Angela Locke MA is a poet, novelist and journalist whose books (Chatto & Windus, Souvenir, Sphere etc) have been translated all over the world. She has published three volumes of poetry, the latest, Sacred Earth. Broadcasting widely on television and radio, she also writes two feature columns for Cumbria Life.

Angela has recently taken two years out from writing to study at Northumbria at Newcastle for a Creative Writing MA in Poetry/ Prose and The Writer as Tutor. She now divides her time between writing, teaching Creative Writing and running international writing retreats. Her first book, Mr Mullett Owns A Cloud is to be republished this year (2005) in a new edition.

Angela was the Writer-in-Residence for the Maryport stretch of the Wall defenses. Her work with Ewanrigg School and a community writing group was also supported by Allerdale Borough Council and Cumbria Arts in Education.

It not only focused on the Roman aspect of Hadrian’s Wall, and the life of the Vicus around it, but also explored the nature of walls, both visible and invisible; how they divide us; why they are there; what they hold back and how the protect us from harm.

The need to breach walls in the invisible world has long been a theme of Angela’s work, as she explores her awareness of the tangible and intangible landscapes that shape our sense of who we are.

Senhouse Roman Museum have published a pamphlet of the poems by Angela titled Walls at the World's End. It contains all the poems Angela wrote for Writing on the Wall as well as information about the project.

Photo: Elizabeth Knowles

Downdate

I walk among

Miss O'Connor's Wall

After the Raj; Last Outpost of Empire

Roman Lamp

Fibula

Wall

Hadrian’s Man