HERSTORY
When Becky drinks tea, her protruding little finger belies her upper class roots but by the time of her birth, the family wealth – largely acquired from the spoils of the Oak Tannery in Leeds - had been squandered. She explored her early childhood in Australia, Harrogate and Germany, then moved to Bradford at the age of nine where she and her younger brother and sister were brought up in Undercliffe on nothing but her mother’s student grant and maintenance payments from her steady and much-loved father.Becky says she dealt with the trials of puberty by staring out of her attic window at Bradford’s haunting industrial landscape and writing terrible poetry in an attempt to make sense of the world around her.
After a wild period during her late teens, she gave birth to her son and returned to college where she undertook an Access course in Arts and Humanities. Her tutors recognised her potential and encouraged her to apply to The University of Leeds to study English. Becky was accepted and moved to Leeds with her son. She graduated in 2002 with a 2:1 and half a novel in her writing desk, determined to be a writer but unsure as to how she would make a living.
That September, a friend told her about a community arts course run by Artlink West Yorkshire. Becky enrolled and was delighted to discover that it was possible to make a living helping people to write creatively. To keep herself busy, she simultaneously undertook voluntary work in a community café, for a housing project and in the community arts field, giving time and energy to the people of Burley whilst gathering inspiration for her writing.
PRESENT
Becky is now a writer, creative writing facilitator and performer based in Leeds.
She writes fiction for adults and children, has been published in the small presses, online and in ‘North Yorkshire Friends of The Earth Magazine’ and is currently seeking an agent for her coming of age novel ‘Jigsaw’. In 2004, she was selected to be a participant on the Writer Development Programme at Yorkshire Art Circus and her writing flourished under its support and that of mentor Robert Endeacott. She welcomes comments on her blog (Click here), which deals with topics such as life, writing and new feminism and is currently busy working on a combined art and writing project with artist Kate Brown and writing a children’s story for performance.
For over four years, she has worked independently and in conjunction with other artists to facilitate creative writing and combined arts workshops with a wide variety of community groups and schools. She regularly works with organisations including Artlink West Yorkshire, Yorkshire Art Circus and Lifeforce Productions and teaches for the WEA at Osmondthorpe Resource Centre and Headingley Community Centre.
Becky tutors pupils privately in creative writing and offers a manuscript appraisal service. Her current clients are a twelve year old and an octogenarian!
Keen to develop her performance record, Becky gave her most recent reading at The Writer’s Café on 2nd May 2007 and is due to give a reading at Thornborough Festival in July.
In her spare time, Becky can be found studying for her in-service PGCE in adult education - she hopes to graduate in the summer of 2008 – visiting museums and walking with her son, reading magical realism, cooking for friends, and listening to the owl that periodically visits her roof.
You can view some of her flash fiction on the walls of The Rock and Roll Circus - a rehearsal studios and club venue based in Leeds - and two of her children’s stories at the Scope site Link One and Link Two
Please call Becky on 0113 2667388 or 07792266816
Email her at write@beckycherriman.com if you think you may be interested in working with her.