I am a 56 year old British university graduate in English & American Literature, who has worked in a range of fields including; libraries, education, information management, communication and electronic document retrieval as well as in web development and user centred design. I am retired and am now studying for a Creative Writing MA in the UK. 

I have 2 daughters, 4 cats plus a chocolate labrador. I enjoy writing short stories and a little poetry because it is so different to the writing I did while at work. This was mainly factual, instructive or informational material and included adult training on communication issues.

I enjoy reading literature, going to the opera and watching both current and old film. I enjoy BBC4 factual programmes on history, archaeology and nature and like to write about stories based in a specific historical context. 

Books I have enjoyed recently include; "Wolf Hall" by Hilary Mantel and "Contested Will" by James Shapiro. I like a story with a bit of mystery and history combined e.g. I loved Geraldine Brooks "People of the Book" and Elizabeth Kostova's 2 dark novels - the "The Historian" and " The Swan Thieves".

My desire to write is based on an interest in people's reading habits grounded in my librarian's training plus a love of history,  Western European culture and stories of all kinds. I don't believe in intellectual literary fiction unless it is accessible to everyone and would believe myself successful as a writer if I was read by a range of people. I have recently read a whole selection of Scandinavian crime fiction ( Stig Larson and Jo Nesbo ) but I do not feel drawn to emulating that genre myself, although I applaud their ability to apply suspense and grab their readers.