This submission is in two parts. The first, the draft of my novel, Arlitz, is set in a care facility in rural New Zealand, and in Russia. Arlitz is a psychological ‘tandem character’ novel written essentially in the form of epistolary memoir. It deals with themes of memory, entrapment, isolation, impotence, love, intemporality and the transformative power of story. The underlying unitary thread is the protagonist’s journey from submissiveness to strength and the act of love and bravery that gives his life meaning.

The second, Righting The Self, is an exegesis, which frames my creative work in its literary, psychological and stylistic context. It suggests that writing a work of fiction is a form of Narrative Therapy by which an author rewrites facets of trauma or illness in their life, employing significant themes and symbols in order to find meaning and healing.