About

My writing has appeared in The Stinging Fly, Winter Papers, Banshee, Ambit, New Irish Writing, The Pig’s Back, The Cormorant, Bath Flash Fiction Award Anthologies, TSS Publishing and many other places. I was shortlisted for the RTÉ Short Story Prize, the Bristol Short Story Prize and a winner in the Irish Writers Centre’s International Debut Novel Competition 2025.

I grew up in Nürnberg, Germany and have lived in the Northwest of Ireland for many years. My creative work has involved writing, film-making and photography, but in recent years I have concentrated mostly on writing fiction, the thing I’ve wanted to do since I first opened a book many moons ago. 

When I first started out, all my writing was in German, but somewhere along the way I switched to writing in English. It’s been an exciting, intricate journey to date, which I wrote about in my essay ‘Squirrel, conscience, thermometer’, published in Winter Papers 7, edited by Kevin Barry and Olivia Smith.

My love of the visual is another key factor that shapes my work. You can find out more about the short films I made and see some of my photography on this website.

Beside writing and other creative projects, I have worked in the arts and educational sector as a lecturer in the School of Arts at Ulster University (2001-2015), curator for Void Gallery, Derry (2008-2015) and also as a visiting artist and writer facilitator at Void, Derry; the Mac, Belfast; St.Columb’s College, Derry and other places. In my role as Literary Guide for the Reading Rooms programme at Verbal Arts Centre, Derry (2015-2021) I curated literature – short stories and poetry – for shared reading sessions in the community, promoting dialogue and wellbeing. 

Before moving to Ireland I studied English Literature and Film Studies at Friedrich Alexander University Erlangen. My Masters thesis explored the cinema of Polish director Krzysztof Kieslowski, which inspires me to this day. As part of my course I spent a year at UCG Galway, where I took my first steps toward writing creatively in English.

Prior to that, inspired by a favourite teacher’s tales of Dublin and Donegal I came to Ireland for the first time after leaving school, and worked as an Au Pair in Dublin in the 1990s. I’ve been on the island for a large part of my time since, soaking up its stories and histories, feeling a deep sense of belonging and not belonging, which drives much of my creative work.

My essay ‘Landlocked’, which was first published by The Corridor gives a small insight into my observations along the way. Another place where I spoke about my life in Ireland and elsewhere is on the Creative Places and Faces podcast.

Thank you for visiting my site.