Writing

In light of current events – all 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.

Keep safe everyone. I’m leaving a light on so that we will come back x

I am delighted to be represented by Molly Ker Hawn at The Bent Agency.

My adventure novel for upper middle grade readers entitled The Wrecklings has earned me a coveted spot as one of 10 mentees out of over 1700 applicants on Penguin RHUK’s WriteNow programme. You can read more about it here:

My local newspaper printed an article about me being chosen as a mentee which you can read here. The title is ‘Follow your dreams, kids’. Which I rather think you should.

I was honoured and overwhelmed to be asked to write a story for PRHUK’s Puffin 80th Birthday Anthology. Look at the list of authors and illustrators – this is the stuff dreams are made of! My story, THE GANG, is wonderfully illustrated by the incredible Elisa Paganelli.

Bright yellow design, book cover – 80 The Puffin Book of Big Dreams – Stories to Spark your Imagination

Bright yellow design – 4 columns of names of authors and illustrators, mine is in the middle

Bright yellow design – Hooray, It’s Puffin’s Birthday

Publishing 14th May 2020, you can pre-order the book and find out more about the project HERE.

I was awarded the 2019 Cove Park Early Career Residency for Literature.

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.

Front cover of INK FLOWS

A poem about chairs with one of Sara’s illustrations

I have a coveted place on the #BIFFY 50 List celebrating the Best British and Irish Flash Fiction 2018-2019 for my piece SECOND BEST ROOM.

photo description: on a blue background with different coloured pills there is the following text: and I know that temptation eats resolve like stone beats scissors – And I Know by Lisette Auton CFLA18 Winner

photo description: The twelve finalists in our finest outfits standing grouped together smiling at the camera. I am one of them. There are also two members of the CF team, Lemn Sissay and Kaerry Hudson.

photo description: a still shot of a tv screen with the Creative Future Literary Awards logo and the text – Lisette Auton And I Know Bronze Poetry

photo description: front cover of the book Chemistry lying on my multi coloured rug

I won a Creative Future Literary Award 2018 for my poem entitled And I Know, which is published in the anthology Chemistry, which is available to buy here. The award was presented at the London Literary Festival at Southbank Centre by Lemn Sissay.

Accessibility – pause the film and press the first little rectangle on the bottom right hand side for subtitles/closed captions. 

I was commissioned to write a lyrical essay, Crap-Bag Days, by Carmen Marcus, author of How Saints Die which is long-listed for the Desmond Elliott Prize. You can read it here on the fabulous website The Book of Godless Verse. Carmen says about my writing:

Today’s #DailyMess is brought to you by the brilliant Lisette Auton. This is a summons to accept we can’t always be smashing it without breaking ourselves. Here is an intimate snap shot of life outside the perfect days. Let it break and mend you x

The following are links to a few examples of my poetry online:

Second Best Room – commissioned poem for Visual Verse

Surrender and Go To War and Fight For Me – published at I am Not a Silent Poet

The Fallacy of Saving – published in Snakeskin 233

We Rule – published in Issue 3: Locations of DNA Magazine (p.34)

These articles are examples of my creative non-fiction:

What’s in a name? – Opinion Piece

Diverse – Finding my Tribe – Review

Karen Sheader – The Need to be Creative – Interview

Kev Howard – A Photo Essay – Showcase

Lisette Auton & Vici Wreford-Sinnott in Conversation – Is Emerging even a Thing? – Interview

Secret Diary of a Fledgling Freelancer – commissioned article for development agency, New Writing North

Disconsortia – A Lyrical Essay – commissioned piece as Writer in Residence for Disconsortia – part poem, part essay, part transcript.

Editor

I was appointed as Guest Editor for Disability Arts Online from December 2018 – February 2019. I wrote seven pieces including interviews, an opinion piece, reviews and showcases, and commissioned a further 12 articles which were published in 4 newsletters in a takeover in February 2018. I also conducted an Instagram takeover and hosted a live Twitter debate. The theme for the editorship was Northern Emerging Disabled Artists – to give this region, and other artists in my position, a platform to showcase their unbelievable talent. This is the link to the project page with all the articles I wrote and commissioned.