I’m allergic to mussels, oysters and the like and my grandmother wanted me to be a BBC newsreader when I grew up. Clearly this did not come to pass.
I was born in Guildford and have lived in Bedfordshire, Birmingham, South Wales and Berkshire (not necessarily in that order). I have a BA in English & History from the University of Birmingham, an MA in Victorian Literature & Culture from the University of Reading and an MA in Creative Writing from Royal Holloway, University of London.
Following the bad poems and short stories of the platforms and flares days of my teens and the even bleaker stuff of the leg warmers and shoulder pad days of the ’80s, my collections, Eleven Rooms, Interference Effects and Yield have been published by Two Rivers Press, and my novels, The Perfect Affair and The Moment and my FREE short-story, Falling for Gatsby are published by Quercus. The Last Day, was published by The Dome Press, and a new novel, The Significant Others of Odie May was published by Matador in July 2021. A further collection is forthcoming with Two Rivers Press in 2024, and a novel ‘What We Thought We Knew’ will be published by Pegasus.
Having formerly been the Clerk of The Worshipful Company of Management Consultants and worked for an HR research forum in London, I now teach Creative Writing, run Fresh Eyes and help co-ordinate Reading’s Poets’ Café Online on behalf of The Poetry Society’s Reading Stanza. I am also a regular Radio Reads contributor on BBC Radio Berkshire, have been Chairman of Reading Writers and am a member of the Alliance of Independent Authors, the Romantic Novelists’ Association, The Poetry Society, The Poetry Book Society, The Society of Women Writers and Journalists and The Society of Authors.
I am represented by Broo Doherty at DHH Literary Agency.