Edited Books and Anthologies
Garden Among Fires: An Anthology of Writing in Lockdown
Contributor (editor, Marina Benjamin, DodoInk 2020)
In March 2020, the UK was plunged into lockdown. Author Marina Benjamin set up a blog inviting writers around the world to share poems, essays and stories describing how their lives had changed during the pandemic. Over 40 of these contributions are now published in this inspiring anthology, Garden Among Fires, offering a moving snapshot of life under lockdown in India, Australia, France, Sweden, Italy, Germany, and the UK.
My contribution was written in the very first week of lockdown, a deeply surreal moment in time, in which normal life abruptly came to a halt and the whole country seemed to be waiting, holding its breath. The sun shone, the birds sang, and two lines from Andrew Marvell's poem The Garden kept running through my mind: 'Annihilating all that's made / To a green thought in a green shade'.
All sales proceeds go to the charity Refuge.
Anthologies of Writing from Larkmead School
When the Bell Rings
Editor (editor, First Story/OUP, 2011)
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Editor (editor, First Story/OUP, 2012)
One of the best things about teaching creative writing in schools is the endless capacity of kids to surprise you. I was lucky enough to spend two years as a First Story Writer in Residence working with teenagers at a large comprehensive school in Oxfordshire. We met for a couple of hours each week for a creative writing workshop and at the end of the year I edited an anthology of their fabulous, quirky, sad, funny stories and poems.
First Story is a brilliant organisation that works to change lives through writing. Amongst other things, First Story places professional writers in state schools across the country where they work directly with students, helping young people to find their voice and honour their innate creativity. It's an experience that really does change lives. If you don't know about First Story, you can read more here.
The Newnham Year
Editor (Third Millennium Publishing Ltd, 2011)
I read English at Newnham College, Cambridge back in the 80s and was very honoured thirty years later to be invited to join the editorial board, led by the inspiring and indefatigable Penny Hubbard, to create this gorgeous commemorative volume.
The Newnham Year celebrates the college's 140th anniversary and is a beautiful record of a year in the life of the college, containing not only pictures of the official face of Newnham, but the story of what happens behind the scenes as the terms progress. The photographs are linked by memories and captions by alumnae, students, staff and senior members.
Blue Print for a Green Planet
Editor (editor, Dorling Kindersley, 1987)
My first job out of university was as an editor for publisher Dorling Kindersley in their Covent Garden offices in Central London. Blueprint for a Green Planet by John Seymour and Herbert Girardet was one of the first books I did for them, working alongside brilliant colleagues, designerJane Owen and project editor David Burnie. I was pretty green myself back then (in the wrong way) and didn't appreciate what an honour it was to be working with John Seymour, the founding father of the self-sufficiency movement in Great Britain. David was older and wiser, and rightly excited when we were invited to drive out to Wales to visit John on his farm in Pembrokeshire where he lived according to his own principles and dictums. He died in 2004 and was buried in the top field of his farm in an orchard he planted himself. Blueprint For A Green Planet was way ahead of its time. Sadly out of print, its predictions, warnings and excellent advice are still relevant and I'm incredibly proud of this book to this day.
“This book is all those who recognise that the present course of the 'consumer' society is on a collision course with nature. It describes how to live life in harmony with nature and shows the illogical consequences of this plastic age, and makes one start to reflect, certainly for persons like me, in late 30s/early 40s, who remember a slower and more deeper way of life when we were children.
More seriously, it makes one ponder on the source of our milder winters and the concept of pollution/global warming behind it. Further, it shows the way our grandparents used to live and their use of non-synthetic substances for personal needs and emphasises links with disease and mass-produced goods and food. The book highlights many useful tips on how to minimise the consequences of human action on the environment and the morality of bringing food to the West from some of the World's poorest countries.”
— Amazon Review