Sheelagh Caygill has been writing for decades, and began writing poetry first. Three of her poems were published in Ontario in the Wee Giant and Mamashee publications. At the moment Sheelagh is working on a collection of short stories, and a nonfiction book about creativity—a project with Emma. 

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On her website, Sheelagh is exploring how childhood emotional trauma can affect and impact a writer's creative practice, and she would love to hear from people in the creative arts who have had similar experiences. 

Sheelagh originally trained as a journalist and has worked for media outlets in Canada and the U.K.

 

She discovered years ago that prolonged and exclusive focus on journalistic style inhibited her ability to fully embrace the descriptive language, structural freedom, and emotional depth central to compelling creative writing. She acknowledges that not every journalist who wants

to write creatively struggles 

Emma Woodhouse is a poet, novelist, nonfiction writer, and editor. She has published four novels, and her first nonfiction book, Victorian London's Most Notorious Female Gang Leader: The Life of Mary Carr, will be published in March 2026.

 

Emma's books include:

The Prendergast Watch,

​Mary, Queen of the Forty: The True Story of Mary Carr, and Simple Twists of Fate.

Mercy is due out in July 2025.

 

On Creative Writing's second podcast episode explores Emma's writing and The Prendergast Watch and Mary, Queen of the Forty: The True Story of Mary Carr, as well as her experiences with agents and the publishing industry—a wealth of information for writers at this stage of their journey!

Having spent nearly ten years working at Blists Hill Victorian Town—one of the Ironbridge Gorge Museum sites—giving talks and demonstrations about Victorian life, Emma developed a deep love of all things Victorian. She now explores it further in her writing.