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I am a disabled activist, writer, poet, spoken word artist, theatre-maker and creative practitioner based in Darlington in North-East England. I trained in Devised Performance and have a MSc in Community Development and Youth Work. I also excel in tea-drinking, napping and dog patting.

“I was born in Darlington, no sea dwelled in my tongue

I’ve learned to be a river lass, the pebbles guide me home”

My poetry and short stories have been published in both print and online journals.

I am a 2018 recipient of a Creative Future Literary Award for poetry.

I’m currently working on my first novel which is for middle grade readers entitled ‘The Wrecklings’ which has earned me a short-listed place on #Write Now Live programme delivered by Penguin RHUK.

I blog for Disability Arts Online and have recently had posts relating to disability and freelancing published by Apples and Snakes and New Writing North. I’ve just been appointed as Guest Editor, which is ridiculously exciting. I intend to use the platform to focus on Northern Emerging Disabled Artists.

As a creative practitioner I specialise in working with people who are not fully represented in the mainstream. Projects include working with older people on Arts Council England supported project ‘Celebrating Age‘ with Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art (MIMA) and Thirteen Housing, and as Movement Facilitator for ‘Occupation‘ by Pauline Heath, produced by Little Cog to be performed on the main stage at ARC Stockton.

My theatre and spoken word performance work seeks to make the invisible visible. I’m currently in residency with ARC Stockton to create a piece of spoken word theatre looking at social isolation entitled ‘This is my Prologue’. I perform frequently on the spoken word scene delivering passionate pieces about disability, mental health, politics and quite often also my freckles. Recent projects include ‘Deranged Poetesses: Mothers’, and Between Waves with Archipelago to produce an exciting new collaboration which results in an EP available from 9th December 2018.

You can find out about upcoming events here, and all the different strands to my practice by clicking on the menus above.