Over the years we’ve had the pleasure of working with extraordinary people, creative writers, brilliant scientists and inspiring artists. We also get to work with some of these people for many years.
Designing and delivering SAW projects takes a high level of creativity, so it’s always exciting to welcome new people onboard who bring energy, enthusiasm and new ideas to our projects. One of those such people is Tiffani.
Tiffani is new to the SAW family but has already joined us to deliver a school workshop, so we thought it was about time we introduced you to our new, sci-fi loving, writer.
Hi Tiffani! Can you tell us a bit about yourself, what are you usually up to when you aren’t working on a SAW project?
For many years, I was a senior lecturer in creative writing and publishing with a special emphasis on Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror writing (SFF/H), but now I’m a freelance writer, editor, and proofreader.
I write fiction as well as non-fiction and am currently under deadline to hand in to my publisher Volume 2 of Spec Fic for Newbies, a writing guide for people who want to try out various subgenres or major tropes of SFF/H. I’m also the co-director of the Underhill Academy for SFF Writers, an online platform teaching writing and providing editing and coaching services for writers.
When I’m not sitting in front of a computer–which seems rare these days!–I like to sew and read and make never-perfect bakes! I’m interested in gardening history (which was my research topic for my PhD), some aspects of medical history in the 1600s/1700s, as well as historic clothing and art (it all ends up in my writing!). And I go to a lot of SFF conventions to speak on panels and hang out with other SFF/H nerds.
Well, we are very excited to have a Sci Fi enthusiast working with us! With so much going on, how did you come to find out about SAW?
An academic/writer friend who has done work with SAW before linked me up with the trust, and I am very happy that he did!
We are too! Can you tell us about how you’ll be working with SAW?
I’ll be running the writing section of school workshops, which take place over the course of a day.
I’ll be leading students through writing poetry about what they’ve learned so far to help them see that creativity and science are connected. Despite what they might have thought before!
It’s so much fun being in the classroom with the kids. They’re so full of energy and curiosity!
We are looking forward to working with Tiffani, and hope to create some fantastic projects with her.
Check out Tiffani’s SAW Top Three Questions below!
- Can you tell us your most interesting science fact?
Thomas Fairchild was the first person (that we know of in the Western world) to cross-pollinate a plant species; the flower he created back in 1717 by crossing a carnation and a sweet william is known as Fairchild’s mule because it has no scent and didn’t produce any seeds. There are two examples, pressed in paper: one in the Museum of Natural History in London and one at Oxford University.
- What is your favourite piece of art?
This is a difficult one to answer because right now I’m working on a novella about art and sacrifice, focused on blue pigment. So the weird blue-purple of Maxfield Parrish’s skies are on my mind. I also recently came back to Richard Dadd’s The Fairy Feller’s Master-Stroke after finishing reading the novel I mentioned above because of its connection with Shakespeare’s Midsummer and because it’s so busy and layered, and you see new things each time you look at it.
- What is your favourite piece of writing at the moment?
M.L. Rio’s, If We Were Villains.
It’s about a group of drama students who go through a tragic situation, and they constantly quote lines from Shakespeare’s plays to each other. It’s as if it is in their blood. And this has made me want to go back and read some of his plays, which I haven’t done in decades!
