Jo Stanley

I'm a writer - that's why I'm here on this site. Being a writer means I'm always getting excited about new ideas and ways to express them. I spend a lot of time in sloppy clothes in front of the computer while complaining to Amber the cat, snacking on sultanas and phoning almost anybody on any pretext - to give myself screen breaks. And then at the end of the production line there's the joy of signing my books and hearing how people enjoy them.

You can read about how I write on http://teresa-stenson.blogspot.com/2009/12/tell-me-how-you-write-part-1-jo-stanley.html

Currently I'm writing Risk! Women on the Wartime Seas, for Yale University Press.

My life feels very rich in interesting encounters, great conversations, fascinating travels, new art techniques and intellectual disoveries. Plus I live in scenic village and visit London a lot too. Some of my pleasures are paid work - for example being a lecturer and facilitator specialising in the creative representation of lifestories. My favourite people in doing this kind of exploring are marginalised communities such as seafaring minorities and black working-class elders.

I'm very proud of being a key person in ensuring gender and queer history are included in the story of the sea. See the video of me talking viewers through my exhibition, Hello Sailor! Gay Life on the Ocean Wave, at http://www.homotopia.tv/blog/2008/01/hello-sailor.html. It was an honour to help set up the world's first archive about LGBT seafarers, Sailing Proud, at Merseyside Maritime Museum.

Dr Jo Stanley FRHistS

Website: www.jostanley.biz.
Blog on gender and the sea: Blog: http://gendered seas.blogspot.com