Jo Weston Writer
Hello and welcome to Jo Weston's website!
Who is Jo Weston Writer?
Jo Weston is a writer of poetry, short fiction and memoir. Originally from Oxfordshire, Jo is now based in Nottingham (England).
Jo offers a range of writing services for organisations and individuals.
Find out more on the Writing Services page or email Jo Weston to discuss your project.
Jo has written creatively since childhood, often writing poetry or scripts in her spare time. Juggling chronic illness with work for over twenty years, it was only after being diagnosed with breast cancer in her thirties that Jo had time to focus on her writing. During a year off work for cancer treatment, she joined a creative writing group and found that it was through creative writing that she could explore complex emotions and experiences.
Jo went on to be the first writer-in-residence for Maggie's cancer care centre in Nottingham, before achieving an MA in Creative Writing with distinction from Nottingham Trent Uni.
In her working life, she began to pursue roles that involved more writing, editing and proofreading, as well as running creative writing workshops, making audio recordings, working on client memoirs and writing commissioned poems.
Jo's copywriting, poetry, fiction and memoir have been published extensively, as well as being short and longlisted in awards such as the Bridport Prize and Mslexia Women's Poetry Competition. Her poetry pamphlet - How not to multitask - was published by Wild Pressed Books in 2021.
Jo is now working on her next poetry project, while providing freelance writing services to a range of charities, businesses and private clients.
Jo's copywriting, poetry, flash fiction and travel memoir have been published widely both online and in print, read at poetry and arts festivals, and broadcast on TV and radio.
See the Writing Services, Poems and Memoir/Fiction pages, for details of published work.
Jo's work has been broadcast on BBC Radio, Notts TV and North Manchester FM, among others. She has discussed poetry, fiction, travel writing, film storylines and writing for wellbeing.
Jo's poetry competition listings include:
Bridport Prize for Poetry 2016 - Shortlisted
Mslexia Women's Poetry Competition 2017 - Longlisted
erbacce Prize for Poetry 2019 - Featured Poet
MAGGIE'S CANCER CARE CENTRE, NOTTINGHAM, ENGLAND
Throughout 2017, Jo was the first writer-in-residence at the Maggie's cancer care Centre in Nottingham, during which she wrote a series of poems on the services Maggie's provides and how they benefit it's users.
WRITERS VICTORIA, MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA
Jo was one of ten writers from Cities of Literature across the world, selected by Melbourne City of Literature for virtual writer-in-residences. Throughout November 2021, Jo worked with Writers Victoria, the largest organisation supporting writers in the Australian state of Victoria. During her residency, she wrote an essay on the importance of online access to literary events; took part in a poetry reading and discussion as part of the Book Lovers Festival; and gave a seminar on producing and promoting chapbooks/pamphlets.
Jo has written commissioned poems for Left Lion arts magazine and as part of the project My Three Words, run by IOU Theatre and Junction, Goole.
Find out more about Jo's poetry commissions under Writing Services.
In 2018 Jo graduated from the MA in Creative Writing at Nottingham Trent University with distinction. She took options in poetry and fiction and her dissertation was on travel memoir.
Jo joined The Nasiona as a reader in March 2019, recording audio version's of other contributors work for The Nasiona Podcast Series (e.g. Deborah Elderhorst's memoir in episode 7).
Find out more about Jo's audio reading under Writing Services.
Jo led a beginner's in-person travel writing workshop for the Creative Writing Group at Maggie's Nottingham in 2019; an online therapeutic session on travel writing as part of the Shine Connect Conference for Shine Cancer Support in 2020; and an online workshop on using poetry to escape or explore difficult emotions, at the 2021 Shine Connect Conference.
See Workshops page for details and participant feedback.