GYROS team member wins coveted writing role.

Ligia Macedo has been selected by The National Centre for Writing to be a writer in residence for the East of England.

Following a nationwide call for submissions, Ligia has been chosen with Ellie McKinlay-Khojinian to represent the East of England.

The duo has been chosen along with five other writers who represent the different regions in England to create a set of stories that celebrate the local high street, and the people and communities who depend on them. The stories will be broadcast and distributed online.

Ligia Macedo was born in Beira, Mozambique, an African port city bathed by the Indian Ocean. In the late 70s, her family fled the Civil War and went to Lisbon, Portugal, where she grew up, studied and worked. Life circumstances carried her away once again to another shore, and she ended up in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, UK, where she made a life for herself and her family. She fell in love with the town and its people and finds its community spirit, diversity and resilience very inspiring.

Ligia works at GYROS with migrant communities and has worked in different Community Projects since 2014.

The writing worm has always been inside her though, and she feels that there are so many voices and stories unheard waiting to burst out and come alive.

Ligia participated in Poetry Readings in Norwich and Great Yarmouth, organised a Creative Writing Workshop as well as a Reading Group for Portuguese speakers with the support of Great Yarmouth Library. She writes under the pen names, Gia Leboeuf and Gia Mawusi. Her short story, My Land, under Gia Mawusi, is featured in Field Work New Nature Writing from East Anglia, Edited by Sarah Lowndes.

Ligia is taking her writing more seriously now and persevering in her storytelling. She is currently working in 2 writing projects: a collection of short stories and her first novel – a slow burner work in progress, set in Mozambique. She is happier at night-time, when everything is silent, and she is reading or writing in the relative quietness of her bedroom.

Find out more about this exciting project here...