About

C. E. M. WINSTANLEY

Author Biography

C. E. M. Winstanley was born and grew up in the UK. With a BA Honours degree in English Literature and Language from the University of Wales, and after diverse careers in publishing and education, she is now writing full time. An award winning poet with several published articles, Clare’s poetry often focuses on a narrative style. She published an illustrated debut anthology of narrative poems, “Bits of String & Thread” in July 2021. Clare has just completed a full length novel for which a publication date has yet to be determined. She is currently building a body of work for a second anthology of poems.

Clare is a core member of her local writers’ group, Sooke Writers’ Collective, serving as a member of the Editorial/Advisory team. She has had both poetry and prose published in its annual anthology for the past five years.

Growing up in the English countryside before moving to the west coast of Vancouver Island, Clare takes her inspiration for her work from the natural world.

Her love of performing live readings stems from studying speech and drama through the syllabi of the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art and Guildhall School of Music and Drama. She earned a gold medal as well as final theory exams.

Her BA (Hons) from University College of Wales, Swansea, included an elective in creative writing. Her tutor was Dr Margaret Doody (author, Aristotle Detective series) now Professor of Literature at Notre Dame, USA .

Clare was awarded the English Poetry Silver Cup for her cycle of sea poems at the annual University Colleges of Wales Eisteddfod.

She worked in publishing in London, first for Hutchinsons (Penguin Random House) as personal assistant to David Harsent (poet, Loss, 2020, Salt Moon, 2021) now Professor Emeritus of Creative Writing at University of Roehampton, London, UK. Next at Transworld Publishing/Bantam Books UK, Clare worked as a copywriter and copy editor, later being promoted to editor, working for the celebrated publisher and editorial director, Alan Earney.

Other published work includes a travel article in Vogue (British edition) and another in the BC Teacher’s Federation Global Education Project magazine resulting from Clare’s work at the Casa Guatemala orphanage project in association with the late Robert T. Carkner, CM.