Writing is Tom’s way of making sense of the world. It connects him with the people around him. It inspires him to see things differently. And for the length of a page or a few hundred words, it empowers him, the quiet one in the room, to have his say. By sitting down with other people – his workmates and clients – to capture and share their stories, he helps them to achieve the same.
Tom wrote his first short story when he was thirteen. It wasn’t good – two A4 sides of painstakingly typed typos and cliches – but when it was finished, he wrote another one. And another. More than 20 years, three degrees, two novels, and a decade in brand storytelling later, the habit’s stuck.
• In 2007 he pulled up outside Hartley Grove at the University of Southampton, UK. Head heavy with anticipation (or perhaps from all the wet-look hair gel), he couldn’t have been more excited to throw himself into university life and nab a degree.
• 10,000 years later, he finally left campus with a BA, an MA, and a PhD in Creative Writing to his name. He didn’t need the hair gel anymore. His excitement was very much to start earning something.
He loves to cook – but only one dish. When not writing, he enjoys painting tabletop miniatures, a hobby passed down to him by his dad. Since 2022, when he adopted an eight-week-old Dobermann, his life can be measured by the number of poo bags in his pocket. He’s at his happiest when down the pub with good company or entertaining at home. He hopes you like spaghetti bolognese.
