Tom Fletcher

The major impulse behind my writing seems to be to make people not scared, as such, but conscious of the fear all around them. Fear is a preoccupation in my writing, as are general apathy, pop culture, and, increasingly, landscape. And through this, I want to make things seem a bit strange

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Biography

Tom was born in Worcester in 1984, moved to Cheshire, then to West Cumbria at the age of nine or ten, until he was eighteen. Most of this time was spent at school, but enough of it was spent outside for the mountains and the sea to leave a lasting impression. He studied Creative Writing at Bretton Hall, graduating with a first class degree. Here he met the visual artist, Beth Ward, with whom he collaborated on a residency for Yorkshire Quarry Arts at Coldstones Quarry. They exhibited at the Peter Blake Gallery in Leeds, and the King Street Studios in Pateley Bridge.

From Leeds, he moved to Cumbria. After living in Whitehaven for a year or so, he moved to Manchester. Thomas has worked as a paperboy, shelf stacker, exam invigilator, customer advisor and business analyst.

This is his blog.

Publications

The Leaping (Quercus, 2010)
The Safe Children (Nightjar Press, 2009)
‘The Big Drift’ Parenthesis (Comma Press, 2006)

Reviews

The Leaping has been reviewd by Paul Magrs, here
Tom Fletcher writes about the dark corners of our lives and environment with unerring and unnerving authenticity, and a natural gift for evoking feeling through language. His work is the real deal.
Nicholas Royle
His chapbook,The Safe Children, is reviewed on bookmunch

Awards

Runner up – Hallmark Young Poet of the Year 2000 and 2001

Personal Reflection

I’ve read a lot of science fiction and fantasy, enjoying the weird landscapes and creatures, and am getting back into reading more of it now. Every book I’ve ever read has probably influenced me in some way but I’d say that my current major influences are the West Cumbrian landscape, the work of Haruki Murakami, the music of Tom Waits, the band, Múm, and the general daily media.

It’s probably because I read that I write. I think it's important to create something that's more than the sum of its parts, whatever the medium – it just so happens that fiction is the art form that appeals to me.

Workshops

I’ve worked with primary and secondary school children, and was surprised by what they came out with, how unusual and more imaginative the younger children seemed to be. I’d be interested in working with people who know they want to write, like adult ed. or higher ed., so we could really focus on the writing rather than spending time on trying to sell it to them.

2005 Yorkshire Quarry Arts workshop at Ingleton Primary School, working on poetry and short prose about a quarry visit
2002 support to Janni Howker – 6th form and primary school

Before The Rain – Flax006