Biography
I first came to
Scotland in 1977, from Liverpool, where I was born and studied for my
first
degree and (almost unused) teaching qualification, when I married my
husband Paul, a civil engineer. Between 1977 and 1982 we
had two children and moved around a lot. We lived in six different
houses in that time, including two in
Sri Lanka, where my husband was working on the Mahaveli Dam. Years
later, on reading DH Lawrence's letters, I discovered that one of these
was the lake-side house
in Kandy where he and Frieda had stayed in 1921. In 1982 we moved to
Stirling, where our third
child was born in 1986.
From 1984-8 I studied medieval romances at Stirling
University, under the supervision of the outstanding medievalist
Felicty J. Riddy, taking an M.Litt.in medieval romances, and also began
to learn about depth psychology and spirituality - particularly the
mysticism of the Christian monastic tradition. As
well as writing, I worked in the university chaplaincy from 1991-9,
helped to
run Stirling and District Youth Theatre during 1999-2002, and looked
after
an allotment and herb garden.
Since 2002 I have concentrated
on writing. Poems have appeared in Raindogs, Poetry Scotland,
Northwords Now, Brittle
Star, Gutter and Drey.
Reviews have appeared in NorthwordsNow.
Articles
on Christian mysticism have appeared in The Chapter, Spirituality and The Merton
Journal. In 2007 I completed a translation and commentary on the
medieval work, The Cloud of Unknowing.
A short play Big
Mac the Sheepstealer was produced by SDYT in 2001.
I'm active in the Transition
Movement and in the Scottish
Centre for Geopoetics. Other interests include
cooking, gardening, and
the environment, folk music and legends, ancient languages and
cultures.