aBOUT

Originally from a village in North Essex, I have lived in Derbyshire for 29 years.

My writing brings to fruition a lifetime love of books which started with trips to the local library, was nurtured by a brilliant English teacher who delighted in the humour of Jane Austen, and survived the attentions of a less brilliant teacher who did her best (and failed) to make Byron’s poetry boring.

While training to be a nurse in London in the 1980s, I began an Open University Degree. Fifteen years and four children later, I graduated with a 2:1 in English with Social Policy.

During that time, life was derailed by the diagnosis of my two sons with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy and the many changes that this entailed, not least a switch in my profession from Clinical Nurse Specialist to Adult Literacy Tutor.

I began writing in 2014 following a chance conversation about Byron and subsequent support for my attempts at telling my story.  In 2016, I won the monthly competition in Writers’ Forum Magazine with my poem ‘Flight Disabled’. I joined Ripley Writers’ Group, attended workshops and set about learning more about writing while meeting like-minded people. In 2019, I joined Cathy Grindrod’s  Writer Highway – a programme of writing courses and a network to help writers develop. Since then I have had poems published in several magazines including Artemis, Brittle Star, Pennine Platform, Cannon’s Mouth and The Frogmore Papers.

I write on a variety of subjects, but my original intention was to write about the lesser-known experiences of a long-term carer, a subject that is generally not considered when care issues are discussed in the media. My first pamphlet Beyond Caring was published in September 2023. My first collection Just Breathe was published in December 2024. This is a series of poems that span my sons’ experiences of breathing from first normal breath to ventilator dependency.

In addition to poetry, I write songs. I am fortunate that my husband, Mark, provides musical arrangements and sings my songs at various folk clubs. Together we created the  show Como Boy to Coram Girl , a family tale based around nine original songs and performed at Derby Folk Festival in 2023.

I also write the occasional article or blog, the latest on the theme of Writing for Wellbeing, published on the website of Muscular Dystrophy UK.

Current projects include:

• Storytelling – the re-telling of traditional folk tales in the setting of Hardwick Hall, Derbyshire
• Writing poems in support of Charlie’s Place Animal Sanctuary
• Continuing the carer’s story with poems for a new collection