About Me

Welcome to my portfolio! I am a freelance writer and artist studying MA English Literature at the University of Plymouth. My studies have initiated a love affair with books by authors like Herman Melville, while H. G. Wells and John Wyndham inspired the idea for my apocalyptic narrative. I lose myself in nature as well as novels; Plymouth’s proximity to both ocean and countryside offers a plethora of literal and figurative themes to employ in my writing. Sometimes, however, my mind is too cluttered to write coherently, and I turn to art instead. Drawing, painting, and crafting slow my thoughts so I can express them again through my greatest passion.

I write fiction, nonfiction and, more recently, poetry, but creative nonfiction is my preference because it encourages exploration of my reality with an artistic twist. Consequently, my creative nonfiction essays are powerful because they describe deeply personal experiences, such as bullying, loss, and mental health difficulties. The details can be distressing to recall, but trapping them in ink is cathartic. I hope sharing my story helps those struggling with similar situations; if just one person feels less alone, revealing my vulnerabilities will be worth the risk. 

It is very hard to understand the battles a person with mental health issues faces unless one has experienced their own. I am, therefore, working on a collection of creative nonfiction essays for readers who are unfamiliar with depression, anxiety, and PTSD. Each essay adopts an unconventional approach to illustrate the impacts of those disorders on my life by aligning them with quotidian events; after all, relatability facilitates empathy. I intend to publish my essays as a book to advocate for a more compassionate society that works for both abled and disabled people.

My story is not the only one to appear in my writing; I help others convey their stories. However, I interview many people who sadly believe they have nothing exciting or significant to share. That is always untrue. Every individual is unique, but a different perspective is usually required to see that in oneself; as Doctor Wayne Dyer famously said, ‘change the way you look at things, and the things you look at change’. I work with each person to free their story from familiarity and reframe it as creative nonfiction. Collectively, these stories celebrate the diversity of human experience, from the so-called mundane to the monumental.

Dyer’s quote also applies to literature; I often change the way I look at (that is, read) a narrative by considering it from a creative perspective. Producing a book review or editorial project which persuades (or dissuades) its audience to engage with the original inevitably reveals nuances not initially apparent. The narrative I am looking at changes, then, because my understanding of it has altered. Together, these pieces document my evolving relationship with literature and, by extenson, the world and I refer to them when reflecting on my journey as a writer, artist, and person.

My academic research has focused on representations of literacy in 19th-century colonialist narratives about Polynesia. European and American writers, explorers, and missionaries asserted that Polynesians were preliterate before the West’s arrival because they could not read or write in the Latin alphabet. However, Herman Melville recognised the notion as a fallacy. My undergraduate dissertation deconstructed Melville’s depictions of Polynesian tattooing to demonstrate that a different but equally valid writing system was already well-established in many communities. I plan to develop my research in my MA dissertation.

For more information about my education and to read about my work history, please see my LinkedIn profile. 

I am open for commissions and collaborations. Please contact me here.