Jo Leonard

We are a husband and wife writing team, Joan and Mike (middle name Leonard) Hudson. Our inspiration for joint authorship originally came from Nicci French, the married writing team of Nicci Gerrard and Sean French. We attended a literary festival where they discussed the process of collaborative writing and this inspired us to adopt a similar approach. Nicci French write alternate chapters and each person has agency to develop the plot any way they desire, sometimes to the surprise of the other. We decided to imitate this format and found that this was a very satisfying way of moving ourselves out of our comfort zone and developing the plot occasionally in unexpected ways. We have worked in partnership over many years on several academic ventures. In the past we both completed our PhD theses and found the sharing of ideas mutually beneficial. We enjoyed the collaborative process and found it particularly rewarding. Our careers were spent as English and Modern Foreign Language teachers in high schools around the country. However, we more recently worked as joint trainers for initial teacher trainees, both in the academic and practical aspects of their course.