Emma Lee

Emma Lee’s short stories have been published in anthologies and magazines including Gentle Footprints (Bridgehouse Publishing) and Extended Play (Elastic Press). She was runner-up in Writing Magazine’s Annual Ghost Story Competition. Her most recent poetry collection is Ghosts in the Desert (IDP, 2015), she co-edited Over Land, Over Sea: poems for those seeking refuge (Five Leaves, 2015) and blogs on her website.

Emma Lee has always written: her first publication was in the school magazine at the age of five. Since then she’s had poems and short stories published in magazines and anthologies in the UK, USA, Mexico and South Africa and three poetry collections: Ghosts in the Desert (IDP, 2015), Mimicking a Snowdrop (Thynks Publishing, 2014) and Yellow Torchlight and the Blues (Original Plus, 2004) as well as being co-editor on Over Land, Over Sea: poems for those seeking refuge (Five Leaves, 2015) and Welcome to Leicester (Dahlia Publishing, 2016). Emma’s read short stories and poems at venues including Leicester’s Guildhall, all three Leicestershire universities, Y Theatre in Leicester, Jam Factory in Oxford, Poetry Café and Soho’s Arts Theatre in London and Leicester City Football Club. She curated the Journeys in Translation blog, a project that saw 14 poems from Over Land, Over Sea translated into 22 languages (she translated six of the poems into German). Currently Emma is on the committee of Leicester Writers’ Club, on the steering group for the Leicester Writers’ Showcase and review for The High Window Journal, The Journal, London Grip and Sabotage Reviews. Twice she’s been longlisted for the Saboteur Reviewer of the Year award and once shortlisted.

Q: If you could travel in the past, which one of the great writers would you like to meet and why?

A: My first thought was that it would be impossible to limit it to one. My second thought was that, having met someone via their best talent, would meeting them be as inspiring as I hope it would? Even the great writers were only human.

Q: What is the first book you remember reading, or being read to as a child?

A: My mother discovered reading involved me sitting quietly in a corner so it was encouraged. Earliest memories are of Lear’s verse.

Q: Who is your person of inspiration?

A: The often unsung and unpaid writers who put on events, organise groups, edit indie presses/magazines, review, mentor and give constructive feedback to other writers. Those who understand it’s not a competition and are genuinely supportive of others.