About
Thanks again for supporting my writing journey …
|
|
|
The Quirks
|
I'm partial to vintage dresses and wear them at every opportunity, even if I’m almost always overdressed. My music taste is off the wall, everything from Ella Fitzgerald to Iron Maiden. I like to travel to places where the scenery and culture blow the mind. Most of all, I love to spend lazy and crazy days with my family. We have a jet black Spoodle who thinks he’s Paddington Bear. He likes to eat and do everything we do, except wear Christmas jumpers. He HATES Christmas jumpers.
|
The Ride
|
My life has been a rollercoaster, with so many rich experiences along the way. I was born in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, where I lived in a council estate in an area housing predominately underprivileged families. My childhood was spent dreaming of being a writer and reading Enid Blyton with a torch way past my bedtime.
I always wanted to explore life outside of northern England, so at a young age, I bought a one-way ticket to London. Life in the big smoke was a juggernaut of new experiences. I met Shaun on my nineteenth birthday, who has been my husband and soul mate for almost three decades. In 1996, not long after Nelson Mandela was released from his incarceration on Robben Island, Shaun and I made the decision to move to Cape Town, where we married on the beach overlooking Table Mountain. South Africa is a place of so many contrasts and this post-apartheid era heavily influenced my writing. Life then took us to Scotland where we lived on a farm and had two beautiful children. It was a wonderful escape from the busy technology world I was working in, until circumstances took us back to South Africa for the second time. I took a career break to enjoy being a mother. For three blissful years, I wrote in earnest. We were living in a small fishing village overlooking a lighthouse, but South Africa was dogged with political problems and violent crime, some which effected our family. I was allowed into a prison cell as part of my research and my novel, The Pinstripe Prisoner was born. |
|
The Leap of Faith
|
In 2010, we uprooted yet again, this time to Australia. Today, we live in Sydney, where I am Managing Director on the executive team of a global provider of outsourcing solutions, supporting governments in the delivery of critical citizen services.
I work with amazing talent, have travelled to over sixty countries, and play a small part in providing work to thousands of people every day. It’s incredibly enriching. My children are growing up surrounded by stunning beaches where they enjoy the outdoor life. Family life does not get any better than that. |
|
The Crystal Ball
My dedication to writing continues with a ferocious passion. My laptop and I have developed a special relationship that only my poor husband can truly appreciate. In 2017, I was lucky enough to be signed by The Newman Agency – for any writer, that moment of securing agent representation is unforgettable!
The 2019 launch of Graffiti Lane, my debut poetry collection, took my writing career to new heights as it hit the Number 1 poetry bestseller spot in the UK and Australia. It's been a privilege to leverage the platform this has provided, particularly in promoting antibullying initiatives within the youth community. Graffiti Lane showcased at the London Book Fair and was gifted to Australian Gold Logie Award Nominees as well as Hollywood celebrities including Stephen Spielberg, Quentin Tarantino, Martin Scorsese, Brad Pitt, Robert De Niro, Leonardo DiCaprio, Scarlett Johansson, Margot Robbie, Cate Blanchett, Ellen DeGeneres, Lady Gaga, Jennifer Aniston, The Kardashians, J-Lo, and Rihanna. Graffiti Lane was also presented to 2020 Oscar Winners and Nominees, featuring on the celebrity news segment on CBS KCAL TV in Los Angeles.
My second poetry book, Punch and Judy, is a #1 bestseller focusing on a turbulent relationship and domestic violence. Rolling in the Mud, my short story collection was published in 2020 via Ginninderra Press. My latest poetry book, Retrospective, was released in April 2021 and hit the #1 slot on launch day. My novel, The Pinstripe Prisoner, was published in 2022 and subsequently won the Society of Women Writers NSW Fiction Book of the Year.
I'm grateful to have been awarded a First Edition Fellowship through Katharine Susannah Pritchard Writers’ Centre funded by the Western Australian Department of Local Government, Sports and Cultural Industries and Lotterywest. I'm also a double Roar Success Award winner for Best Book (Graffiti Lane) and Most Powerful Influencer and am incredibly proud to be the winner of the AusMumpreneur Big Idea (Changing the World) Award for my work using the written, spoken, and visual word to generate awareness and change around social issues such as bullying and domestic violence. In 2023, I was awarded two bronze Women Changing the World Awards for Thought Leader of the Year and Women in Corporate. To everyone who held out their hand to pull me up and steady me on my feet over the years, these awards are yours as much as they are mine.
My journey to where I am today has been magical and I’m looking forward to the unknown chapters ahead.
Appreciate you reading XXX
The 2019 launch of Graffiti Lane, my debut poetry collection, took my writing career to new heights as it hit the Number 1 poetry bestseller spot in the UK and Australia. It's been a privilege to leverage the platform this has provided, particularly in promoting antibullying initiatives within the youth community. Graffiti Lane showcased at the London Book Fair and was gifted to Australian Gold Logie Award Nominees as well as Hollywood celebrities including Stephen Spielberg, Quentin Tarantino, Martin Scorsese, Brad Pitt, Robert De Niro, Leonardo DiCaprio, Scarlett Johansson, Margot Robbie, Cate Blanchett, Ellen DeGeneres, Lady Gaga, Jennifer Aniston, The Kardashians, J-Lo, and Rihanna. Graffiti Lane was also presented to 2020 Oscar Winners and Nominees, featuring on the celebrity news segment on CBS KCAL TV in Los Angeles.
My second poetry book, Punch and Judy, is a #1 bestseller focusing on a turbulent relationship and domestic violence. Rolling in the Mud, my short story collection was published in 2020 via Ginninderra Press. My latest poetry book, Retrospective, was released in April 2021 and hit the #1 slot on launch day. My novel, The Pinstripe Prisoner, was published in 2022 and subsequently won the Society of Women Writers NSW Fiction Book of the Year.
I'm grateful to have been awarded a First Edition Fellowship through Katharine Susannah Pritchard Writers’ Centre funded by the Western Australian Department of Local Government, Sports and Cultural Industries and Lotterywest. I'm also a double Roar Success Award winner for Best Book (Graffiti Lane) and Most Powerful Influencer and am incredibly proud to be the winner of the AusMumpreneur Big Idea (Changing the World) Award for my work using the written, spoken, and visual word to generate awareness and change around social issues such as bullying and domestic violence. In 2023, I was awarded two bronze Women Changing the World Awards for Thought Leader of the Year and Women in Corporate. To everyone who held out their hand to pull me up and steady me on my feet over the years, these awards are yours as much as they are mine.
My journey to where I am today has been magical and I’m looking forward to the unknown chapters ahead.
Appreciate you reading XXX
|
|
|
|
|
