P. M. Freestone

I write fantasy and other speculative fiction, mainly for young people. My short stories have been published in print and online and have been taught in schools. My debut YA novel Shadowscent (Scholastic) was released in 2019 and has so far been acquired in eight languages. The sequel is planned for 2020.

I'm a queer immigrant of working class roots. Neither of my parents finished high school, but they always took me to the library. This led to degrees in archaeology, religious history and a PhD in the sociology of infectious diseases as a prestigious Commonwealth Scholar. I'm happy to talk about this journey, and my road to becoming an author, to engage audiences of diverse backgrounds and identities. This experience informs my creative work and teaching.

My favourite workshops to run are on worldbuilding, evoking setting, writing with the senses, and using speculative genres to ask challenging questions about the way we live. In addition to my creative work, I'm an award-winning writing consultant with a decade's experience of designing and facilitating writing support programmes. Today, I work with universities and other organisations around the world, where I teach writing productivity, motivation, overcoming procrastination and dealing with writer's block. (Photo credit: Josephine Teng)