Editor and Convenor Charlotte Gann: I’m a poet and editor with a keen interest in groups. I have an MA from the University of Sussex in Creative Writing and Personal Development, and have published five poetry collections – two pamphlets, and three books – all written from my Understory. These are The Long Woman (Pighog Press, 2011), shortlisted for the 2012 Michael Marks Award, Noir (HappenStance Press, 2016), The Girl Who Cried (HappenStance, 2020), Cargo (Mariscat Press, 2023) and, most recently, Orange Cats (published by my own imprint, Late Train Press, in 2026). I’m especially interested in shame and how it operates; and I’m passionate about personal and group development. For some years, I explored these through SCT (Systems-Centred Training). I also love film and walking.
I’ve always pictured this imaginary set of rooms where people come and meet and talk. I’ve been there forever, and am somehow pivotal. It combines all my passions – writing, expression, group work, and therapeutic heartful communication practices.
Charlotte Gann
This is The Understory Conversation.
Contributing Editor Sarah Barnsley: I am a poet, scholar and critic. I gained my PhD at Goldsmiths, University of London, where I taught in the Dept. of English and Creative Writing for over 20 years before joining Syracuse University London where I teach poetry. Recent poetry publications include ‘Find Your Own Fascinator’ (sequence in Mariscat Sampler Three [Mariscat, 2025]) and a full collection, The Thoughts (Smith|Doorstop, 2022). An act of advocacy and activism, The Thoughts gives voice to critically underrepresented experiences of illness; a connected piece of life writing was published in The Lancet Psychiatry (2023). Poetry criticism includes Mary Barnard, American Imagist (SUNY Press, 2013) and a companion piece, Mary Barnard’s Complete Poems and Selected Translations (SUNY Press, 2025). I am currently writing my second full collection as Writer-in-Residence at the University of Reading, exploring LGBTQIA+ identities, mental illness and creativity in the archives of Virginia Woolf and the Bloomsbury Group.