I thought I would update my biography and so here it is below. Please follow me on twitter (@ResultsGin); Instagram (ginnb900) and find me on Facebook as Virginiacbetts or at Results Tutoring. I’m also on TikTok and will be promoting my new book, The Camera Obscure, through July and August. It’s out to buy on June 30th and look out for my book signings locally and in London.
I graduated from Essex University, (UK) with a degree in Literature, and later gained a postgraduate degree in teaching English. I am also LAMDA trained. I taught English and Drama to A level for 15 years, then in 2013 I set up a tuition business, Results Tutoring, in Ipswich. I am a passionate advocate for neuro-diversity, particularly as I am autistic, which was discovered late in life as an adult. I have contributed several articles to the National Autistic Society Magazine, Spectrum, and Your Autism. I made my publishing debut in The Weird and Whatnot, (July 2019) with my short story, The Rented Room.
Following this, a poem, An Afternoon Walk, was published in the September 2019 volume of Acumen Literary Journal, which has shortlisted more poems for 2022. I have since had around 25 poems either published in print or online, (Acumen; Minerva Rising, Breath and Shadow; Pure Slush). I was also shortlisted for The Latin Programme’s inaugural poetry prize with ‘Lost Property,’ which was published on March 4th 2021, and subsequently published in print in a ‘Poetry Soup’ anthology.
In September 2021 I collaborated in writing a professional theatre production, Lullaby, for Hightide Theatre Company, with the Wolsey Theatre, for which I also wrote the music, contributed to sound and lighting, and song lyrics. In Spring 2022, I joined the Suffolk Poetry Society and performed the lead role in a play in Verse, All Change! By Peter Sandberg. I am a member of Troop and The Neurodelicious Launch pad acting group, and I am scheduled to perform as Kate Bush at the Cambridge Junction in Autumn. I will be performing a monologue or poem there on September 29th as well. I have recently been shortlisted for a prize in the Felixstowe book festival 2022.
I have been a regular guest on BBC Suffolk, Norfolk and Essex radio shows and my work has been regularly broadcast since 2020.
I am working on a novel and will also publish a collection of poetry, Tourist to the Sun, in Summer 2022. My collection of short stories, The Camera Obscure will be published June 30th 2022.
Writing is my preferred method of emotional expression, and stories often come to me in dreams.
Virginia Betts 