Emma has been writing and performing poetry, prose and theatre for nearly 20 years and facilitating workshops for nearly 10. She is particularly interested in the power of writing and the sharing of words as ‘medicine’ for the individual and the community. She is based in the North of England in a landscape she loves and spends time in every day.
Writer
Journalling has been Emma’s longest writing practice, hugely important to her throughout her life as well as the beginning for much of her creative work. She started writing Poetry and Spoken Word in 2007, taking her words out of the private space, finding her voice, performing and connecting with others. From 2007-2010 she had guest poet spots all over the North and a slam win at the world famous Uptown Poetry Slam in Chicago in 2010. The death of her father in 2009 inspired huge reflection plus a world trip following his footsteps, and ultimately took her writing in a different direction – developing her first solo autobiographical theatrical show, followed by a second a few years later. Emma has also written feature journalism and blogs. She continues to write in all these forms – poetry, prose, theatre – plus her old friend the diary. Most of her writing is consumable via performance and some links on this website. She has a pamphlet of poems available here Words in the Wild Pamphlet. Photography, film and crafts are also part of her creative palette.
‘Emma’s dynamic subtlety leaving you feeling both fulfilled and entertained, something that doesn’t happen too often.’ Poet Gerry Potter
Performer
Emma had a love of theatre from a child and did a degree in English and Drama at Aberystwyth University. After a difficult period in early adulthood she found her way back to performing via queer panto and as a performance poet in her 20s and 30s. Her work shifted away from poetry back to theatre with her first solo autobiographical theatrical show Beyond Dreams of Aberystwyth in 2013 incorporating spoken word, theatre, photography, film and music. This was followed by I Don’t Know What I’m Supposed to be Doing in 2016 about her mother, their relationship and her mother’s dementia and was selected for New York’s United Solo Festival. In 2020 during Covid she developed an outdoor performance of poetry Words in the Wild. She currently has new performative pieces in development including Full Circle, a piece about the midlife place she is in now arising from a return to her diaries, and Emma Went on a Trip about her 2024 travels around Canada and the USA.
‘Anything that can absorb you, make you cry and make you laugh seems like a real testimony to a thoughtful and carefully observed story told in such an interesting way.’ For I Don’t Know What I’m Supposed To Be Doing
Nature
Working with nature has been an important part of Emma’s personal journey for many years. She has been celebrating the seasonal nature festivals for years and practising wilderness therapy, Celtic shamanism and the Way of Council since 2008. Emma trained with the Coventina School of Shamanic Counselling and Creative Arts Therapy 2008-2017, and with teachers from the School of Lost Borders including Meredith Little since 2010, culminating in their Month-Long Training Program in California, Summer 2024. Integrating this blend of an active relationship with nature, personal healing and creativity has been the direction Emma has been taking her work as a writer, performer and facilitator for the last 5-10 years. Emma lives on the Lancashire/Yorkshire border a landscape the loves, where she walks every day and delivers outdoor performances and workshops.
‘I loved the location and the wonderful views and your presence of quiet and stillness. I hadn’t realised how much I needed that. Your poems are beautiful, you say so much in a few words. The peacefulness of the walk will stay with me.’ For Words in the Wild
Facilitator
Emma has been facilitating Workshops for over 10 years in creative writing, life writing and other creative arts. She has worked with a range of people and groups, facilitating workshops in crafts, book-making and time in nature, as well as creative and reflective writing. In more recent years her focus has been on the therapeutic as well as the creative value of writing and other arts, bringing in nature more and more. She completed a Masters degree at Metanoia Institute (UK) in Creative Writing for Therapeutic Purposes in 2022 and a Month Long Training with the School of Lost Borders in Wilderness Guiding in 2024. She runs workshops live, online and outdoors.
‘Emma is an inspiring, innovative and supportive facilitator.’ For Seasonal Writes
Please see Emma’s Events page for her current offerings.
