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 from my own experiences but from all sorts of other sources 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.

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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 I'm currently completing an M.A. in Creative Writing at Chichester University.

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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

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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