About Una/Contact
I write and draw in a shed at the bottom of my garden in Leeds. I also contribute arts and human interest articles to Big Issue North Magazine. I have worked as a university lecturer and project managing adult education and community arts. I am the director of a not-for-profit company, Red Dress Collective, that facilitates artistic training, to raise the voices of those who have difficult stories to tell.
Books: Eve (2021) Virago Press, Becoming Unbecoming (2015) Myriad Editions, On Sanity: One Day In Two Lives (2016) Self published, Cree (2018) Mayfly Press.
Highlights from my CV include being a visiting scholar at the Oxford Centre for Life Writing, Wolfson College, Oxford and a Research Associate at the Oxford Centre for Criminology. I’ve given lectures, seminars and workshops at University of Oslo, Queens University Belfast, San Francisco State University, TORCH Humanities, Oxford, Lucca Comics and Games, Turin Book Festival, Durham Book Festival, Norwich Writers Centre, London Literature Festival, WOW Festival, London, ELCAF, LICAF, Thought Bubble and Angouleme. My artwork has been exhibited in the UK, Spain, Italy, France, Singapore and the US. Becoming Unbecoming is taught widely in schools, colleges and universities around the world and has been adapted into Theatre in Brazil (in collaboration with me). I’ve appeared on BBC Radio 4 Woman’s Hour (twice), BBC Radio 3 Free Thinking, Newsweek, the New York Times, Times Literary Supplement, El Pais. In 2019, Becoming Unbecoming was awarded a Prix Artémisia du Combat Féministe.
I have a Ph.D, researching life stories of women who were activists in the 80’s, an MFA (Master of Fine Art) and a BA Hons (Class 1).
Find my books and posters on my Etsy shop. Find me on Twitter, IG & FB @thingsbyuna
I’m available to deliver workshops and talks in person and online. Examples of illustration commissions can be found on the section called ‘commissions’. If you want to book a personal tutorial with me, to discuss your work in progress and get advice on creative writing, narrative and figurative drawing and/or preparing your work for submission to publishers, you can use the contact form below.