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In light of current events – all live gigs, tours and face to face work have been cancelled/indefinitely postponed.
I have not removed the listings on the events page – I want them to stand as a testament to the organisers, actors, venues and creatives who put in such hard work and are now faced with hardship and uncertainty.
We’re not okay until we’re all okay – keep fighting until everyone is safe and financially secure. In these times disabled people are more at risk than ever before – we need you as our allies. I will be yours.
I’m leaving a light on so that we will come back x
I am a disabled activist, writer, poet, spoken word artist, theatre-maker and creative practitioner based in Darlington in North-East England – I do stuff with words.
This page is a brief overview of some of the things I get up to. You can read more about all the different strands to my practice by clicking on the menus above.
This is what my awesome wordsmith and spoken word artist friend Sarah Crutwell has to say about me, and I rather like it, and her, a very big lot:
She’s the sista
Who cracks open disability labels, wide smile and huge heart,
Stomps boots on stage, talking about the years she spent
Overlooked in wheelchair.
I am proud to be represented by the fabulous Molly Ker Hawn at The Bent Agency.
Luxi ltd. commissioned me, with support from Arts Council England’s emergency recovery package, to write an article about access as kindness. It focuses on how online meetings leave a huge part of the population behind, and are inaccessible for numerous reasons, is a provocation to do better, and how we can begin to do so. Please read, think, do.
You can read ‘The Inaccessibility of the Future (or, What To Do When You Just Can’t Zoom) here.
I’ve been chosen as a Penguin RHUK WriteNow Mentee, one of ten out of 1700 applicants. This is to work on my middle grade novel, THE WRECKLINGS, which features a strong female disabled protagonist and is set in a lighthouse on the rugged North East coast where I grew up (there are also mermaids and a captain with a kitten in his beard).
Publishing in September 2020, I was overwhelmed to be asked to contribute to Puffin’s 80th birthday anthology alongside loads of incredible authors and illustrators, many of whom inspired me to write in the first place.
You can pre-order a copy and find out more HERE.
I’m currently in rehearsals and then on tour playing the role of Mad Mary in MEDICINE’S MONSTROUS DAUGHTERS by Vital Xposure. More details on my events page here, and on the show website here.
Well that didn’t go according to plan… I’m so very sad we didn’t get to show the world the incredible piece of work the whole team made. I hope we get to come together again, I hope we stay safe, I hope the venues and staff and freelancers are all okay.
Julie McNamara, artistic director of Vital Xposure, wrote about the rehearsal process, it feels even more important now that this testament to this important piece of work is read. LINK TO ARTICLE HERE.
My theatre and spoken word performance work seeks to make the invisible visible. I perform frequently on the spoken word scene delivering passionate lyrical pieces about disability, mental health and politics.
Filmed by National Spoken Word Organisation Apples and Snakes – my piece ‘Second Best Room’
Our BLACKBOX film series captures performances from the best spoken word artists of today.
I’m proud to be a founding member of the Disconsortia collective – a group of disabled artists in the North East seeking and creating platforms to share our work, and to influence regional and national arts policy and practice in relation to disabled people as artists, leaders, audiences and participants. You can read more about Disconsortia, our manifesto, and the artists involved HERE.
A recent interview in NARC Magazine about the Words Weekend Festival and my beloved North East.
I was awarded the 2019 Early Career Residency for Literature at Cove Park by the Fenton Trust.
I am on the coveted #BIFFY50 list for the Best British & Irish Flash Fiction 2018-2019.
INK FLOWS, the poetry collection I wrote about my time as Poet-in-Residence for Crossing the Tees Book Festival, illustrated by the incredible Illustrator-in-Residence Sara Gibbeson, is available now from Teesside libraries, Book Corner in Saltburn and 6e Publishing.
I am a 2018 recipient of a Creative Future Literary Award for poetry.
Accessibility – pause the film and press the first little rectangle on the bottom right hand side for subtitles/closed captions.
My poetry, short stories and essays have been published in both print and online journals, links available here. I was appointed as Guest Editor for Disability Arts Online from December 2018 – February 2019. I used the platform to focus on Northern Emerging Disabled Artists. You can read the commissioned articles here.
As a creative practitioner I specialise in working with people who are not fully represented in the mainstream. I work in schools, community centres, prisons, probation hostels, galleries, libraries, wherever the words will have me…
Thank you for a wonderful workshop journey. Your warm up got the creative cells going, the quickfire focused my thoughts and then the stream of brilliant exercises made me fasten my literary seatbelt and enjoy the ride! A wonderful safe and accessible environment to write and share.
Well planned. Beautifully executed. Exhilarating. Thoughtful & caring. Thank you very much.
You can read more Nice Things People Have Said About Me here.
