THE CLOUD LOOM will be in Fairlight anthology

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As anyone who writes short stories will know, getting a publication is hard – but getting a story re-published is even harder! That’s why I’m really thrilled that ‘The Cloud Loom’ has been selected for publication in The Fairlight Book of Short Stories: Volume 1!

This new anthology comes from fab indie publisher Fairlight Books, who have previously published my stories ‘The Cloud Loom’ and ‘The Locust Theorem’ online. They are a fantastic publisher doing really wonderful things, and I couldn’t be more delighted to have been selected for this anthology alongside so many amazing authors – thank you Fairlight Team!

Today is the cover reveal of the new book, so without further ado, here we go…

The book is due out on 1st October, and for more information you can read The Bookseller‘s article on it right here.

IT’S HERE! Contemporary Publishing and the Culture of Books

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It’s heeeeere! Contemporary Publishing and the Culture of Books is out now, edited by Alison Baverstock, Richard Bradford and Madelena Gonzalez, and published by Routledge – turn to page 237 for my paper on publishing and neoliberal economics.

This is my first ever proper academic publication and I’m so thrilled and happy – huge thanks to all the editors for finding my paper interesting enough to publish.

Happy reading publishing folks! X

Routledge publication: less than 1 week to go!

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Much excitement at my end – there’s less than one week to go until my first official academic publication comes out!

My essay ‘Understanding our place: Publishing’s role in the reading ecosystem under neoliberal economics’ will be published in ‘Contemporary Publishing and the Culture of Books’ on 27th January by Routledge and I am so excited!

You can find out more about the book, the other enegaing and insightful essays in the collection, and the three marvellous editors Alison Baverstock, Richard Bradford, and Madelena Gonzalez right here.

Longlisted for the Trailblazer Awards 2020

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Happy New Year everyone!

Here’s some nice 2020 news from me: I’m thrilled (and not a little amazed!) to have been longlisted for this year’s The London Book Fair Trailblazer Awards. What a wonderful list of people to be a part of – feeling a lot of publishing love and gratitude right now! Thank you, thank you!!

To see the full longlist, visit the marvellous BookBrunch.

This is the second time I’ve been longlisted, and it’s a really lovely thing to feel so valued by an industry I have such affection for!

Shortlisted for Museum of Haiku Literature Award!

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Posting today with some SUPER exciting news from my poetry world!

Just got my copy of the The British Haiku Society journal Blithe Spirit 29.4 in the post and discovered that I’m one of the Runners Up for the Museum of Haiku Literature Award! Totally over the moon, what a nice thing to happen!

Huge thanks to Gary Hotham for shortlisting me and congratulations to the winner Dennis Tomlinson too.

Big love to all you poetry readers out there… Xx

UEA MA Prose Anthology Launch Reading

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Super late notice but I’ll be one of the readers at TONIGHT’s UEA MA Anthologies launch in Norwich. It starts at 7pm in the UEA Drama Studio and is free to attend – just book here.

If you can’t make it, but you’re interested in the anthology or what I’ve been up to for the past year, one of my absolute heroes Henrietta Rose-Innes wrote a beautiful Foreword for this year’s Prose anthology which has now been featured on New Writing​. It’s a lovely read, and it also speaks to a lot of my own experiences of the last twelve months of friendship and writing, but with more clarity than I could ever manage!

Chairing Bettany Hughes event at Hostry Festival

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Really thrilled to be chairing an event with one of my all-time favourite heroes Bettany Hughes for this year’s Hostry Festival!

A TALE OF THREE CITIES: ISTANBUL
2pm, Saturday 26th October 2019
At The Hostry, Norwich Cathedral
Tickets £15 (£12 conc)
BOOK NOW: https://hostryfestival.org/
Or via the Norwich Theatre Royal Box Office on 01603 598676

This is going to be a real treat for history nerds and literary types alike, and I hope to see you all there!

Also big thanks to the event’s supporters University of East Anglia (UEA), Jarrold, Norwich High School GDST and TCD Media.

Suspirium Viridae published in Ash Tales

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Hello everyone, I hope you’re all having wonderful summers (or winters in the southern hemisphere!)

I just got back from my own summer holidays, to find that the fabulous folks at Ash Tales have published my flash fiction story Suspirium Viridae on their site! You can read it for free, online, right now, RIGHT HERE!

This is a melancholy story all about teenagehood, pandemic, apocalypse, anxiety, depression and breathing deep… and best of all, it will only take you five minutes to read.

It means a lot to me as a story, and I’m so grateful to Ryan at Ash Tales for taking the time to read and publish it. Ash Tales is an awesome publication, and I thoroughly recommend checking out the other stories on their site as well as their beautifully narrated podcast series.

Big love to you all – and don’t forget to breathe deep! x

‘Not Every Train’ reading video

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Had a fab time reading at Flashing Norwich yesterday evening. Huge thanks to Helen and Chris for organising and hosting and inviting me along to read – can’t wait for the next one!

If you didn’t manage to make it last night but you’d still like to listen to me reading something, it turns out there’s a video of me reading my flash fiction story ‘Not Every Train’ at the London launch of Arachne Press’ Story Cities Anthology – so if you have three minutes, you can watch that instead!

Reading at Flashing Norwich July Event

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It’s time for another Flashing Norwich event at Café Bar Marzano’s in Norwich from 7-9pm tomorrow. I’m super excited to be reading alongside Christopher Allen, Vijay Khurana, Jemma Morris, Sim Ralph, Helen Rye, James Smart, Judi Walsh, Julia Webb and special guest, performance poet Cai Draper.

Entry is FREE, so come on down Norwich folks! More info here.

Story Cities Anthology Launch

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Had such a fun and lovely evening at the Story Cities Anthology launch last Thursday – a gorgeous venue at the University of Greenwich and huge thanks to Rosamund, Kam and Cherry for organising such a lovely evening. It was such a joy to read and meet so many lovely folk!

If you want to buy the anthology – and the stories in it are all incredible, I was totally transported reading it – you can pick up a copy on the Arachne Press website right here.

Happy reading! x

Shortlisted for EVENT Magazine speculative fiction prize

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Whoop whoop! I am completely over-the-moon excited to have made the shortlist of the 2019 Event Magazine Speculative Writing Contest!

What an awesome list to be on, I’m so honoured and humbled and proud – a huge big thank you to judge Emily Pohl-Weary and all the editors at Event!

The story that was shortlisted is Passing Voices, about a woman seeking answers to her life’s problems from a backyard quantum physicist, it’s very close to my heart and I’m so thrilled that it’s been recognised like this.

Watch this space for the results, coming soon…!

Reading at Story Cities Launch in London

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I’m very excited to be one of the readers at the launch of the flash fiction anthology Story Cities published by Arachne Press in collaboration with Greenwich University.

I’ll be reading an extract from ‘Not Every Train’, the flash fiction story selected for the anthology. The launch party will be on 20th June from 7pm – 9pm at the Stephen Lawrence Gallery, 10 Stockwell St, London.

TICKETS ARE FREE, book yours here!

Essay on publishing in Routledge collection

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In late-2019, I was asked to give a lecture at Kingston University as part of the Masterclass series for their MA in Publishing and Creative Writing about an aspect of the future of publishing. I chose to talk about how publishing can find its place and survive in a world of neoliberal economic ideals – and now I’m totally thrilled that the talk is going to be published!

“Understanding Our Place: Publishing’s role in the reading ecosystem under neoliberal economics” will appear in Essays on Contemporary Publishing and The Culture of Books edited by Richard Bradford, Alison Baverstock, and Madelena Gonzalez, published by Routledge in June 2019. This is my first ever academic publication and I’m pretty blown away by it to be honest. Huge, huge thanks goes to Alison who called my paper in and asked me to give the lecture in the first instance!

Haiku in BLITHE SPIRIT

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Very exciting news: in Blithe Spirit 28.4, I’ve had not one but two poems published! Blithe Spirit is the journal of the British Haiku Society, and its always jam packed with gorgeous features, essays, reviews and of course poems. I’m very grateful to the editors for selecting two of my haiku for this issue – happy reading everybody!

Publication in Story Cities Anthology

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Yippie, some fiction news! I am super excited to say that my flash fiction Not Every Train has been accepted for publication in the Story Cities anthology. The anthology is a collaboration between Greenwich University and Arachne Press, here’s what the lovely publishers have to say about it:

Story Cities explore ways in which stories respond to, reflect and re-imagine the city. Explore new short fictions in multiple genres that address the city. A guide book to the fictional city, all cities, any city: its markets, squares, cafés, hotels, parks, stations and ports; the main streets, side streets, back alleys, dead ends and the crossroads. Never identified, the city has a voice of its own.Includes work from writers in Australia, Eire, Indonesia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Portugal, USA, and right across the UK.

The book is due out on 13th June, and will cost £9.99 – for more information, check out the Arachne Press website.

I’m really grateful to the editors for selecting my little story. It’s all about one woman’s relationship with the trains in her city, and is relatable to anyone who’s had to commute underground or overground… Look forward to sharing it with you in the summer! Until then, happy reading!

Haiku in WILD anthology

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Some more lovely poetry news! I’m very pleased to have had a poem publishing in Wild: The British Haiku Society Anthology 2018! It’s an annual collection that comes out every year from the British Haiku Society, and it’s full of really gorgeous poems. I really thoroughly recommend it as a read, and you can pick up a copy for £4 from the British Haiku Society website. Huge thanks to the lovely editors for selecting my poem – you can find it on page 22! Happy reading!

Kingston University Masterclass talk

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Yesterday evening, I had a fantastic time giving a talk at Kingston University as part of the MA Publishing and Creative Writing Masterclass series. The students were all so clued up and asked really great, insightful questions.

The talk focussed on neoliberalism, the ecosystem of reading and permaculture publishing. I had so much fun ‘booking about’ – a huge big thank you to everyone who came and for being such a fab audience. And an especially large thank you to the lovely Alison Baverstock for the invite!

More to come on this topic soon, so watch this space…

Lecture at City University

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I had the most marvellous time yesterday speaking at City University on the MA Publishing programme. We discussed the cold war between self-publishing and traditional publishing, and the effects that’s had on the industry. Fascinating stuff!

It’s the second year in a row I’ve been a guest lecturer at City on this course, and it was such fun – a really gorgeous university and awesome questions from all the students. Thanks so much for being so welcoming City – and particularly to Patrick Brindle, who invited me back to speak again!