This year you won the Josephine Ulrick Prize for literature with your story ‘Tryst’ – a vivid tale about the ‘loss of innocence’ – how did this further your writing?

It’s such an honour to win the prize and it has enabled me to be introduced to a wider circle of other writers, agents and even publishers. I’m still working on capitalising on the recognition this year so ask me again in another twelve months :). However, winning the Josephine Ulrick Prize has boosted my confidence as a writer more than anything. As writers, we all suffer a little from the ‘self-doubt’ monster, so having the quality of my writing and my ability recognised and validated has put that monster to bed for the time being. It’s given me the confidence to think ‘hey I really can do this.’