Christine
Christine has been living in rural Normandy for twenty-one years. She channelled her lifelong passion for literature and language into a teaching career and gradually developed a sideline as a writer of both short stories and articles on wide variety of subjects.
Christopher
I was born in Tunbridge Wells (1969) and I moved to Lugano in southern Switzerland in 2001 with my Italian girlfriend.
I started writing in 2011 as a “cure” for chronic insomnia. I took part in the 2014 Poestate poetry festival in Lugano, with a piece named ‘Foreign man, foreign land’. My first ever public reading and the piece was well received and gave me confidence. I became self-employed in 2015 which, for several years, took a lot of my energy and attention but I’ve started writing once again over the last two years, between early-morning poems and a novel which, strangely, hasn’t yet abandoned me like the other 7 or 8 in the past.
Colette
Greetings from York and thank you for letting me on board. I am Colette. I have been writing for four years or so, following retirement. I have had one short story published and another accepted as part of a possible anthology. I was focussing on short stories but have now disappeared down the wormhole of the third revision of my novel. I also try to write poems, but I easily lose heart with them. I love writing which is just as well as I am not expecting to ever earn a penny from it.
Elke
Elke lives in FNQ, Australia, and spends her time wandering through the rainforests and swimming in pristine lakes while making up stories. She has published numerous short stories and is currently working on a series of crime fiction novels.
Fanny
Fanny grew up in England, where she worked as a bookseller and editor before setting off for Paris with a backpack three decades ago. Now settled in the south of France, she works as a translator, copy-editor and sometimes English teacher. Fanny has been writing forever but has only recently begun to take her literary ambitions more seriously, with some successes to date. Being part of the Alpha writers’ group is a very positive next step.
Francesca
I am a retired Chemistry teacher who has always loved English. I only went into the sciences because everyone in my family was either Maths, Chemistry or Physics… so I did what was expected of me. No regrets… my life path made me who I am today.
Poetry is my first love, but I do enjoy short stories and I have three novels in various degrees of having been written.
I live in mid Wales, 12 miles due west from Welshpool, with hubby and a vast collection of bears… I am the ultimate arctophile. I also enjoy gardening and painting.
Jane
I was born with a severe hearing loss and learnt to lip-read to communicate. I have a music and dance degree and have taught deaf children for many years, latterly working with deaf children and young adults with additional needs, e.g. deaf-bind, deaf with autism, deaf with mental health challenges. I set up a charity at the request of parents of deaf children, which is still going strong.
I took a sabbatical at the end of 2022 from paid work which is ongoing and which has provided time to explore writing, as well as time for my family. I joined a writing group in my local town and discovered that I enjoyed the process of writing, My family on my father’s side were all writers and I am keen to explore this part of my heritage.
Liz
Liz moved from the UK to the Catalan region of France, near Perpignan, in early 2019, following her dream to pursue a creative lifestyle after nearly fifteen years in automotive engineering. She now splits her time between freelance editing and proofreading, and writing fiction. She has two timeslip novellas and a full-length historical novel published in her own name, and a string of erotic short story compilations under the pseudonym of Kitty Mulholland.
Maria
I took up writing relatively late in life having retired from my local government job due to ill health. I write mainly for pleasure. Having read science fiction all my life, to be able to write my own stories in this genre is a joy. So I spend many happy hours in a world of my own making.
I joined the Alpha Writers Group because it gives me the opportunity to obtain constructive criticism. Hopefully my writing is improving. One of these days I may even pop my head over the wall and publish the draft novels hiding in the study and the growing pile of short stories (be still my beating heart).
Martin
I live in Sheffield with my wife Eva and dog Charlie and I’m the editor of the prayer diary for Wycliffe Bible translators. I see myself as a writer, photographer, baker and storyteller. Recently I seem to have really grown in the flash fiction area. I’d like to grow in writing short stories too. My photo was taken at a wonderful charity called Grimm and Co which I’ve recently started volunteering for. It’s focus is literacy for children, and according to them, as the front is an apothecary for Magical Beings, my magical being is a unicorn. If this sounds odd, then you need to visit their shop or check out their website to find out why.
Mike
I’m a retired Science and Computing teacher from Lancashire. I now live in rural Norfolk with my wife, Vicky and two cats. We found our way here via South West France where we lived for four years after retirement. Grandchildren then pulled us back. I developed a love of writing after completing a degree in English and Creative Writing with the OU. I like to write flash fiction, short stories and sometimes poetry. When not writing I spend my time volunteering and looking after grandchildren.
Morgen
Morgen joined Alpha part-way through Season XI and has relished each and every season since. Short stories are her ‘thing’ but lately she has been dabbling with novel writing. Her love of the written word has been tested by the experience and she has become the world’s finest procrastinator.
Ros
Ros is a writer and publisher living in Warwickshire. In addition to writing for business publications, she writes short stories, poetry and novels. Her first novel ‘The Appearance of Truth’ was long-listed in Bridge House Publishing’s Debut Novel Competition. Her novel ‘New York Orphan’ has been awarded a Premier Chill with a Book Award and an Indie Brag Medallion. She received her second Indie Brag Medallion for Violet’s War. Having forgotten to stop writing after the one book that everyone has in them, she has now lost count of her publications. Her spare time passion is developing the Entlebucher Mountain Dog breed in the UK.
Ruth
I am a creative being. A lifelong musician, I’m currently a cellist in a string quartet. I’m also a lover of the written word. In my youth I was never without a book in my pocket. Parenthood to two boys soon put a stop to that! I began writing seriously about ten years ago, continuing until one of life’s more challenging periods got in the way. I love poetry, perhaps the closest the written word comes to music, but have also written flash fiction and short stories. The ‘one novel’ is still inside me, but maybe one day…
Sally
Sally was a freelance garden writer for about 15 years until the end of last year, writing mainly for BBC Gardeners’ World magazine and RHS The Garden (with little forays into Telegraph Gardening and the Guardian’s gardening pages). She has also written four books about various aspects of sustainable gardening. Achievements on the fiction side have been much thinner on the ground! She was a very early member of Alpha, back in the days when Olaf had only just set it up – and she’s delighted to be able to return to the fold.
Stephen
Suzanne
Originally from Derbyshire, Suzanne spent 13 years in France teaching English, mainly to adults in industry. She relocated to the Scottish Highlands in 2023 with her husband and family of cats. Aside from attempting creative projects, she spends her time walking, gardening, swimming in Loch Shin and avoiding midges.
Suzanne has had articles published in French lifestyle magazines (in English) and is now aiming for more success in fiction writing.
14 years! Amazing well done – I was an original founding member!!
Great to see you are still going!
Best Wishes from a previous member
John Ryley
Lovely to hear from you. Thank you.