I’ve only been writing fiction for a couple of years, having spent the last twenty or so in the small world of poetry. In that world I was concerned with the unit of a sentence or phrase and its relation to the line in space, which may sound pretty academic, but every word and the space around it mattered. It felt like being a botanist on the side of a mountain, finding rare images to express my interior world. In recent years, training as a counsellor, I have become more and more curious about other minds. It is as if I had looked up and noticed all these other people passing by. What I love in stories is the endless process of characterisation. Although it is hugely satisfying to feel I have worked out the puzzle of another mind, or character, when it comes right down to it, it is even more satisfying to find a hermetically sealed off sense of mystery at a character’s core.
Biography
Marita was born in the UK in 1963 but spent her early years in Ethiopia where her parents were Brethren missionaries. She now lives in North West Cumbria with fellow writer, Jeremy Over, bringing up two adolescent children and working as a private counsellor when not writing.
Both Sides of Hadrian’s Wall (Selkirk Lapwing Press, 2006)
The Forward book of poetry (Forward, 1999)
As Girls Could Boast (ed.Christina Dunhill) (Oscar’s Press, )
The Gregory Anthology 1991-93 (Sinclair-Stevenson, 1994)
Literary Journals and Newspapers in which individual poems have appeared Ambit, Blade, Communication (NAS magazine), Critical Quarterly, Frogmore Papers, The Independent, Metre, Navis, The Observer, Orbis, Other Poetry, Ploughshares, Poetry Review, Popular Narrative Media, Liverpool, The Rialto, Seam, Stand magazine, Thumbscrew, The Times Literary Supplement, Verse, Writing Women
‘highly readable, moving. The balance between thought and feeling is tender, delicate, well-managed’ Gerard Benson
‘fantastical observations of almost scientific precision. Her writing can be delightfully expansive and untrammelled, whilst the intricacy of the sonnet sequence shows how impressively she has made this form her own. Mood and behaviour…are explored with remarkable freshness and subtlety.’ Moniza Alvi
‘You can’t just read them and move on. Their challenges are fundamentally arresting. This isn’t poetry as artistry: it’s a poet grappling with the central issues of her life…Not Knowing Itself is full of vitally important poems to the poet, with strong resonance for all of us. It is extraordinary.’ Helena Nelson (in ‘Ambit’)
Readings
The Voice Box, South Bank, London
Ambit readings, London
International House, Piccadilly
Lauderdale House, London
Essex Poetry Festival
Wells-by-the-Sea Festival
Tullie House, Carlisle
The Bluebell Bookshop, Penrith
Listen to Marita read from Bread, featured in Unsaid Undone
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Awards
Arts Council Bursary, 2004
Eric Gregory Award. 1992
Workshops
Slate’ Mentoring for Georgian Week Festival 2006 Essex Poetry Festival 2005 Essex Girls Poetry Group 2004 Harlow Writers 2003 Essex Libraries Young Adult Creative Writing 2003 Mentoring New Talent Essex Cultural Partnerships 2002
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