Writing
My Publications
ï‚· Brave - Winner of The Times/Chicken House Children’s Fiction Competition 2013. Published in paperback and e-book April 2014 by The Chicken House. Stone Age novel for 8-12 year-olds, follows Wild Horse and Blue Bird on a dangerous adventure. Thirteen winters old they must fight spear, tooth and claw to survive against ferocious wolves, thunderous mammoths, a raging giant sloth. With Blue Bird’s dog Paska and Storm, an orphaned sabretooth cub, as companions …
ï‚· Pour l’Honneur de la Tribu – French edition of Brave
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ï‚· The Jar of Sybil, short story in Creel 3: Anthology of creative writing – Wivenhoe Bookshop, 2017
ï‚· The Unheard, essay with two poems in Creel 4: Anthology of creative writing – Wivenhoe Bookshop, 2018
ï‚· Tanka poems – collaboration with Tim Gardiner – The Bamboo Hut Journal of English language tanshi - online TheBambooHut.weebly.com issue No.2, 2020
ï‚· Haiku – in Where Shallows Talk: Poetry and prose inspired by the paintings of Sir Alfred Munnings – The Munnings Art Museum, 2020
ï‚· A Good Place to be Alone – haibun in Fenland Poetry Journal, Autumn 2022
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Favourite Books Read
It’s difficult to choose favourites. Preferences change. I’ve listed those I’ve read more than once or would consider reading again, but I might have missed one, or included one that could be replaced by another. There’s not enough reading time to read all the good books that exist. In no particular order:-
Children’s books read as a child:
ï‚· Aesop’s Fables
ï‚· The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett
ï‚· White Fang and Call of the Wild, Jack London
MG/YA books read as an adult:
ï‚· I, Coriander, Sally Gardner
ï‚· Sky Song, Abi Elphinstone
ï‚· Skellig, David Almond
ï‚· My Sister Lives on the Mantelpiece, Annabel Pitcher
ï‚· The Chaos Walking Trilogy, Patrick Ness
ï‚· The Graveyard Book and Coraline, Neil Gaiman
ï‚· The Boy Who Could See Demons, Carolyn Jess-Cooke
ï‚· Kensuke’s Kingdom, Michael Morpurgo
ï‚· A Wizard of Earthsea, Ursula K Le Guin
ï‚· Goth Girl, Chris Riddell
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Adult fiction
ï‚· The Book Thief, Markus Zusak
ï‚· The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini
ï‚· The Overstory, Richard Powers
ï‚· Grief is the Thing with Feathers, Max Porter
ï‚· Harvest, Jim Crace
ï‚· The Ocean at the End of the Lane, Neil Gaiman
ï‚· Eve Green, Susan Fletcher
ï‚· The Shadow of the Wind, Carlos Ruiz Zafon
ï‚· The Winter Ghosts and The Citadel, Kate Mosse
ï‚· Chocolat, Joanne Harris
ï‚· Me Before You, Jojo Moyes
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Adult non-fiction
ï‚· Findings, Kathleen Jamie
ï‚· Turtle Island, Gary Snyder
ï‚· Birds Art Life Death: A Field Guide to the Small and Significant, Kyo Maclear
ï‚· Ness, Robert Macfarlane
ï‚· Nature Cure, Richard Mabey
ï‚· Women on Nature: 100+ Voices on Place, Landscape & the Natural World, Ed. Katherine Norbury
ï‚· Letters to the Earth: Writing to a Planet in Crisis, Intro Emma Thompson
ï‚· Kinship: Belonging in a World of Relations, 5 volumes – Planet, Place, Partners, Persons, Practice, Eds Gavin Van Horn, Robin Wall Kimmerer, John Hausdoerffer
Poetry
ï‚· Words the Turtle Taught Me, Susan Richardson
ï‚· Making Cocoa for Kingsley Amis, Wendy Cope
ï‚· Of Sea, Elizabeth-Jane Burnett
ï‚· Forage, Rita Wong
ï‚· The Paper House, Karen Dennison
ï‚· A Fire in My Head, Ben Okri
ï‚· Blue Horses, Mary Oliver
ï‚· The Overhaul, Kathleen Jamie
ï‚· Turtle Island by Gary Snyder
ï‚· Death of a Naturalist, Seamus Heaney
Award
Winning
Book
"Her beautifully written novel, BRAVE, rose to the top in the recent judges' meeting. Wild animals and wild children make this a spirited and fiercely fun debut - a worthy winner!"
Barry Cunningham
Head Judge and
Head of Chicken House
March 2013