Nic has nearly 30 years’ writing experience spanning academia, education, journalism and narrative non-fiction. As well as writing for The Guardian Country Diary, her nature writing has been featured on Little Toller’s The Clearing and in Katharine Norbury’s acclaimed anthology Women in Nature.
She has always been passionate about nature history and the environment. She volunteers with her local Wildlife Trust, helps organise a community wildlife group and curates the Peat Free Nurseries List.
In September 2023, Nic was longlisted for the Nan Shepherd Prize for her nature memoir Land Beneath the Waves.
The judges commended the ‘rich and elegant’ writing style. They also felt that the ‘skilful use of present tense’ meant the writing was ‘highly evocative of place’.
She was delighted and extremely grateful to have this vote of confidence in her work and hopes to have her book published in the near future.
In 2021, Nic was longlisted for the Spread the Word Life Writing Prize.
Damian Barr commented that the prologue to her book was ‘a moving account of memory loss. I loved the energy of ‘Etch-a-sketch me.’ I very much enjoyed the bracing opening – claiming not to be a memoirist.’
Nic has written about nature-based solutions to climate change for the RSPB Climate Change Team, and she edited the New Networks for Nature conference’s annual nature writing booklet in 2022. She has written for BBC Wildlife Magazine, Smallwoods Magazine, and her peer-reviewed papers on her shepherding ancestors and other contemporaries of the Northamptonshire poet, John Clare, have been published in The John Clare Society Journal.
Her qualifications include an MA in English Literature, a Diploma in Creative Non-Fiction and a Secondary PGCE in English Literature. She taught English and Media Studies A Level and worked as an examiner for OCR.
Nic is a member of The Society of Authors and is writing a memoir on nature, place and chronic illness. Her publications list can be viewed here.