These readings stay closely with poems, fiction, essays, and other creative work, attending to language, structure, tone, and what a piece seems to be reaching towards.

The aim is not simply to evaluate a piece of writing, but to stay with it carefully enough for its strengths, tensions, patterns, and possibilities to become clearer in language.

Most pieces already know more than they first appear to.

Often, something in the work is trying to emerge more fully, while another part is holding too tightly to explanation, certainty, or control.

A close reading can help clarify where the writing feels most alive, where it begins to flatten, and where the deeper movement of the piece may actually be taking place.

My responses tend to focus less on rules or prescriptions and more on presence: what the language is doing, where the energy of the work gathers, what remains unresolved, and where the writing seems most fully itself.

I’m particularly interested in work that is willing to take imaginative, emotional, or stylistic risks.

The feedback is often exploratory and developmental rather than corrective.

Sometimes this means discussing structure or clarity in direct terms.

Sometimes it means staying with an image, tonal movement, or unresolved tension long enough for something more precise to emerge from it.

Written Reading
A considered written response to up to 3,000 words of prose or five short poems (up to ten manuscript pages in total for poetry).
£100

Reading & Conversation
A close reading beforehand, followed by a conversation about your work. For up to 3,000 words of prose or five short poems (up to ten manuscript pages in total for poetry).
60 minutes · Online or in person (Bedford)
£150 · Includes preparation and discussion, without a separate written report

Complete Manuscript Readings
A full reading of the manuscript, accompanied by substantial written reflections on its movement, structure, voice, and the questions it appears to be asking of itself.

Rather than prescribing changes, the intention is to remain with the manuscript carefully enough for its deeper shape and possibilities to become clearer.

Individually quoted, from £600, according to length, form and complexity. A fixed fee is agreed before work begins.

Written feedback includes one brief clarification exchange. Readings of revised submissions or further discussion can be agreed separately.

You’re welcome to send poetry, fiction, essays, fragments, or unfinished work.

If you’d like a sense of the kind of engagement these readings involve, you may find something of it reflected in The Parlour.