Starting my own family naturally re-kindled an interest in traditional children’s culture. The dearth of a modern volume of English folk and fairy tales, as in traditional stories collected/written in England rather than Perrault/Grimms/Andersen tales translated into English, took me rather by surprise. I started to research and compile such a book. This led me to British mermaid stories, and eventually, to a co-authored publication with mermaid expert Sarah Peverley  ‘Tracking the Mermaids of Staithes: Curses, Egg-Broth, and Inundation in a Yorkshire Legend’ which published in the academic journal Folklore in 2025 and available here.

I continue to work on a referenced book of English folk and fairy tales suitable for the children of 2026, which I am developing alongside talented artist Laura Kemp-Smyth – see her beautiful mermaid linocut reproduced here. My current obsession is the traditional tale ‘The Old Woman who Lived in a Vinegar Bottle’ (a possible variant of ATU555) and I would love to meet other vinegar bottle enthusiasts