I grew up in London, going to Godolphin and Latymer as a full-bursary student back in 1981. I spent nine years in higher education doing an honours in English Literature and Language (Oxford), several masters (York, Oxford), a doctorate (Oxford) and a teacher training certificate (London). These years of study were paused when I worked in advertising, travelled widely, and taught and lectured at Oxford. Back in London, I taught English at St Paul’s Girls’ School in London for nine years until 2011, where I ran the Creative Writing Group and was awarded the title of 'Teacher Trailblazer' by the Poetry Society. After some tutoring in London and delivering various creative writing workshops to teachers and students in London schools, I found my way to South West France where I have been working as an online tutor.

 

The big passions in my life are teaching, reading (check out my profile on GoodReads) and writing. I am a contributor to the wonderful journal Slightly Foxed, have written some academic pieces including one for AQA A Level English Literature handbook, and a few pieces about my Camino de Santiago in 2017 have made it into print. I am also working on a novel: the first draft was long-listed for a creative writing award; I am now working on the third and hopefully final draft.

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I love travelling and this has informed my writing and my choice of reading. I worked as an adventure travel tour guide for over two years in my late twenties and this gave me the chance to discover all about the culture and history of countries such as Jordan, China, and Egypt. Travelling inevitably inspired a love of languages and in October 2018 I sat a French exam for non-native speakers; this was an interesting experience for me and I was curious to see if I was able to follow my own advice for studying.

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I enjoy sports too: yoga and swimming are hugely important to me; I SCUBA dive and ski; and I walk all the time, being lucky enough to live in the middle of a stunning landscape. In the autumn of 2017, I walked 1376 km to Fisterra in Spain, along the Camino de Santiago de Compostela, raising over £5000 for ME research; and in January 2020 I went to New Zealand, experiencing some wonderful landscapes. More recently, I have been getting to know France better - walking more of the Chemin de Compostelle and going on yoga retreats in other parts of the country (learning to do yoga in French along the way).

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