Literacy Expert may sound a bit of a catch-all term, but it brings together the strands of an entire career that has been linked with reading and writing, as if I wanted to honour the first compliment I remember receiving from a teacher when I was 6: “he’s very good with words.” Reading Lewis Carroll, writing Alice in Wonderland-inspired fantasies under a tree in the garden led to studying English Literature at university. 

My work life began as an editor and, after CELTA training at International House, teaching English Language for Business, training consultants in presentation skills, and undertaking accent work with actors. I even spent four months working exclusively with a Japanese writer translating a Harry Potter novel. It was broad experience that gave me a strong sense of the nuances of English and how it is used to communicate. 

This language training still underpins my freelance work, but wanting a more creative discipline I began to teach one-to-one English lessons with young people - KS2/3 to A-Levels. My 5000+ hours of teaching over a decade built up an understanding of how to instil a love of literature in young people of mixed ability; to experiment with different methods if the established ones failed. 

This led to working with Connexus Academic for the last 10 years, with their international client base in Italy, France, Monaco and Switzerland, working closely with students and authoring literacy and creative writing programmes as well as curating cultural programmes and sometimes taking on a long-term mentorship role. The freedom to devise educational programmes has taught me how to construct courses that both entertain and stimulate. 

I am a course director at Immerse Education, teaching creative writing to 16-18 year olds 2021-2023 at the Cambridge University summer school, as well as lecturing on their online platform through the year. I devised the English Literature section of their Immerse Futures course as well as the summer course in Creative Writing and English Literature. 

I have written literacy resources for Oxford University Press and was an associate consultant with the National Literacy Trust. I produced the course material for the NLT prisons’ project for three years, as well as authoring the principal workbook for the project. My business copy-writing experience includes websites and promotional materials.

Publications

One day I'll write it...   

National Literacy Trust

Where to Look                              

Prompt Arts Publishing