Author of verse novel The Marlowe Papers (Sceptre, 2012) and three collections of poetry; two with Anvil, the most recent (Material, 2008)  a Poetry Book Society Recommendation.

Background in biology and IT; numerous public art commissions over the last ten years, including poems for the Dover to Folkestone cycle path, Herne Bay’s Seaside Sonnets for Canterbury City Council, the Compton Skyline Project (Brighton), a poetry trail in Wantage, Oxfordshire, and the Embassy Court sonnets for Architecture Week 2002. A book of narrative poems for the Isle of Sheppey was short-listed for SEEDA’s Award for Art in Public Places 2004.

Featured on BBC Radio 3’s The Verb (including Pick of the Year) & BBC Radio 4’s Poetry Please, plus the ITV arts programme The Frame. Poems published in Faber, Virago, Forward, and Seren anthologies, the Guardian & the Independent on Sunday.  Short fiction published by Bloomsbury and Serpents Tail.   Writing residencies include Arts Council England & the Gulbenkian-winning Pallant House Gallery. Over a decade’s experience of teaching creative writing for the University of Sussex, plus workshops for museums, libraries and festivals.  Awarded grants/bursaries by Arts Council England, the Authors Foundation, the Arts and Humanities Research Council.

She is author of  a number of academic articles on Christopher Marlowe, and on the Shakespeare Authorship Question, and has given papers on these topics at conferences at Queens University Belfast, the University of Sussex, the Institute of Ideas, and The Globe Theatre in London.

She has taught creative writing to both adults and children since 1996, including 12 years running both undergraduate and postgraduate level creative writing courses at the University of Sussex.   She is the creator of the unique breakthrough creative writing course, Be the Writer you Dream of Being.