BIO

About me: publishing and project work

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS:

  • All us sinners Sphere/Little Brown (book, novel)
  • Are we home yet? Jacaranda (book, memoir)
  • ‘Hewan Cry’ in Glimpse: contemporary black British speculative fiction (Peepal Tree Press) (book, anthology)
  • ‘Don’t mention class’ in Common People: An anthology of working class memoir edited by Kit de Waal. Unbound (book, anthology)
  • ‘Eliza King is at home’ and ‘Making friends the British way: Lucille’s story’ in The Place for Me: stories about the Windrush generation Scholastic (book, anthology)
  • Who are we now? Editor and writer, (pamphlet)
  • Tangled Roots: true life stories about mixed race Britain, Editor and writer, (book, anthology)
  • Life Writing in Troubled Times (blog, commissioned by New Writing South)
  • Forty Years of Reading: Celebrating 40 years of the Ilkley Literature Festival (book, commissioned by Ilkley Litfest)
  • Jackie Kay: a poetic imagining of post-racial (be)longing, darkmatter (academic paper, journal)
  • You are not invited, ID on Tyne Press (poetry pamphlet)
  • ‘Morphea’ in Skin, Route publications (book, anthology)
  • ‘Testimony’ in Brown Eyes Troubadour (book, anthology)
  • ‘Secrets’ in Sepia Souls ID on Tyne Press (book, anthology)
  • Are we home yet? Ex Plus Ultra (academic paper, journal)

Prizes

Shortlisted Debut Dagger Prize

Shortlisted Jhalak Prize Book of the Year by a Writer of colour

Shortlisted Portico Prize

Shortlisted Penguin WriteNow

Shortlisted SI Leeds Literature Prize

Shortlisted Crocus Books/Commonword First Chapter competition

Shortlisted Route publications ‘A Few Good Books’ competition

Short bio:

I was a journalist for many years before studying for an MA and PhD in Creative Writing. My memoir, Are We Home Yet? (Jacaranda 2020) was published in 2020 and praised by Bernardine Evaristo as ‘a gem’. It was shortlisted for the Jhalak Prize and the Portico Prize. In addition, my fiction and nonfiction work has been widely anthologised, including Common People edited by Kit de Waal, The Place for Me, and the speculative collection Glimpse. All Us Sinners (Sphere/Little Brown 2024) my first novel was shortlisted for the CWA Debut Prize 2025 and described by Chris Whitaker as ‘a majestic debut’. A singular take on the crime genre it features Maureen, a brothel-keeper in 1970s Leeds and her unexpected police ally. She is drawn into investigating the killing of a friend’s son, events which take place against the disturbing backdrop of the Yorkshire Ripper’s murder spree. My new novel (Sphere/Little Brown) continuing Maureen’s story a few years on, comes out in 2026.

Longer bio:

My memoir Are we home yet? began life as my PhD thesis. It was published by Jacaranda in September 2020. It was well received by readers and critics, and shortlisted for the Jhalak Prize 2021. An extract from Are we home yet? appeared in Kit De Waal’s anthology of working class writing, Common People, in 2019.

I came to creative writing after working as a journalist for 15 years. I returned to education in my mid-30s, and eventually completed a PhD focused on memoir and autobiography at Newcastle University. During my PhD I wrote down family’s story and researched life story publishing, investigating the reasons why some individual’s lives are much less likely to be recorded, and lauded, than others.

Based on my research findings, I create literature projects designed to encourage non-writers to author their life stories. I particularly work with people whose lived experiences tend to be ignored by mainstream publishers, and I commission well-known writers and published their work alongside them (some of these writers are pictured below).

My Arts Council-funded projects have published over 50 first time writers and resulted in two anthologies: Tangled Roots, a collection of memoir by over 30 members of mixed-race families, and Who are we now? a collection of first-person responses to the Brexit referendum . For more information on these, please see my BOOKS page.