I live and write in the Victorian town of Saltburn-by-the-Sea on the wild North Yorkshire coast. Raised in Redcar on the stories of my Yorkshire fisherman father and Irish mother my writing pulls together the magical and the practical. As a working class writer who has made the journey from council estate to publication and performance, I am a dedicated teacher and community artist, supporting writers of all levels and ages to tell their stories their way.
My debut novel HOW SAINTS DIE was born just eight days before my son and was published with Harvill Secker 2017 and Vintage 2018. It won New Writing North’s Northern Promise Award and was long listed for the Desmond Elliott Prize in 2018. How Saints Die was also selected for Read Regional 2018. An important part of my work now is caring and advocating for my brilliant neurodivergent child.
In 2023 my play AND THE EARTH OPENED UP UNDER HER won the FABER NEW PLAY AWARD
Dipo Baruwa-Etti commented, ‘And The Earth Opened Up Under Her is an ambitious and bold play, telling a story of complex human relationships with a rich theatricality and poetry that is exciting and showcases a promising new voice to watch out for.’
Chris Campbell described the play as ‘an intelligent and original work rooted in the soil of a rich tradition.’
Beth Steel said, ‘Carmen’s dark gem of a play pulled me in with its vivid language and pulsing theatrical imagination. I’m really looking forward to seeing where her writing takes her – and us – next.’
Dinah Wood, Editorial Director, Drama, said, ‘New writing is the animating force in our drama publishing, and it was wonderful to read and discuss five wildly various plays, amongst them this beautifully dark and mysterious work, written in Carmen’s richly poetic voice.’
David Edgar, former WGGB president and architect of the New Play Commission Scheme, commented, ‘We were delighted when Faber joined up with the New Play Commission Scheme, making a generous donation and launching an award to encourage unpublished playwrights to enter for the scheme. We’re thrilled that all of the eligible playwrights entered, and that the standard was so high. Carmen Marcus’s play transfers an ancient myth into contemporary England; we can’t wait to see it on stage and to read it in print.’
This fever-dream of a play is a working-class reimagining of the Persephone and Demeter myth. It intertwines the stories of scoundrels my Irish mother told me, the wolfish fairytales I loved, Christina Rossetti’s Goblin Market, and Jim Henson’s Labyrinth. It is set on the North East coast of England, where the hellish blast furnace fumed over the dunes and wild woods of my childhood.
Poetry is my first love, and I am performance poet, a BBC Radio 3 The Verb New Voice. I’ve been commissioned by and performed at the Royal Festival Hall, Durham Book Festival, BBC Radio 3 and many venues across the North East from town squares to Saltburn Pier. You can hear my most recent performance for Radio 4’s The Verb here.
I love to teach – it’s part of being a writer. My first experience of teaching was at eight years old when my sister and I set up Space Club for the kids on my square, we learned the names of planets and invented aliens to live upon them. Following on from that I now design and deliver creative learning experiences for local authorities, museums, and schools. I have built an online learning community who regularly attend my courses on everything from memoir to witch fiction. I have been a guest lecturer at the universities of Leicester, Northumbria, Plymouth and Teesside. Take a look at my Commissions page to find out more about the writing adventures I create. I also publish creative writing study-alone courses on Substack.
As a writer who has made the journey from a council estate to publication I am an advocate and campaigner for under-represented voices in fiction.
I strive to live up to the words of my original critic and primary school teacher
‘weird, minus one house-point’.
Carmen Marcus 