Blog
Burabay Reflections
Four days at Voices of Friends V taught me something unexpected about creative territories. Not the usual festival insights about networking or inspiration – something rawer. Watching Kazakhstani poets read alongside British writers, listening to Russian authors translate emotion into English in real-time, I realized we’re all performing translation. Not
The Algorithm Knows You Better Than You Do
Yesterday morning, whilst waiting for my flat white at Monmouth Coffee on Monmouth Street, I opened Goodreads to mark a book as finished. The app immediately suggested The Shards by Bret Easton Ellis. I stared at the recommendation for longer than seemed reasonable for someone standing in a coffee queue. I’d been
Project Mirror: Another Look
Four months into writing Project Mirror and I’m ready to share another piece. After the response to my first excerpt, several people asked to see more of how this world actually functions. This scene comes later in the book, when my protagonist starts noticing cracks in the system. A teenage
Finding Poetry in the Stacks
Spent yesterday at the National Poetry Library on the South Bank. Not planned, not strategic – just happened to be walking past and saw the sign. The building sits quietly next to the Royal Festival Hall. No grand entrance, no marketing banners. Just a door that says ‘Poetry Library’ in
Unexpected Connections at Wellcome
Yesterday’s research trip to Wellcome Library turned into something I hadn’t planned. I’d gone to explore their digital health archives for Project Mirror background material, but ended up in the kind of conversation that shifts how you think about your own work. A neuropsychologist studying identity disorders recognised the book
Cover Reveal
Project Mirror finally has a face, and it’s haunting in exactly the right way. The ornate mirror frame feels deliberately anachronistic against the digital ghost floating inside it. There’s something unsettling about classical beauty containing a glitched reflection. The designer understood what I’ve been writing about for two years: we’re
Shoreditch House and Uncomfortable Truths
Monday night at Shoreditch House with Lucy Foley reminded me why I rarely attend book club events. Most writer conversations feel rehearsed. This one didn’t. ELLE COLLECTIVE organized the evening and brought the right crowd. Foley talked about The Midnight Feast the way I think about Project Mirror. She pitched
2026: What I’m Planning
Literature Across Frontiers just confirmed a series of UK engagements for 2026 and I’m genuinely excited about this. June: LAF Intercultural Forum in Cardiff. Keynote reading plus workshops on writing across languages. Co-hosted with Literature Wales and Cardiff University. This is exactly the kind of work I want to be
Temporary Access Re-Released
I re-released Temporary Access because the psychological state I documented at pandemic borders turned out to be how everyone lives now. The collection follows twelve women navigating 2020-2021 when borders closed without warning and every permission was provisional. QR codes, visa applications, quarantine passes. I thought I was capturing an
