About me

Hello! I'm Liz. 

I am a writer, performer and tutor based in Manchester. I write poetry, fiction, and for the theatre. I am inspired by themes of community, city life, queerness, neurodivergence, body image, and mental health, as well as by travel, the natural world, and folklore. I was awarded a DYCP grant by Arts Council England in 2021, to develop my poetry and performance.

I have been commissioned / sponsored as a writer-performer by:

• The Portico Library, for the Rewriting Manchester project, 2022-23
• Islington Mill, Salford, for the Workers' Rights project, 2022
• Oldham Coliseum, for projects including the 2022 Secondary Partnerships Scheme, and the 2021 Advent Plays
• Superbia (Manchester Pride), to develop and perform my one-person show at Turn On Fest, 2022
• Fatty Acid Queer Cabaret, Salford, as a workshop leader and performer, 2022
• Yorkshire Dance, for the Writing Dance project, 2020-21
• Dibby Theatre, for the First Dibs project, to write my one-person show, 2021
• Beatfreeks, for the Little Things project, 2021
• The Writing Squad, for the Not About Now project, 2020
• Manchester Literature Festival, for the Take Ten project, 2018

In 2020, my poem "Arrival" was selected by Manchester City of Literature to be part of the Tartu Bus Poetry Project in Estonia, and it currently appears on bus windows in Tartu, representing Manchester. 

I am a graduate of The Writing Squad and Young Identity (who I represented at One Mic Stand in 2019), and a member of Out on the Page.

Performance

I regularly perform at open-mic nights and journal launches. I have also performed at Walk for Women, the LGBT Foundation, One Mic Stand, and The Poetry Café. I use my poetry to raise awareness of queer rights, mental health, living with PCOS, self-love, and the environment and animal welfare.

Awards and prizes

I was a I was a winner of the New North Poets Prize at the 2017 Northern Writers' Awards, and have been shortlisted for the Poetry Business New Poets Prize, and the Creative Future Literary Awards. In 2016, I won Second Prize in the Poetry Society's Timothy Corsellis Prize with my poem "Barthelasse".

Publications

My poetry or fiction has appeared / is upcoming in...

Journals including: 

The Adriatic, Antiphon, Atrium, Bangor Literary Journal, Cake, Cardiff Review, Coast to Coast to Coast, Confingo, Confluence, Creative Review, Far Off Places, Fictive Dream, Fruit Journal, Gigantic Sequins, Giving Room Mag, Here Comes Everyone, Impossible Archetype, Ink, Sweat & Tears, The Kindling, Kissing Dynamite, Lampeter Review, Lighthouse, Litro, Magma, Marble Poetry, Mechanics' Institute Review, Open Pen, Picaroon Poetry, The Poetry Shed, The Poetry Village, Popshot, Porridge Magazine, Powders Press, Queerlings, Riggwelter Press, Severine, Skirting Around

Sonder, Storgy, The Storms, Strix, Tales From the Forest, Thorn Durham, Under the Radar, Untitled Writing, Visual Verse, with confetti, York Literary Review, 404 Ink.

Anthologies including:

• Changeling Annual
• Trees, Seas and Attitude (Black Cat Poetry Press)
• Mancunian Ways (Fly on the Wall)
• Under Your Pillow (Victorina Press)
• Buzzin Bards 2020 and 2022 Anthologies
• Introduction X: The Poetry Business Book of New Poets
• Mind Full of Art (Open Mind Manchester)
• GASP by the New North Poets (The Poetry School)
• No Disclaimers (Young Identity)
• Troubadour (Picaroon Poetry)
• What She Knew (Papaya Press)

You can further explore my poetry here, and my fiction here.

Journalism and essays

I was Poet-in-Residence for The Poetry Business in February 2021, and I wrote about how walking, nature, and writing work together in my practice. 

My essay, "Becoming myself in the city" was commissioned and published by Aurelia Magazine as part of the Future Hope series, a collaboration with Manchester International Festival. 

I have written for Yorkshire Dance about discovering my body, and new freedoms, through movement.

I was a Digital Reporter for Manchester Literature Festival from 2012 - 2020. I was also a regular contributor to The Mancunion, Now Then Manchester, Cuckoo Review, and Global Graduates, and I was a reviewer for The Cadaverine and Structo. 

You can find links to my journalistic and non-fiction work here.

Languages and blogging

I work as a personal tutor in ESOL, French and Spanish. I have an Integrated Professional Masters in Languages: French and Spanish from the University of Manchester.

I have been studying Mandarin Chinese since 2012, and completed the Study China programme in Beijing in 2012-13. 

I have also been learning Irish for a few years, and I play tin whistle in an Irish music group.

You can read all about my travel adventures during my degree on my blog.

Editing

I spent four years at Miracle Magazine, as Fiction Editor and then as Head Poetry Editor. From 2017 to 2019, I curated the Word Life section of Now Then Manchester. In 2016, I founded my own online magazine, Foxglove Journal, which I edit, and for which I also provide all of the photography.

I hope you enjoy exploring my blog, and learning more about my work.

Elizabeth