About me

I have spent nearly forty years working as a writer, university lecturer and editor with a focus on long form narrative non-fiction. I have been awarded a PhD in journalism from City, University of London (2014) where I founded, and directed the MA in creative writing non-fiction and in creative writing and publishing.

 

My most recent book is Sisters in Arms: Female Warriors from Antiquity to the New Millennium (Osprey). A subject expert on female spies, she was the historical consultant to the Fries Museum’s 2017 exhibition on Mata Hari, the subject of her biography, The Fatal Lover: Mata Hari and the Myth of Women in Espionage.

 

I have been a judge for the George Orwell society’s dystopian fiction prize and for the Arts Foundation prize for narrative non-fiction.

 

I have also produced radio and television documentaries for the BBC and The History Channel, and her journalism has appeared in The Guardian, History Today, The Independent, Red Magazine, Scotland on Sunday and The Financial Times.