Elaine Walker

Elaine Walker writes fiction, poetry, non-fiction and songs.

Her novel, The Horses (2010) was featured in the Culture Cymru programme at the Guardian Hay Festival and her cultural history, Horse (2008) was chosen by the Kalima Project for Literary Heritage for translation into Arabic in 2010.

She has a PhD on the early modern horsemanship manuals of William Cavendish, first Duke of Newcastle, which became her third book, To Amaze the People with Pleasure and Delight in 2010. Her work on the horse in cultural history has lead to commissions and consultancies for the Royal Mail, BBC, ITV, English Heritage, The Royal Historic Palaces Commission and The Royal Armouries, as well as another book, The Horse (2014).

She is volume editor of Teaching Creative Writing: Practical Approaches (2012) and runs the online creative writing programme at the University of Wales, Bangor, as well as being a mentor for Literature Wales.

She is a member of Academi, The Society of Authors and NAWE.

When not writing or riding, she's lead singer in a blues-rock band called The Levee Breaks and, as well as writing about horses, she writes about music and her moorland home in North Wales. She plays guitar and dulcimer and performs as a solo artist under the stage name, Jude Lane.

For more details on her work, see http://elaine-walker.com/ and you can find her in several places on Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/ElaineWalkerTheHorses
https://www.facebook.com/JudeLanemusic
https://www.facebook.com/TheLeveeBreaksbluesrock

Credentials

Elaine Walker in 60 seconds

When did you start writing?

1970 in North Wales.

What do you love about short stories?

I like being able to read a story in one sitting and think about it for the rest of the day.

Do you write in other forms?

I also write long fiction, poetry, songs and non-fiction.

What distracts you from writing?

Most things. I have a rare skill in displacement activity.

Outside of writing, what are your other passions?

Singing - I sing as a soloist with my acoustic guitar and as lead vocalist with a rock band - and my horses. And my husband, of course.

What is your favourite book?

Shoeless Joe by W. P. Kinsella.

Who are your favourite writers?

Margaret Cavendish, J. R. R. Tolkien and William Shakespeare.

Where is your dream location?

Canada.

What one item would you put into Room 101?

War metaphors.

Do you have any advice for new writers?

Think carefully before you join a feedback group.