Who am I?

When I was eight, my local library gave me a prize: a green bookmark printed with a poem I had written about the power of reading, and a copy of Charlotte’s Web, which I still treasure. That bookmark reminds me how long words have felt like home, how reading and writing have always been a thread through my life.

Over the years, I’ve followed that thread into many forms: teaching literature and writing at universities in the US, studying English and later Creative Writing for Therapeutic Purposes, exploring how words can connect, sustain, and transform us.

All along, reading and writing have never been far from my hands. They have accompanied me across countries and seasons of life, sometimes as private rituals, sometimes as shared practice. I’ve found them to be as much about listening as expression, as much about discovery as articulation.

I’m also a casual weaver, and the rhythm of handwork often slips quietly into my writing life—the patience of the process, the surprise of patterns emerging.

Now, my focus is on creating spaces where stories—whether read, written, or remembered—become a way to reflect, reconnect, and imagine anew.

What I Read

For enjoyment, right now I’m reading James by Percival Everett, having recenly finished Blue August by Deborah Levy. I enjoy re-tellings of myths, like Margaret Atwood’s The Penelopiad and Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller. In preparation for a retreat I’m co-facilitating next year, I’m reading Daniel Mendelsohn’s new translation of Homer’s Odyssey alongside Why Homer Matters by Adam Nicolson.

What I Write

I write poetry, blogs, short stories, articles and personal reflections. Here’s a sampling:

What It Means to Come Home: Reading The Odyssey on Agistri

Paying Attention: Virginia Woolf’s ‘Kew Gardens’

The Paleocology of Ponds

‘Woven Poems’, Lapidus Magazine, Issue Six (2025)

What Do I Do?

I facilitate creative writing for wellbeing workshops and shared reading at the London Literary Salon and volunteer as a group leader for The Reader Organisation. I’m co-editor of Lapidus Magazine.

What Do People Say?

“An unexpected bonus for me was Alison’s writing groups. I went with a lot of trepidation, wanting, but not expecting to be able to write anything creative – even though I have wanted to do so for years. I have come back with a notebook full of fragments, embryonic poems, and ideas. We were told to dismiss our inner critic, and thanks to the time limits- (5 minutes to write a poem!) – my ‘busy old fool’ – (a Welsh Methodist superego) – never got a chance to stick his thin nose into the process, or to sniff disapprovingly at my unruly spontaneity.” -MB