I am a Birmingham based writer and graduate of the Warwick Writing Programme. I like writing about strange things and am bad at writing about myself.

What inspired you to write ‘Humans in the Room’?

I watched a video about zookeepers in China dressing up as Pandas to care for baby pandas. I find human intervention into and the exploitation of animals and nature troubling. Conservation is a nuanced concept. Are we saving the animals for us or for ourselves? I read Octavia E Butler’s story “Bloodchild” and was disturbed and inspired. She describes a reality where the Tlic breed humans and drug them so that within generations they become little more than sex driven bodies. I wanted to explore the emotional journey of this transition.

Could you give us an insight into your writing process?

I write when I have time and energy. I’m a secondary school English teacher: I have no time or energy. The fact I don’t have time to write anymore depresses me. 

What do you consider to be the most enjoyable or important aspect of science fiction or fantasy, and why?

I love the moment when as a reader you realise the author has been describing current reality/affairs the entire time. I like human sci-fi best – anything that is in the conceivable future, or anything that is wrapped in domesticity and/or the minutia of social interaction (think ‘Never Let me Go’ by Ishiguro).