Written Portraits

October is coming which means warm scarves, woolly jumpers, colourful leaves and Made in Roath are just around the corner! Although we’ve got an excellent poetry and literature programme planned, I am most excited to be organising another Written Portraits event for the upcoming festival. Run for this first time at Solstice in June, this…

Solstice Festival

After freelancing seven days a week from September to May, I look forward to taking back my weekends each summer. For me these days mean lots of tea, new poetry collections, and as much writing as I can manage. Often, I also squeeze in a few walks, documentaries and drinks with friends. They allow me…

Mobile Home

Lately I’ve been thinking about home, where it is, what it means. Although I live in the UK, I was born in America and there are people there I miss – friends, family, former professors, the lovely strangers on the train to Philadelphia. But, I don’t feel at home there. When I am away from…

Made in Roath

Not long ago a friend from London told me that she has never traveled to Angel – one of my favorite little parts of the world famous capital. There’s a canal there and a small bar that plays jazz. There is a tree that hangs so far over a wrought iron fence that when I…

Death Writing

My father passed away in July of this year. It was a strange experience to have someone tell me this over the phone from thousands of miles away. After I hung up I sat quietly for a while before writing “All that’s left of him is stories now” in the last page of my notebook….

Moving Stories: Made in Roath Bookmobile

When I was young I learned the hard way that I am not the most handy person. Growing up on a farm this shortcoming grew tiresome – building fences, stacking hay bales, and carrying water buckets often left me bruised, itchy, and damp. In spite of this though, I still decided to build a bookmobile…