More About Me
Stories are the fabric from which our lives are made and writing enables me to spin yarns, weave tales and embroider the truth – no surprise then that I used to be a textile teacher. I get ideas not only from my own experiences but from all sorts of other places too, classified ads, photos, “what if” scenarios, and from eavesdropping on buses – go on admit it, I’m not the only one. Sometimes I get ideas just by finding random words and letting my brain connect them into something meaningful on the page. It’s magic really.
My stories have been broadcast on Radio 4 and have been selected for numerous events and anthologies in the UK and abroad. I live between Hastings and London, and I run creative writing workshops, for beginners and improvers. I also run spoken word events and a short story reading group called BIG SHORTS - and just in case that's not enough I'm completing an M.A. in Creative Writing at Chichester University.
Broadcasts and Performance
Departures: launch, London:Three Sisters by the Sea, 2019
Short Story, Hastings: The Bet, 2018
Art Stories: One woman show Hastings: Inside the egg, Three Sisters by the Sea, Bittersweet, like Pomegranates, 2018
Weird Shit, Hastings: Is that what it’s all about? 2017
White Rabbit, London: “Are You Sitting Comfortably?: Last Will, 2015
Liar’s League, London: Renewal, 2013
Landor Theatre, Kandy Kottage: The Musical, London, March 2013
Liars League, New York: I’ve always been a Good Girl, 2012
Liar’s League, Leeds: Never Knowingly, 2012
Liar’s League, London: Slippage, 2012
Storytails, London: Admiration for the Oyster, 2011
Upstairs at The Walrus: A headful of Stories: One woman Show, London 2011
Foyles Bookshop, London: Tales of The decongested: Admiration for the Oyster, 2010
Liar’s League, London: Kandy Kottage, 2009
Foyles Bookshop, London: Tales of The decongested: The Bet, 2009
Foyles Bookshop, London: Tales of The decongested: Carmel’s Christmas, 2008
Brighton Festival (Short Fuse): Ha Ha Ha, 2008
BBC Radio 4, London: Close but not Warm, 2006
BBC Radio 4, London: Ha Ha Ha, 2008
BBC Radio 4, London: The Beam Room, 2002
Awards and Competitions
Cambridge short story competition: second prize, Inside the Egg, 2018
MsLexia young adult novel competition: longlisted, Nola’s Ark, 2017
Writer’s Village international short story competition: shortlisted, The Execution, 2014
SLS international short story competition: runner up, Close but not Warm, 2012
SLS international short story competition: finalist, Renewal, 2012
ChapterOne international short story competition: highly commended, Ha Ha Ha, 2009
ChapterOne international short story competition: finalist, Close but not Warm,2009
Global shorts: winner, The Bet, 2009
Asham Award: short-listed, The Bet, 2008
SpreadTheWord novel pitch competition: finalist, Shoes of the Skin of a Bird, 2006
BBC Radio 4, Dot Dot Dot…: winner, The Beam Room, 2001
Publications
Inside the Egg, (Make a Wish, Keep the Wish Secret – The 2017 &2018 Cambridge Short Story Prize Anthology) TSS Publishing, 2019
Three Sisters on the Edge, (Departures), (Ed. Cherry Potts) Arachne press, 2019
Five by Five, (Twenty five stories by Five writers), (Ed. Cherry Potts and Katy Darby) Arachne Press, 2018
Birdland, Stations, (Ed. Cherry Potts), Arachne Press, 2012
Renewal, London Lies, (Ed. Cherry Potts), Arachne Press, 2012
The Birdskin Shoes, Create Space, 2012
Never Knowingly, Stories for Homes, Volume 2, Shelter, (Ed. Debi Alper), 2017
The Bet, Global Shorts, 2009
The Bet, Tales of the Decongested, Foyles, 2009
The Palais, Trout in the Milk short story anthology (ed. Suzie Blair) New Fiction, 1992