After working in London, in the commercials industry, I dropped out and returned to education, studying an English degree at Southampton, while looking after my first son. I moved to Bournemouth, had my second son, and have lived here since.
I started by writing novels, but then started working in drama. I write for Radio 3 and 4, and my first play, the co-written MILK, won the Richard Imison Award for best first radio play.
Plays include THE FARM, which was runner up for the Meyer Whitworth Award. COMFORT ME WITH APPLES, set in a Somerset orchard, won the Evening Standard Most Promising Playwright Award, and was shortlisted for the Susan Smith Blackburn award. GLASS EELS is set on the Somerset Levels. I also adapted Daphne du Maurier's DON'T LOOK NOW for stage, and wrote a one act play, WINTER, set in Newfoundland, as part of an international exchange.
Novels include BLACK DIRT, longlisted for the Orange Prize, and DEVOTION, both published by Picador.
New projects include a new novel, a collection of short stories, another play (or two...), and a local project, CONFESSION, which has emerged from fours years of work with recovering addicts. I teach and run workshops - I tutored a course with the Medical Foundation for Victims of Torture at the Arvon Foundation in Devon, and taught a fantastic course in April 2008 at Totleigh Barton, with the Romany Theatre Company. I do some occasional teaching of scriptwriting at Bournemouth University, and am Visiting fellow in English at the University of Southampton.
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