Writing
I became a full-time writer in 2017, following a long career as a film maker in documentary and drama (BAFTA Cymru Awards, Oscar Foreign-language entrant et al). I worked on more than 100 documentaries and factual programmes and taught for five years on MA degrees in Documentary Practice at the School of Journalism, Cardiff University. I spent 8 years working in feature film development, production and writing.
A Writer’s Bursary from Literature Wales helped me move into writing and complete my collection of 26 short stories set in Wales, Northern Ireland and Italy. A City Burning was published by Seren Books in 2020. It was longlisted for the Edge Hill Short Story Prize 2021. One of the stories, All Through The Night was published in Crannog which nominated it for the Pushcart Prize. Geraint Lewis reads from it here: All Through The Night
A SIAP Award from the Arts Council of Northern Ireland supported my collection of poetry, published by Seren Books 2022 Sanctuary: There Must Be Somewhere .
(Reviews of both books via the links to the Seren Books website.)
August 2024 brought, STAR: Poems for the Christmas Season, a 56-page collection of 32 poems, with illustrations by Martin Erspamer, published by Culture And Democracy Press. This was chosen by The Books Council of Wales as its Book of the Month, December 2024.
A second SIAP Award supported my prose and poetry exploration of Place and Displacement in Northern Ireland. This will be my next published work.
I was Libraries Wales Writer of the Month, December 2024 and in December 2022.
In Ulster-Scots:
- First Prize for Poetry in the inaugural Linen Hall Ulster-Scots Writing Competition 2021
- poetry in Yarns, an anthology of Ulster-Scots Writing 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024.
- A half-hour documentary about my work in the tv series A Mighty Mallet 2023
- Twice shortlisted in the Francis Browne Poetry Competition
- I feature in Northern Ireland Screen’s new archive of writers in Ulster-Scots.
- Double Band’s hour-long BBC documentary on women writing in the Ulster-Scots tradition, Out Of The Silence, includes an interview with me and a reading; due early 2025.
- Second Prize Shipyard Writers Competition 2024
- A third SIAP Award helped to develop my novel Thorn which is about the politics of language (Irish and Ulster-Scots) in contemporary Northern Ireland.
- Makar o the Month for the Scots Language Centre, February 2024
Since 2018 my poetry has been widely published, for instance in The Honest Ulsterman, The Bangor Literary Journal, The Open Ear, Infinite Rust, The Ogham Stone, The Interpreter’s House, Black Bough Poems, The Lonely Crowd, New City and the special issue of The North, 2019 devoted to contemporary Irish Poetry.
Poems have been included in many anthologies, such as the CAP Arts anthologies 2020 and 2024 drawn from entries to the Seamus Heaney Award for New Writing, and in anthologies by Dedalus Press, Arachne Press, Parthian Books, 3 volumes of Arlen House’s Washing Windows series of Irish women’s poetry and 3 of The Broken Spine’s Slimline anthologies and 5 from Black Bough. I was Black Bough’s featured poet of the month January 2021
I contributed to the composite poem Litany For Ireland for Poetry Day Ireland and to Carl Griffin’s curated poem Arrival At Elsewhere and been featured in the online anthology A Plague of Poems.
My poem, The Irish Civil War was featured in the Poetry As Commemoration Poetry Jukebox on Derry’s walls, 2023 and 2 other poems are in the project (see link).
I am also a journalist and reviewer.
Writing
Television
In November 2022 I was awarded an Honorary Life Fellowship by the Institute of Welsh Affairs in recognition of ‘an outstanding contribution to creating a better Wales’ through my work on media and democracy.
I am an award-winning producer in documentary and cinema and a BAFTA Cymru nominee for screenwriting and production. Having begun my career in ITV Wales, I spent eight years as a producer at one of Britain’s rare production co-operatives, the phenomenal Teliesyn. I’ve enjoyed making more than 100 documentaries and factual programmes for BBC, ITV, S4C and Channel 4, including The Story of Wales. This landmark BBC history of the nation, presented by Huw Edwards won 2 BAFTA Cymru Awards.
I was producer and co-screenwriter of the feature film Branwen, an entry from Wales to the Foreign-language category of the Oscars and Best Film at the Celtic Media Awards. It earned 6 BAFTA Cymru nominations, including Best Film and Best Screenwriter. It won the Drama Prize at the Celtic Media Festival and the Silver Star for Best First Feature Film at the Houston Film Festival. I was screenwriter on projects set in Italy, Romania and Ireland.
I was a lecturer in Documentary Practice at Cardiff University for five years. I have had a career-long interest in media politics, chairing the Media Policy Group of the Institute of Welsh Affairs. I am a trainer for CULT Cymru of professionals belonging to the Creative Unions: Equity, Prospect/BECTU, Writers’ Guild and Musicians’ Union.
Television
Radio
I was shortlisted for the Jerusalem Award for Radio in 2012. I contribute regularly to BBC Radio Wales as a writer and interviewee. I presented a highly regarded documentary for BBC Wales to commemorate the centenary of World War 1, Of Mourning and Memory. I have contributed to many radio programmes.
