Basket: 
Hi! My name is Theodore, and I am thrilled to be Hartlepool’s reader in residence for the Crossing The Tees book festival! I am a poet, facilitator, multimedia artist, and most importantly, an avid reader. My work predominantly explores histories (both real and imagined) and disability, and I have previously been published in The Gentian, Agapanthus Collective and Recesses Zine as well as being commended in the Hive Young Writers competition.
I am a big advocate for reading in all its forms – I love poetry and literary fiction, but I am also a fan of essay/short story collections as well as non-fiction! Reading is one of my favourite activities, but it hasn’t always been! It is only this past year that I have gotten back into it after a long time of reading only when necessary – so I can really empathise with those of you who may feel that you don’t have time to read, or you haven’t found anything you can connect with yet. I firmly believe that all reading counts, be that magazines, audiobooks, social media or anything else! I’m always happy to chat, exchange book recommendations, or talk about the different ways people can use and benefit from their community hubs.
I’m really looking forward to spending time in some of the underappreciated corners of our libraries and community hubs during this residency. I’m especially excited about helping people explore the archival work these spaces do to preserve local history, using creative and accessible approaches like audio recordings and zines. I’ll be running relaxed, hands-on workshops where we can listen to, play with, and respond to archive materials together.
