About
I am a short fiction writer from Stroud in Gloucestershire in the UK. I have been writing stories since 2011 (at the age of 59). I began entering competitions in the hope of having my work published in 2013.
My stories have been awarded First Prize in 5 competitions -
2018 Dorset Fiction Award
2016 InkTears Short Story Contest
2015 Worcestershire Literary Festival Flash Fiction Competition
2014 Momaya Press Short Story Competition
Additionally, I have won Second Prize in competitions run by Momaya Press and Multi-story.co.uk. And Third Prize in the 2020 Retreat West Short Story Competition.
I have also been runner-up/short listed/long listed/commended etc in competitions more than 60 times.
There's a full list of all award-winning and near miss stories here.
Over 100 of my stories have been published in magazines, online and anthologies, including in about 20 print-based anthologies, such as The Best Stories in a Decade (Momaya Press 2013), The Bath Short Story Award Anthology (2015), Knife Edge (2013), Edge of Passion (2014), Twisted Tales (Raging Aardvark 2014 and 2016), To Hull and Back (2016 and 2018), A Box Under the Stairs (NFFD 2016) and Deceiving Light (Dorset Fiction Award 2018).
I also sometimes submit my work to online literary journals and have had my stories published in a number including The Molotov Cocktail, Ellipsis Zine, Storgy, Spelk, The Phare, Truffle litmag, The Cabinet of Heed, Reflex Fiction, Bangor Literary Journal, Riot Act and NFFD.
There is a list of all published stories here.
Here is my Amazon page.
Read some stories here.
Despite being a nervous public reader initially I now try to read my stories in public whenever I can. I have met some lovely people by doing that. I have read in London, Birmingham, Bristol, Bath, Cheltenham (including at the Cheltenham Literature Festival), Stroud, Worcester and, of course, Hawkesbury Upton. My stories have also been broadcast on local radio stations.
In a past life I was a librarian and then a library campaigner, as well as a regular contributor to Punch (Sideswipes), BBC Radio 4 Comedy (Weekending) and BBC Radio 2 Comedy (The News Huddlines) in the 80s and early 90s. I also wrote for obscure and unpopular TV comedy shows which fortunately I can no longer recall.
Read or listen to some of my stories here.
Stroud Short Stories
In 2014 I became the organiser/editor of Stroud Short Stories. Launched in 2011, SSS is a twice-yearly non-profit making community event held in the spring and autumn of each year.
The aim is to encourage, showcase and promote contemporary short story writing in Gloucestershire.
SSS has a simple format. Local writers submit their stories. We choose ten. The authors read them to a packed audience.
We held both a special 5th birthday event in 2016 and a special 10th anniversary event in 2022 at the prestigious Cheltenham Literature Festival.
Our latest event was on Sunday 5 November 2023. The theme was LOVE. It was held at our regular venue the Cotswold Playhouse in Stroud.
Our next event is on Sunday 12 May 2024. The theme this time is change/changes/changing.
Ten stories have now been selected and their authors will performthem at the event.
The event take places on Sunday 12 May 2024 at the Cotswold Playhouse in Stroud at 7.30pm (doors 7.00).
All the info you need about about submitting to a future event or buying tickets is on the SSS website.
Tickets, priced at £12, are available from -
Stroud Short Stories Volume Three 2018-2022, our third SSS Anthology (pictured) was published in September 2022. At a whopping 316 pages, it contains 69 stories by 48 Gloucestershire authors. Each read at an event from November 2018 to May 2022. It’s priced at £12.
This anthology was Short Listed for a Saboteur Award as the Best UK Anthology of 2022-23.
More info about our this and our earlier anthologies here.
And of course on the SSS website -
http://stroudshortstories.blogspot.co.uk/
I hope that you can find what you want on my website. If not please let me know - my details are on the Contact page. Thank you for your interest.