Hello, I’m Carys, a writer of short and long fiction. 

I grew up in a tiny Welsh hamlet that overlooked a cockle-filled estuary. The library van came once a week and the butchers van every other, mostly the ice-cream van didn’t bother at all. The nearest city, Swansea, felt far away. In my world there were wild ponies, the marsh, dangerous rising tides, and hidden secrets in the mud. Seeing friends meant an hour’s walk. Getting to town felt impossible. There were books too, magical doorways into other worlds, where exciting adventures happened.

Writing, nature, and creativity have always been the through lines of my life, but it wasn’t easy to claim my voice as a writer. I didn’t feel like I belonged. For years, I struggled to write what was truest for me and believe in myself. It took time, encouragement – and many, many drafts – to develop the confidence, consistency, and resilience required to get my work into the hands of readers.

Now, I feel lucky to say that my work has been broadcast by the BBC and published by Parthian Books, Honno Press and Mslexia Magazine. My debut novel for adults, Truth Like Water, inspired by the estuary I grew up, on will be published in 2025.

Whilst on submission, I started writing something just for me. A middle-grade novel about wildness, belonging and language. That’s why I joined Writing Room’s Writing to the Heart of Childhood Experience course with Sita Brahmachari. I loved the idea of rewilding my mind and finding out more about writing for younger readers from such an experienced author.

Sita is a wonderful, generous and perceptive tutor who helped the class to draw deep and explore our unique writer’s palette. I left the course with a better understanding of myself on the page. Sita uses the idea of patchwork to record and reflect on the previous classes. It’s a great technique for picking up lines you love from other people. Here’s a patchwork poem, a summary of Sita’s own teaching during the course:

Write to the Heart of Childhood (a precís poem from the words of Sita Brahmachari)

What do they have in their hearts and minds? That wonderland that comes when you think, “this is my thing!” 

The possible portals everywhere: skiffle, nested villages, windows or the precipice they have to go over.  

Wherever you look, remember! There’s a child attached to that headtorch.  

Be wild and present in the brightness of childhood.  

Writing is collecting – a treasure hunt of the imagination.  

Wishes must be granted, talismans given – ask – what is precious here?  

Be an outsider in your own language, watch the sun kiss the sky at dawn.  

Give agency and power – gifts. The one place they can be themselves: talking to snails, a forest, a sketchbook or grandma’s words held like a soft blanket.  

When the unravelling comes, let them turn to imagination and take power from what’s in the bag. 
 
Everything you are and have ever been – that’s your palette – start there. Then ask: what is the treasure that must be found in my writing?  

More about me: https://www.carysshannon.com/