photo description: A smiling headshot of me with The Bent Agency in capital letters above my head, Agent: Molly Ker Hawn, below.
The Wrecklings
My voice-led adventure novel for upper middle grade readers entitled THE WRECKLINGS 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:
I was commissioned to write a story for Puffin’s 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
image description: Lisette grins to the point her face may fall off, and holds The Puffin Book of Big Dreams open at her story – The Gang. Illustrated by Elisa Paganelli.
Bright yellow design – 4 columns of names of authors and illustrators, mine is in the middle
Published 3rd September 2020, you can order the book and find out more about the project HERE.
New Narratives for the North East
Fifteen writers have been commissioned to create new work about the North East in an ambitious project from New Writing North and the North East Culture Partnership.
photo description: turquoise background, blue text reads ‘In order to thrive we need strong narratives and stories, which help shape our collective imagination.’
My commission is a collision of poetry, verbatim text from interviews I’ve conducted, lyrical essay and manifesto looking at disability arts and crip culture in the North East, how we do not take up enough cultural space, and linking this to an ambitious form based on a river cycle. You can read it here.
I wrote an article for Arts Professional based on the fact that 25% of people in the North East are disabled, and from the point of view of freelancers. You can read it here.
Disabled freelancers can teach the sector a lot about how to overcome limitations to make and adapt work in new and exciting ways, so look for them and use them…and pay them.
image description: black and white image of my face. On a blue background the text: LISETTE AUTON Writing the Missing – A River Cycle “You should want to hear it. Beacuse our stories are stories of power and quiet and might and rage and torrent. You should want to hear them”. On a pink background the text: Fifteen writers commissioned to create new work about the North East from New Writing North, Durham Book Festival and the North East Culture Partnership. New Narratives for the North East.
A poem about chairs with one of Sara’s illustrations
FIELD Notes
This publication to which I contribute came into being as a result of a residency held in July 2020.
image description: the cover for FIELD NOTES illustrated by Katherina Radeva in stunning green and pink brush strokes with the names of all the contributing writers.
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: #BIFFY50 logo
Accessibility
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.
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: 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: 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
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.
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
Poetry
The following are links to a few examples of my poetry online:
photo description: logo for Disability Arts Online
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.
