I am a writer, poet, editor, and researcher based in the West Midlands.

Poetry

My Forward-nominated debut poetry collection, The Way the Water Held Me, was published by The Emma Press in 2026. The collection is a mesmeric plunge into the caring, grief, loss and love experienced by a young widow. It has been described by Liz Berry as ‘a beautiful, heartbreaking book’, while Fiona Benson has called it ‘essential, transformative reading’. You can find out more about The Way the Water Held Me here.

I am a Magma Selected Poet and my writing has been published widely in journals and anthologies, including Under the Radar, New Welsh Reader, Propel, Lighthouse, and Ink Sweat & Tears.

I am a Writing West Midlands Room 204 writer and a 2025/26 Nine Arches Press Dynamo Poet.

I won third place in the Kathryn Bevis Memorial Poetry Competition (2025) with my poem ‘Her Worldly Goods’.

Academic Writing

I have published widely on Mary Shelley, Lord Byron, H.G. Wells, post-apocalyptic literature (specifically that depicting the Last Man on Earth), and the Gothic.

I am the author of the Connell Short Guide to the Gothic and my essays have been published in leading journals including Romanticism and The Byron Journal, and in the Encyclopaedia of the Gothic (Wiley-Blackwell). I have also written articles for English Review, Issues in English, and The Conversation.

I have reviewed for Romanticism, The Byron Journal, British Academy Review, The BARS Review, The Routledge Annotated Bibliography of English Studies, and La Questione Romantica.

I hold degrees (including a PhD) in English Literature from the University of Oxford and the University of Bristol. I have taught at the University of Oxford as a lecturer and a postdoctoral Fellow.

I am a former British Academy Rising Star award holder. My research has been funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council.

Editing

I am an editor at Dust Poetry and have guest-edited issues of Romantic Textualities and Issues in English. 

I was a member of the inaugural Emma Press Birmingham Editorial Readers Group. This involved being a first reader of manuscripts following an open submissions call and reading long-listed manuscripts from another call in order to form a shortlist and ultimately assist in choosing three manuscripts to publish.

Availability

I am available for mentoring, teaching, readings/literary festivals, manuscript appraisal, school/library visits, editing, and competition judging.