Alpha Members

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.

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.

Having grown up in Australia and lived in different areas of England, I know I’ll enjoy corresponding with Alpha writers across counties and countries. I’ve always found it easier to express myself through writing than talking—hence my lifelong love of writing letters to friends near and far. I’ve never tired of handwritten letters and still get a frisson of excitement at the thought of a trip to the post box.

Since retiring early from my career as a health professional, I’ve turned my hand to writing for fun. My current favourite form is flash creative non-fiction—anything brief and punchy is my thing.

Patsy Collins spends her time making things up and writing them down from her home in Lee-on-the-Solent, or whilst traveling with her husband in a campervan. When away she enjoys writing, scrambling round ruined castles, visiting friends and eating cake. At home she writes, gardens, bakes (and then eats) cakes.

She is the author of nine novels, and over 30 themed collections of short stories, all self published. Hundreds of her short stories have been published in women’s magazines, such as My Weekly, The People’s Friend and Woman’s Weekly.

She can be found at patsycollins.co.uk/

Ruth is a writer from Birmingham in the West Midlands and enjoys writing poetry and children’s stories. These are modules she took on her MA in Creative Writing course (2024). Her first self published picture book is called ‘Extraordinary Women of Destiny’ (2020) about African heroines. She enjoys taking part in writing for anthologies too. As a result of her interest in literary composition she conducts writing workshops, her latest is at the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery using history, paintings and artifacts as prompts. Ruth is currently developing and submitting work for traditional publishing. She is working on several picture book manuscripts and poems. Her long term plans are to produce a poetry chapbook before a full length collection and become a picture book and children’s author. In her spare time she crafts, explores historical places and takes nature walks.

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…

Sarah began her writing life at a local paper before moving into sports journalism. She spent over a decade as a freelancer writing primarily for the Scottish press with a focus on lower league football. She now works as a B2B content writer by day and a fantasy and horror author by night. She can be found on Instagram @writingwraiths

Stephen grew up in a world long gone when writing meant teaching children to fill pages with the same alphabet letter, using a dip pen and ink made from powder and poured into individual desk inkwells by the ink monitor.

During a life in local government he wrote countless reports and briefing notes. Now retired for thirty years Stephen ‘s writing has been confined to, shall we say, local publications. The first novel is still to be written. He loves writing. Set the challenge and he’ll bash into it. After reading the protocol carefully, of course.