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     I first came to know the world through reading and later, writing. It is how I know myself, how I engage with the world, how I find my place in it. I grew up on a small freshwater island, my upbringing strongly tied to nature and the natural world. My identity as a person and as a writer is tied up in this landscape. I believe that landscapes imprint on people and are a constantly recurring theme in the lived experience of that person. For these reasons, place is very important in my writing. I explore how place and landscape intersect with identity, ownership, culture, and colonialism.

     My writing style is immediate and immersive. I write with intensity and urgency, with realism and detail. I inhabit the story and characters as I write them and use their emotions, inner and outer lives to drive the plot. I write instinctively, with curiosity and empathy. I write in whatever way serves the story and intention best, and try not to be constrained by form and genre.

     I like the sounds made by word combinations. Sometimes the music of a sentence becomes the beginning of a story. For writing is not only story, but also the telling. I am drawn to writing that uses language, syntax, and grammar as literary devices; I like writing so compelling that I am forced to slow down and read every word. 

     I’m constantly in search of what writing is about, what my own writing is about; what it means to me and in a larger, contextual sense what it means in the world. I want to be relevant, to make readers think and feel, to explore possibilities and truths. I am ever working toward creating change – in myself, in the world, in literature – rather than merely reacting to it.