About me

I have always loved books, from my early years as a loner in the school library, trying to find inspiration amid the torrent of John and Jane or whatever the hell those insipid, didactic books were called. Honestly, how can you expect to engender a love of literature with crap like that?

So big thanks to my mum for furnishing me with more interesting material with which to saturate my sponge-like brain. Enid Blyton, though much denounced (as popular authors often are) filled a disproportionately large section of my bedroom bookshelf - and rightly so.

Though not so much these days.

It is now more likely to be taken up with classics, novels by promising first-time authors bought due to book club pressures, books about pedagogy and teaching, stacks and stacks of children's books, and of course, my fave tomes.  

I live in East London and share my life with my partner and two little mini Stow children. And a cat. Meow (that's from her!).

As well as reading, writing about reading, and reading about writing, I spend time, when I can, in the garden. 
I like to grow stuff. 
And I like to watch it grow. 
And I like it when I see lots of little beasties appearing (ladybirds, not greenfly where before there were none. 
It pleases me. 
In a somewhat smug way.