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I wrote my first poem at the age of seven. It began something like this:

There was a young mermaid
a-floating on the sea,
when along came a handsome prince,
said, "Would you marry me?"

The second stanza revealed that the mermaid's name was Gail, which greatly pleased an eponymous teacher at my primary school.

I stopped writing poetry as a teenager, when I was old enough to recognise a naff rhyme, and focused my attention on short stories instead. At the tender age of 16, my story "Towards Freedom" was accepted for publication by the Scottish literary magazine Chapman (I was 18 by the time it appeared in print). However, my ability to write fiction seemed to dry up after I took a module on the short story at Durham. All those theories blocked my creativity.

Just before I turned 20, I visited my sister who was spending her gap year on the Caribbean island of Roatán. I journalled copiously while I was there, planning to write a travel article. No one was more surprised than me when a few months later, I sat down in my Brussels studio, got out my travel notes, opened a bottle of Leffe and wrote a poem. For the next year or so I was addicted - I couldn't help transforming all my significant experiences and memories into poetry. (Although not all my poems are autobiographical. Some, like "The Cliff", are abstract, while others, especially "Rubicon", "Writing" and "Back", are 100% fiction.)

Since then, real life has got in the way and I haven't written as much as I would have liked. However, I am now studying for an MA and working on a dissertation about poetry translation. I hope to add some more poems and translations to these pages soon! I am also hoping to get some of my poetry published.

You will be able to see more of my work if you add me as a friend (you will need to wait for me to add you too).

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