About me

I am a writer and performance poet based in Kent, UK. 

I am a multiple slam winner, including the Kent Championship Slam. My debut poetry collection Llama on the Loose was released by Whisky & Beards in 2021.

I was born in Moscow, Russia. When I was ten, my mother and I immigrated to the U.S. In our first years of immigration we moved a lot around the Boston area, but we finally settled in Needham, MA, where I finished High School. 

I graduated University of Massachusetts Boston with a BA in Performing arts. I also attended NTI (National Theater Institute), as well as the Stanislavsky Summer School and Winter School run by the Moscow Art Theatre. 

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Theatre has been my passion for a long time, but I am also deeply interested in ways to challenge and expand its forms. So in 2010 I moved to Kyiv, Ukraine, where I studied folk storytelling. While I lived in Kyiv I also collaborated with a local theatre troupe and worked at a film company. 

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In 2012 I met my husband, Robert, and moved to the UK. After working as a freelance screenwriter for a number of years, I decided to go back to performance, which has always been my passion. 

Since 2018 I have been writing and performing poetry. In that time, I’ve created and toured a solo show, won multiple slams, featured on local and national radio, and published my first collection.

I have always loved poetry. It is incredibly exciting that poetry is currently experiencing a revival, and I’m thrilled to be part of it. However, I think that we, poets, can be doing a lot more to connect with and engage our audience. I’m always looking for ways to push the boundaries of the art form, be that through performance, drama, humour, or storytelling.