ABOUT ME
I am the author of three novels, two novellas and over forty short stories. The first of his trilogy of novels began with Abide with Me (2012) and was completed with Everybody Hurts (2019), the entire trilogy published in one volume by Fahrenheit Press as Shining Like Rainbows (2020). My writing seeks to explore the stark reality of my characters with honesty, empathy and understanding, informed by my twenty years’ experience as a qualified counsellor in the East London area.
Although I left school at fifteen and went on to enjoy / endure four years as a van boy, three months in a record shop, five years in a factory, twenty years in mental health and five years in a primary school, I became a qualified counsellor and gained a First in English Literature at the Open University. I am now a Fellow of the Royal Literary Fund at the University of East London working with students to improve the quality of their writing and am a regular columnist for Writing Magazine - the biggest selling writing magazine in the UK. I also regularly run Creative Writing workshops in several junior schools in East London.
Since 2014, I have taught the Beginners and Advanced Creative Writing workshops for Pen to Print — an Arts Council funded project based in the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham. As well as creating and teaching the workshops, I am involved in the mentoring side of the project whereby I mentor individual writers on a one-to-one basis for a year, taking them through the process of writing their debut novel.
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In May 2023 I was part of a panel at the Hay Festival discussing how writers from disenfranchised or marginalised backgrounds need to have a greater voice within publishing industry.
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I live with my wife and youngest daughter in Romford, Essex and spend my time reading, writing, playing my beloved electric guitar and supporting the mighty Dagenham and Redbridge F.C.