The concept of time—past, present, and future—is a fundamental aspect of the human experience and has been contemplated throughout history in philosophy, physics, literature, art and everyday life.

The Past

I am a child of 1st generation British immigrants. My grandparents came from The Caribbean, on my mums side Guyana, on my fathers side, a little bit more complicated but he was from Nigeria.

I had an interesting start in life. My mum was born premature and then I was born premature. Two months early so yeah, kind of against the odds starting off!

I grew up in a very loving household. Grew up with the Caribbean culture. My dad was a bit more estranged from his side of family so I grew up here in a real Guyanese household. It was just full love and full of understanding of our culture.

I feel like I grew up with a lot of information about where we came from. We had a strong sense of pride. Pride in being Black, pride in being Caribbean, pride in having African roots. That’s been a big guiding force in my life.

I also grew up with a lot of stories. My aunt is a storyteller and always would share folklore from around the world.

My mum, fabulous writer. My dad, artist and illustrator. So I had a very creative background.

I’ve always loved telling stories!

I loved a lot of different things growing up. Art, creativity; Science & problem solving led me into computers. Got interested in video game design so I studied Computer Science, became a programmer but never went down the video game route.

I eventually decided that what I was really passionate about was storytelling. So I decided to focus on writing.

I’ve always written. I’ve done poetry for a long time but a few years ago I wanted to take things seriously and try to get published.

Started writing Children’s books and that got me into the right community. I ended up doing a few writing programmes with different organisations and publishers.

Now I have a Literary Agent, a book deal and a book. (That’s out now!)

So yea, that’s where I’m at now.

The Present

The present is the moment we are currently experiencing—it's the only facet of time that we can directly interact with and influence. Philosophers and mindfulness practitioners often emphasise the importance of being fully present, as it's the only time in which we truly live. The present is fleeting, constantly transforming into the past while pulling the future towards us.

I would say in this moment I am at a period of significant change in my life. I’m at a period where I have really worked to try and make something of my love of storytelling.

And I’ve gotten to the point where I’m a published author and that big transition from something being a dream, that might not happen. A thing that you think isn’t a real thing, isn’t a real job or only happens to other people, to actually it being you. And it being real.

That’s the experience I’m going through at this moment. And it’s a bit surreal, it’s a bit intense.

A lot of my energy now is that transition and all the things that it’s brought. I’m a person who’s life has been changed by writing, professionally and socially.

I’ve met amazing people, colleagues, friends through the writing community. I’m someone whose creative passions have been able to transform my life and create this present moment that I’m in.

The Future

The future encompasses all events that have yet to occur. It represents possibility, potential, and uncertainty. While we cannot experience the future directly, we can plan for it, anticipate it, and shape it through our present actions.

I want a future where I get to do what I love. I want a future where I get to make my art. I want a future where I have the freedom to make my art, which is difficult in the capitalist society that we live in.

I want to reach a point where my life is full of creativity and I get to do what I love, which is telling stories, getting to share those stories with people. I mainly write for children but I want to write for everybody and share my stories with people all around the world.

I don’t really think of it in terms of fame – fame would be nice – but just in the sense that I think it’s hard to be an artist and get that freedom without fame.

The days of being a free artist who can seclude themselves from the world in a cottage somewhere, type on a typewriter, send their book off and live their life.

Not that I’d want to live in a cottage in the middle of the woods. I like cities.

The main thing is to get to a point where I am able to spend my life telling stories and sharing stories, because that is what fills me creatively, emotionally and spiritually. I want that to be a success because I also want to be able to live my life but also take care of the people I care about the people close to me.

And if I can find a way to do that through art, that would be ideal.