I am a writer living in Saltburn, a strange Victorian Spa town. I have always been a writer, although my early critics didn't warm to my style 'minus 1 House-point, Weird' was my teacher's initial response. Undiscouraged, I continued to write about puking black sick after my First Holy Communion and my mother's saints - Padre Pio and his visions of demons. As the daughter of an Irish mother and fisherman father I come from a place where stories are scarce, sacred and alive.

I took this place with me when I studied for my MA Honours in English Literature and Language at St Andrews. This was a furnace learning experience - forging skills I have used everyday since in arts, culture, education and business. Who we are as learners, how we learn and what we learn - are the crucial questions which have shaped my career. I have taught angry teenagers; unemployed men; cast out women; little poets; big dreamers in a variety of settings from formal education to the wild woods. What I teach is mostly how to learn using creative writing as a route in. My journey took me to ARC, an arts centre in the North East. Here I researched, designed and sourced funding for creative learning projects which tapped into the unique learning experiences the creative process can provide. Still orbiting learning I landed in Higher Education as a Community Engagement Coordinator - supporting the Third Sector to access digital learning. I then made the leap into Industry Engagement - researching and successfully sourcing funding for international projects which explored the space between what education provides and what industry needs for the digital sector. In each of these roles I employed all of the skills of story - understanding people; communicating a message; building a case; honest scrutiny; re-learning and making something of value.

In 2013, after having encouraged so many individuals to take the leap towards independence, I took my own advice and became a Freelance Writer. My writer's story started young and when I picked up the thread again, my first manuscript 'How Saints Die' won New Writing North's Northerm Promise Award 2012 (not my only award, at 8yrs I won a Curly-wurly). How Saints Die will be published with Harvill Secker on 13th July 2017.

I've performed poetry to a sell out show at the Southbank Centre during the Festival of Neighbourhood 2013. I've since been commissioned by the Royal Festival Hall to write and perform poetry as well as performin