Hi. I’m Lou. I write fiction, poetry, plays and nonfiction and have supported countless numbers of writers with editorial feedback and mentoring. After doing a Creative Writing MA at The University of East Anglia in Norwich, I published two novels with Headline Review called The Water’s Edge and The Haven Home for Delinquent Girls, then I did a PhD (on hair) at Reading University, travelled round the world, became a Creative Writing lecturer and started a family. While I was on maternity leave, I wrote a book about breaking down your goals into managable steps, called the Small Steps Guide.
In 2017, I left my full-time job to focus on my writing and a year later I published my first short story collection, Unusual Places, which I wrote ‘live’ in quirky venues, mainly in London. I am currently working on a series of crime novels set in Norfolk / Suffolk border country where my grandparents lived for many years and my grandpa was a local minister.
I come from Bournemouth, where I grew up in self-catering holiday flatlets – I wrote about the experience in my first novel – but I spent a long time living in London, with brief stints in Norwich and Cambridge, where a trip to Ely to visit a former home for unmarried mothers inspired The Haven. I now live near Brighton with my wife and son and two black cats and work for the Open University, New Writing South, Creative Future and Jericho Writers. I also run my own online courses and have self-published several teaching and writing guides. Connect with me here.