Writing, research and projects
Over the years, I've written for online music magazines, book blogs, print and digital zines. I've produced music and spoken word events. I been a member of two theatre companies, and writer/actor/director/producer for several productions. As an actor, I've performed across the UK and been lucky enough to be in an award-winning fringe show. Solo and research-driven performance work has taken me from Leeds to Berlin, via Transylvania. Long story short (too late), I'm a sucker for a creative project.
Since 2020, I've focused largely on my writing and that's the core of my PhD, so this section will bring together words + publications + related events.
My debut novel, It Comes in Waves, reached the longlisting stages for the Grindstone Literary Prize, and Society of Authors' McKitterick Prize. I am ridiculously giddy to have it out in the world and have started querying... eep.
Trash Cat Lit
I've got a flash fiction piece - Trespasser, Singular - in the Winter pop-up from Trash Cat Lit: Out of Place animals. My story features a cow, a duck, and a squirrel. Who doesn't want to read about animals being in places they shouldn't be? You can read all the stories on the TLC website. UPDATE: Delighted that this has been chosen for the Best Small Fictions 2025 anthology to be published by Alternating Current Press.
Wild Ink
I've got a grubby little story in the brilliantly titled Wild Ink Anthology, Tenpenny Dreadfuls: Tales as Hard as Nails. Release date 10 Sept '24, available via usual book retailers. 50% of revenue is being donated to charity. My story 'Night Out, Lights Out' involves booze, hairballs, a rat and some fire...
Dark Speculations
My flash fiction story 'She Hated People Who Kissed at the Movies' was published in Dark Speculations Volume 1: Tales of Various Shapes and Shadows.
Outsider Zine
My essay 'On Writing, reading and sobriety' appeared in Volume 1 of Outsider Zine, a collection of essays about Stephen King's work by women, non-binary and trans writers. Read the piece on the blog.
Underbelly Press
My nostalgic and grubby flash fiction piece '1999:Mixtapes' is included in the launch issue of Underbelly Press, available to read online.
Comma Press
Flash piece 'Look at You' appears in the Comma Press e-book Offerings: New Stories by Emerging Writers, made up of work from two short story courses run by Gaynor Jones. Read the piece on the blog.
One Minute Monologues
My one minute monologue Red, Amber, Green was a finalist in the 2023 Lancaster Monologue Competition.
EVENTS:
March '25: Weird Women workshop delivered at Levenshulme Old Library - using horror writing to better understand ourselves.
August '24: Multitudes 'zine fest: loved developing four new zines for this.
RESEARCH - CONFERENCES 2024
May '24: I presented my research paper 'Survival and recovery: addiction and the therapeutic potential of horror writing' at the Horror Studies Now conference at Northumbria University. (Side note: it was THE friendliest conference ever.) ((Additional side note: Something really exciting happened.))
September '24: Memory, Trauma and Recovery International Interdisciplinary Conference - InMind Support, Gdansk (online). My paper, 'I recover, I recover, I recover: Repeat narratives and self-compassion in the dark spaces of life writing.'
October '24: Science and Sensibility: Method Meets Art transdisciplinary conference - London Arts Based Research Centre. My paper, 'Fiction as ‘Quit Lit’: the truth of recovery narratives and therapeutic potential of fiction.' This conference had a great keynote presentation from Patricia Leavy.
December '24: Memory and Trauma conference, London Centre for Interdisciplinary Research My paper: 'Addiction, creativity, and processing trauma: The therapeutic potential of reading and writing autobiography for a writer in recovery.'