I live in Bexhill with my husband Paul McQuillan. In time gone by I have also lived in Germany and France and spent time as an English language teacher, Benedictine monk, shopkeeper in New Bond Street and, for the major part of my professional life, a commercial lawyer in the City, before becoming an estate agent in the Dordogne. I founded the Hastings Stanza, for which I am the Rep. Following publication of a number of poems in magazines, my debut collection, “Bestiary, and Other Animals”, was shortlisted for the 2017 Live Canon First Collection Prize, published by Live Canon in June 2018. My second collection, “Let The Wounded Speak”, was published by Oversteps Books in October 2018. I am grateful to a reviewer of the second book, who said “This collection took my breath away”.
A third collection, “A Suitcase Filled with Hope”, was published by Live Canon in May 2021. To my delight, both this and “Let the Wounded Speak” were longlisted in the Poetry Book Awards 2021 and 2020 respectively.
Live Canon’s good star has followed me since: I won first prize, to my astonishment, in the Live Canon International Poetry Competition 2022.
A somewhat traumatic house move from Hastings to Bexhill – involving the complete refurbishment of our present home in the latter – has taken up much of the head space that would otherwise have been full of poetic ideas. However, I was delighted to learn in July of this year that I am to be poet in residence for the Cuckmere Pilgrim Trail from September 2023 to July 2024, which promises to be a rich source of inspiration for further writing.
