising and running events with authors. In 2013 Five Leaves opened a bookshop in Nottingham city centre, allowing me to work as a bookseller alongside my publishing role.
Nottingham – UNESCO City of Literature
In 2014, prompted by Stephen Lowe (President of Bromley House Library), I initiated Nottingham’s application to become a UNESCO City of Literature. This designation is permanent, similar to UNESCO World Heritage Sites, and is only awarded to cities that can demonstrate a commitment to using creativity as a strategic factor for urban development, enriching the life of residents and the prosperity of the area. I managed the project from the proposal and initial fundraising through to researching and writing our bid. We submitted the bid in 2015 and were delighted to be awarded the designation that same year. Nottingham UNESCO City of Literature is now a thriving organisation with a strong global profile working to promote literature and literacy in and around Nottingham.
Nottingham Writers’ Studio
Between 2013 and 2017 I was Development Director of Nottingham Writers’ Studio, a members’ organisation of over 200 writers living and working in Nottingham, with its own purpose-built premises including writing spaces and an event space. I managed the move to these premises in 2014 after successfully bidding for Arts Council England Grants for the Arts funding to support NWS and its activities. I was involved in running the Nottingham Festival of Words in 2013 and 2015, and I secured further Arts Council funding to run a strand of international events for the 2015 festival, bringing writers from China, India, Hungary, Afghanistan and USA to Nottingham.
Teaching and workshop facilitation
For three years I lectured at the University of Nottingham on the Humanities BA (teaching research methods) and the Creative and Professional Writing BA (teaching about the writing industry). I have also facilitated creative writing workshops in many locations, including libraries, prisons, schools, and museums. In 2012 I obtained EU funding for a two-year international project bringing together writers from Budapest, Karlsruhe and Nottingham, and I ran this project, delivering many of the workshops and organising travel and activities for participants. I have delivered workshops on ebook production for Writing East Midlands, Derbyshire Libraries and Nottingham Writers’ Studio. Since January 2021 I have been a lead writer on Writing East Midlands’ innovative Beyond the Spectrum project, which delivers free online writing workshops to autistic people, led by writers who are themselves autistic.
First Story
Since April 2021 I have been working for First Story, managing their programmes in schools across the East Midlands. First Story is a small charity whose purpose is to bring the pleasure and benefits of creative writing to young people experiencing disadvantage. We achieve this by placing professional writers-in-residence in secondary schools in low income areas to work intensively with cohorts of students and more widely with the whole school. We support this with a wide range of other activities aimed at students, teachers and writers. I’m immensely proud to be part of this work, which brings a real sense of confidence and pride to those who take part and opens up future possibilities for so many young people.
My writing
I mainly write poetry, but have also published short fiction, graphic fiction, and creative non-fiction. My poetry has been published in several anthologies and magazines. I’m interested in pushing boundaries – seeing where poems and stories can take us in this world of instant access and digital magic. In 2015 I took part in a project with the University of Nottingham’s Computer Science Department to create non-linear stories accessed using a mobile phone via artwork with embedded codes (you can read the story I wrote here). In 2016 I was awarded a place on Writing East Midlands‘ writer mentoring scheme, during which I wrote a sequence of poems inspired by quantum theory that was published by Soundswrite Press alongside two other women writers in Take Three (2019).
