About S.K. Marley

While studying English and Creative Writing at Royal Holloway, University of London (2010) I discovered classical Japanese poets who drew relationships between language, cultural identity and landscapes. This kicked off my interest in how notions of land, history, stories and identity can intersect for different groups.

Moving to Fukushima, Japan on the JET Programme (2011-13) I undertook ‘poetry pilgrimages’ – a psychogeographic exploration of pre-modern sites mentioned in Japanese poetry – by following the footsteps of Saigyō Hoshi and Bashō Matsuo.

Keeping a research blog of this pilgrimage I returned to the UK and began a Masters (Japanese Studies MA, SOAS, University of London, 2015). I posited that the use of place names in classical Japanese poetry helped form Japanese political notions of self and state, and ‘justified’ the colonisation and eradication of indigenous communities and cultures.

Drawing from childhood holidays spent in a Yorkshire caravan; learning about England’s historic land drainage and Mesolithic archaeology; my professional and personal experience in mental health; an interest in folklore, British prehistory, and queer ecology, has resulted in Albion Awakes.

Advanced novel-writing workshops at City Lit (2018-19); a graduate of The Golden Egg Academy’s ‘Story Foundations’ (2020) and ‘Work on Your Novel’ (2021) courses.

Albion Awakes was also shortlisted for the National Centre for Writing’s Escalator Scheme (2019).

Collaborating with Dr Ina Linge from the University of Exeter as artist in residence for her Queer Natures project’, I created Our Transcapes, a social impact project exploring ‘trans prehistory’ through pilgrimage and creative practice, to benefit young trans people’s mental health.

An exploration into the European Stone Ages and the earliest evidence we have of non-dual life and attitudes in Britain.