This May I returned, once again, to beloved Tartu for the fourth year in a row. This time I had the great pleasure of being part of the 'Opening the Black Box' exhibition, masterminded by fellow UK artists Francis Gene-Rowe and Erica Masserano. The exhibition explored themes of literary gaming in the context of causality, othering, and unbelonging, and it was all staged in the evocatively-named Hall of Love in the former widget factory which is now the Apaaraditehas cultural

I don't often find myself on prize shortlists, so let me indulge while I celebrate this one. The Dinesh Allirajah is Comma Press's annual short story prize, named after one of their founder members. The themes always arise out of Allirajah's interests, and this one focused on his dedication to various fandoms, particularly the worlds of jazz and cricket. It was a theme that immediately spoke to me for certain reasons and the story proved a pleasure to write. I have to be coy

Throughout November, I had the great pleasure of being one of the Virtual Writers-in-Residence with Melbourne City of Literature, working specifically with Story Studios Australia . As noted in the previous post, this was a residency focused on engaging with writing communities, rather than producing my own work per se , but in the end I managed to do a bit of both. I led two initiatives: a two-part workshop series called 'The Worldbuilder', in which participants created isla

Some delightful news as we meander towards the end of 2025: throughout November I'll be Virtual Writer-in-Residence with Melbourne City of Literature . This completes a very lovely trilogy after Tartu and Gothenburg , and extends my reach outside of Europe, which is a happy bonus. Sadly, this one doesn't include a trip to Melbourne, but it is a heck of a long way to travel when I'm still in the middle of teaching contract, so that's all good. This will be a Virtual Residency