I was born and raised in Carlisle which is so near Scotland and sounds so Welsh that we spend a lot of time explaining we’re English. Carlisle sometimes seems far away from anywhere but it is near the Lake District. When I was growing up we had a back yard with no grass (and no lakes) in it so I think of the Lake District as my personal garden and have to visit it regularly even though I now live far away in Northumberland.
Writing
I always wanted to be a writer, and lots of other things too, including potter, dancer, actor, musician… I still hate that I haven’t got enough time to do all the things I want to. I love to write and think and to work with people of all ages to help them enjoy reading and writing as much as I do. I think reading and writing are brilliant ways of helping us to think, to work things out and to connect with each other and that is why I love them so much.
I have done quite a lot of jobs: sales assistant, box office, theatre administrator, arts manager, teacher, church worker, graduate student. I like to think that I must have lots of useful skills by now, but there are always new things to learn. As well as writing and running writing projects I teach English to people whose first language is something else, which is a lot of fun and helps me to think about language in new ways.
My Favourite things
Music (I play viola and trombone, but rarely at the same time), food, friends, family, going to performances and movies, being outdoors (I run, slowly but often, walk and swim in the sea even when it’s really cold), praying, laughing and, of course, reading and writing. Don’t ask me to put the things I love into order. It’s too hard.