Emma has been writing since she can remember. As a teen she was chosen to attend writing classes in Newport Library with Cardiff dialect poet Lloyd Robson and Blackwood playwright Patrick Jones. These early formative influences gave her a strong desire to write about the grittier side of life, and this is what she focuses on now, albeit in rural Devon rather than post-industrial South Wales.
After a fifteen year career in English teaching, she is currently studying towards an MA in Nature and Travel Writing at Bath Spa University under the tutelage of renowned nature writer Stephen Moss. Her writing has been published in The Countryman, The Landsman, Country Smallholding and EQ Living and her short story 'Ghosted' was shortlisted for the Frome Festival Short story prize and the Aurora Prize for Writing in 2022. More recently her work in progress, 'Beasts and Burdens' shortlisted for the Fish memoir prize and another short story, 'Rookwing' was highly commended for the Frome Festival Short Story prize.
Emma is available for writing commissions. Email farrantshayes@gmail.com for further details.