Louise Kenward

A writer, artist and psychologist, I am the editor of 'Moving Mountains: Writing Nature Through Illness and Disability' (Footnote), now out in paperback in the UK, the US, Canada and Australia. My first full-length creative non-fiction book, 'A Trail of Breadcrumbs: In Search of the Lost Art of Convalescence' is currently out on submission. I am a creative writing tutor for Arvon and I am represented by Caro Clarke at Portobello Literary Agency.

After nearly twenty years as a psychologist and psychotherapist with the NHS, I become disabled by post-viral illness in 2012. I am now a PhD candidate with Manchester Metropolitan University and the Centre for Place Writing, researching the Romney Marshes coastline through the lens of disability and post-viral illness.

Currently working with the British Psychological Society (BPS), I am also co-leading the writing of a good practice guideline for psychologists working with people with ME/CFS, following my work as co-chair for the BPS on the Department of Health and Social Care's Implementation Process of NICE guidelines for people with ME/CFS. I am also on the Expert Reference Group for the Long Covid good practice guidelines.

My PhD project title is: 'Inhabiting Instability: A creative and critical investigation at the intersection of climate and disability justice: investigating place in the coastal stretch of the Romney Marshes, from Pett to Hythe'. It is centred on developing new narratives for both understanding place and the body - at a time when human and more-than-human bodies and ecosystems are under threat, with prevalence of chronic illness and the scale of the environmental crisis ever-escalating. My research process draws on creative writing and a visual arts practice to generate new knowledge, with beachcombing as the methodology and structure to the project.

The Centre for Place Writing is a research centre exploring the relationship between writing and place to examine major contemporary issues including the climate emergency, urban regeneration and mass migration. Place writing is a popular literary genre across creative nonfiction, fiction and poetry, in which place is the primary subject. The research centre aims to play a leading role in changing the current lack of diversity in this literary field. My project is specifically focused on the marginalisation of disability.