I am a poet, workshop facilitator and community development facilitator based in Manchester (UK) working with organisations to develop communities through creative writing projects.

My work has been published in magazines and anthologies, including Flame (1990) and Healing Strategies For Women At War (1999). My solo poetry collection, Megalomaniac, was published by Salt in 2007 and has been a set text on the English degree at Lancaster University. I have co-edited two anthologies of poetry, written and presented for BBC radio, and have featured on The Verb and at Ledbury, Ilkley, and international Literature Festivals.

I particularly enjoy collaborating, whether with artists, organisations or workshop participants. My poetry has led me to work with directors, musicians, deaf signers and beatboxers. As a facilitator I have run workshops for academics, survivors of domestic violence, Asian women, men and women in prisons, and young people.

As a poet I have a particular interest in human rights, love, power and identity. As a facilitator I am interested in self expression as a means of engagement and empowerment. These complimentary interests led me to pioneer and run Hard Rain Poetry, a monthly local community creative writing and performance forum.