A Bit About Me
I was born in Lincoln in 1999 to two English teachers - as you can imagine, storytelling was a defining part of my childhood. Meanwhile, outdoor holidays and long, chatty road trips fuelled my fascination for the natural world and its accompanying folklore.
During my time at Lincoln Christ's Hospital School, I entered a poem into a First Story writing competition. I was lucky enough to have my work published and won a place on an Arvon course at Totleigh Barton in Devon. One magical week in the South Western countryside, with mentoring from Salena Godden, cemented my storytelling ambitions.
Two years later, I was accepted into the University of Birmingham to study English and Creative Writing. I worked as a tutor at an affordable tuition centre and then as a swimming teacher during University. I also reconnected with my Black Country heritage through conversations with my Grandma, who was a working class activist and self-published poet. I was surprised to fall in love with Birmingham. I met Gaby, who would become Windswept's co-founder, on my course and we started writing together. Our shared vision, of a space where we could show our work and support our community to share theirs, brought us together.
Months before we went into lockdown, I staged Growing Pain for the first time, went on my first Climate Justice march and founded Windswept with Gaby; and thus committed to using my creative practice to champion women's power, fight for Climate Justice and create a platform for storytelling in my community.
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I graduated in July 2020 and, since then, I have worked as a project manager, workshop leader, business founder, editor, bid-writer, poet and playwright with these values at the core of my practice.
My Story
Education
Founding Windswept
My Writing Achievements
From age 11 to 18, I studied at Lincoln Christ's Hospital School and developed an interest in literature, history and politics. In 2017, I started studying English and Creative Writing at the University of Birmingham and I graduated with a First Class BA in 2020.
Gaby Songui and I started writing plays together in our second year of university. We both loved writing for performance and incorporating our many other hobbies into our plays. Our first play together, Boxed In, was rehearsed and performed within a weekend. Our vision of creating accessible creative opportunities grew into Windswept Workshops. We established the company in December 2019 and, with the support of Beatfreek's Fuel Funding, the University of Birmingham B Enterprising team, Northfield Arts Forum, and Community Partnership for Selly Oak, we started running projects during the pandemic. Since then, I have run countless workshops, project and events with Windswept and as a freelancer.
My very first writing achievements were the publication of two of my poems in two First Story anthologies as a teenager. Since graduating, I have had my poetry published in SAMPAD Arts' My City, My Home anthology, Coin-Operated Press' 2023 We're all Queer Here zine and my monologue, Growing Pain, was published in Windswept Workshops' Between Bus Stops anthology. I was shortlisted for the Royal Court Writers' Group in 2020 and again in 2021, after submitting Lighthouse and Sex Shop at the End of the World. It was a privilege to be funded by Arts Council England to further develop my Climate Justice playwriting practice in 2022.