Louise Mary Stokes

Louise Stokes was born in Somerset in 1962, and grew up in Shropshire before studying a B.A. in Philosophy and Politics at Durham University, moving to Birmingham in 1984 to train as a psychiatric nurse. She devoted fifteen years of her life to the health service, working first with adults, and later specialising in child psychiatry. During these years, she gained a Certificate in Individual and Family Counselling, an M.A. in Sociological Research in Health Care, and a Diploma in Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Nursing. Up until the events of 1998, written about in this book, Louise had never taken one single day off sick, even completing shifts only hours before the births of three of her four children. The twelve months sick leave imposed upon her by health service managerial bullies ended one vocation only to open the door almost immediately to another when she embarked on a theatre studies course at Birmingham Theatre School in 2000. From here, she went on to achieve an HND in Community Theatre at Dudley College. The ability to write, which had been given to her as a gift, she believes, to ease her pain in her darkest moments, developed into a new career, and Louise now writes and performs for a living as well as running drama and creative workshops for children and adults. Her previous background has meant she now uses her drama and writing training and skills to work creatively with people experiencing mental health issues as well as with a variety of other people. Louise works both as co-director of Black Country based Fizzog Theatre Company, and as a freelance artist. Most of her work is issue based and awareness raising, using both humour and serious social comment through the mediums of literature and drama to try and challenge perceptions which are discriminatory, prejudiced, ignorant, or just plain unhelpful.

She currently lives in Handsworth Wood, with her husband Robin, four sons, and two cats.

As a member of the National Federation of Spiritual Healers, Louise is also a practicing Spiritual Healer, and has completed her second Degree Reiki Healer training.  She believes that Faeries, Angels and all her Guardians guided her through the dark tunnels of the health service and brought her out into the Light of a better world.  Her book Marooned was published by the Kates Hill press in 2007.

Louise developed the character Kimmy Sue Anne, a chav poet/philosopher, for the Alternative black Country Revue. From Kimmy Sue Anne, a whole family of characters developed, which have proved increasingly popular on the west midlands comedy circuit. The collections The Forts of Kimmy Sue Anne and Conversations With The Family Of The Grotesque were published late 2007.  Her first novel Faerie Dust was published in 2008