Education
I studied English literature and philosophy at Trinity College Dublin. After this, I gained a masters degree in creative writing at the University of Oxford.
In 2007, I was selected for a scholarship by New York State University’s Summer Writer’s Institute to study fiction writing with Amy Hempel. I was also selected for free places on Trinity College’s creative writing workshops with Eilis Ni Dhuibhne and Paul Durcan.
Poetry
This website is called “We are born” after a poem I wrote for my grandmother. She was an incredibly strong and inspiring woman. We were very close, and when she passed away, I decided to write something for her funeral. This poem came to me quickly, but after I finished it, I couldn’t think of a title. The night before the programme needed to be printed, I dreamt of her and in the morning, I woke up with the words “We are born” on my lips.
That felt like exactly the right title for it, and it also feels like the right title for this website, as I think that all my work (including my creative work) is really an act of collaboration between me and others. Something comes to life between us. Whenever writing meets its reader, I feel like there’s a little birth… something entirely new is created.
Here’s a copy of that poem for my grandmother:
We are born
Your undulling love of the real world,
which cut through even your last days-
I imagine was unquestionable from birth.
But your inner life was also valuable to you,
a sand bank of past currency- of living memories-
meeting waves of moving faces.
Let us learn from you-
your tools for strength,
let us never falsely feel that we have lost all-
our nightly world is untempered by time-
a place where any doors can be reopened-
how much thanks we owe to dreams!
And when we are confronted with blinding loss,
when we are inflicted with deafening heartache,
when our waking lives appear a darkening plain,
let us try to remember that there is nothing from which we cannot learn,
and let us never forget that the miracle of our arrival
much outweighs the shortness of our lives.
Published and performed poetry
The poem “We are born” has never been published, but several of my poems have been. Learn about them below.
Persephone, Inappropriate Ceremony and Chequerboard were selected by poet laureate Andrew Motion in 2001 to win 2nd prize in a competition open to all London schools. This resulted in me being long-listed for the Foyle Young Poet of the Year Award.
Eucharist was set to music by the composer John Chambers and performed at the Amaryllis Fleming Concert Hall in June 2010. The music was written for percussionist Owain Williams‘ final recital at the Royal Colllege of Music. Michael Scott sang tenor, and the orchestra was conducted by Ben Palmer.
North was selected as one of the winners of the Parallel Universe Competition in 2012. As a result, it was included in an exhibition at the Museum of Science in Oxford and spent a year framed in The Radcliffe Science Library at Oxford University
After Grenfell was shortlisted for the 2020 Folklore Prize and was published in an anthology.
Post-structurally Yours (a poem about the act of writing) was published in Other Poetry’s anthology Still Standen in 2007.
Stone Boy and Dolphin (a poem about Sylvia Plath) was published in Other Poetry’s magazine in 2010.
Other magazine publications
-one poem in South Poetry.
-two poems in Carillon.
-two poems in Decanto.
-one poem in Various Artists.
Drama
First Katrina Monologue
In 2007, this monologue was a finalist in the Practicum Theatre’s One Page Play Competition and was performed at the Balham Globe Theatre. I wrote and directed it.
This monologue about Hurricane Katrina focuses on a mother in Texas reacting to news reports about flooding in New Orleans. Her daughter wants to actively help but is discouraged from this train of thought. The piece explores the idea that many of us could do more for others but sometimes learn to accept a sense of powerlessness and paralysis instead.
Persephone
I wrote this play while studying for my masters in creative writing at Oxford University. “Persephone” is a 60 minute play based on the Greek myth of Persephone and Demeter. It was selected for performance by the director Libby Penn and performed on 17, 18 and 19 September 2008 at LAMDA’ s Lindbury Studio in London.
I originally sent this play to Southwark Theatre for consideration, which is where Libby noticed it in their submission pile. I was delighted with the live show at LAMDA and the feedback from it. Highlights included the theatre critic Michael Billington apparently saying he “loved it” and overhearing someone in the pub afterwards saying it was “the best play” they had “ever seen”!
Future planned drama
Works in progress include an accompanying one act play to be performed alongside Persephone about Hercules.
I am also considering a longer work entitled Damaged Goods about three university students whose lives become entwined with dire consequences. This piece began as a work of fiction, but I currently think it might work better as a play.
Fiction
For several years, I have been dipping in and out of a trilogy partially set on the west coast of Scotland. This is a series that explores power, celebrity and what it means to follow your own path, rather than trying to fit in with others.
We are born 