I am over the moon to have won first place in Trip Fiction’s Voyages by Verse poetry competition. It is only more recently that I have been spending more time with poetry – both reading and writing it – and I feel really honoured to win this prize, especially as the three judges were people […]
It was really fun to be interviewed by Julie Morris, book blogger of ‘A Little Book Problem’. Like my previous interview with Jill of Jill’s Book Cafe, there were some great questions provided by Julie, such as which two famous people I’d invite along for drinks, one male and one female! Click below to discover […]
So how do I decide which books I’m going to read in this journey of only reading BAME authors during 2021? I have several pages in a big notebook where I have two lists of books that I ‘must’ read this year and books that I will ‘maybe’ read. I’m always adding to the lists […]
I loved these unusual questions I was asked by Jill Doyle of Jill’s Book Cafe Blog, such as what are my top 5 pieces of music, 5 things I can’t live without and 5 pieces of advice I’d give to my younger self. It was really fun and thought-provoking to put these answers together. Click […]
Recently, my third novel The Secret Life of Alfred Nightingale was selected by an independent publisher Backlash Press as one of their ‘curated indie’ titles. Backlash describes itself as a small, independent press publishing house dedicated to releasing work that narrates a contemplated resistance to obedience and trend. As part of their work, they take […]
There is a great deal documented about the process of writing a novel: crafting a plot and characterisation and the story arc or the editing process, for example. There has also been much written about the finished product of a book: working with an agent who then finds a publisher before cranking into life the […]
I have had my poem about my long relationship with public libraries published with online literary magazine, Idle Ink. Click here to read this very personal poem.
I decided towards the end of 2020 that in 2021 I would read books only by authors of colour / BAME authors. I made this decision after realising that only a tiny proportion of my shortlisted favourite books from 2020 fell into the BAME category. I was pretty shocked to discover that and considered that […]
I am delighted to welcome on to the blog today Mphilo Mauncho, a twenty-year old student who lives in Nairobi, Kenya. In the following piece – Big Girls Do Cry – A Lot – Mphilo writes courageously about identity, belonging and the creative tools she has used to work with anxiety. It couldn’t be more […]
I recently had the opportunity to teach a series of creative writing workshops to students at Herning Gymnasium in Denmark. I feel so fortunate to have been encouraged creatively as a child at primary school (doubtless helping to shape me into the writer I am today), and for me, there are few more satisfying things […]