What does creativity mean to me?
It is closely bound up with my deepest values of joy, connection and community.
It is the connection I feel to the pulse of life; it is an act of making something that bridges two apparently unrelated things (think of E M Forster’s epithet in the novel Howards End: ‘Only connect the passion with the prose’). It is about connecting more deeply to myself: I come to know myself more profoundly through the self-reflective processes involved in bringing my vision to material fruition.
I express myself creatively in many ways: in my love of food and feeding others; by surrendering to the beat on a dance floor; in writing; when curating a workshop or a writing programme, teaching a class and working with those I coach or mentor. For me, each client session – whether one-to-one or in a group -is an alchemical process that provides a space for energetic connection.
My writing
Writing is my main form of creative practice. I’m a novelist, dramatist and prize-winning short story writer. My novel Sisterwives is published by Crocus Books and also available on Kindle. My debut radio drama The Cloistered Soul was broadcast by BBC Radio 4 as part of the ‘Original British Dramatists’ series. You can read my prize-winning short story (winner of the Linen Press Shorts competition) here. I was the winner of the international Storgy short story competition and my short story ‘How to Curate a Life’ was published in the anthology EXIT EARTH by Storgy Books.
Sisterwives, published by Crocus Books
Available to order in the UK from Amazon and from Amazon in the United States
What would it be like to live in a marriage where you share your life, your family, your husband – your bedroom – with another woman?
Two wives, one husband, one relationship – and a tangled web of love and secrets: Sisterwives is a dramatic story about a poygamous marriage set in an isolated religious community.
About Sisterwives
A beautiful debut. Sisterwives provides a window on the unseen world of polygamy, giving us a female take on the complexities of marriage and desire.’ Suzannah Dunn, bestselling author of The Confession of Katherine Howard
‘A beautifully poised, polished, intelligent and restrained piece of writing… Sisterwives speaks of a profoundly engaged consideration of a wide range of moral, philosophical and spiritual issues…’ Anna South, The Literary Consultancy; former Commissioning Editor at Penguin
‘The quality of the writing impressed me enormously. There are passages of remarkable beauty and intensity.’ Sara Maitland, winner of the Somerset Maugham award and author of A Book of Silence
H. D. and the image, published by Manchester University Press
H.D and the image considers how H. D.’s sense of the visual image was shaped by her engagement with film and spiritualism. It is the only book-length study to explore how H.D.s involvement with the moving image – from her appearance in avant-garde films, to her experience of film editing and her writing on cinema – informs her poetry and prose. Providing an analysis of as yet unpublished primary sources, H.D. and the image also gives an accessible and lucid introduction to the modernist context of H.D.’s work.
About H.D. and the image
‘Provocative and provoking, well researched…H.D and the image is a brilliant addition to interdisciplinary studies of H. D.’s work.’ Professor Alison Halsall, York University, Canada
‘A rich discussion…provides an entirely fresh context for reading H.D.’ Professor Ian Bell, Keele University, UK
