Welcome. I’m Claire Harnett-Mann (she/her) — a writer, teacher and working-class Brummie.
I write poetry, fiction and essays that explore class, place, memory and the hidden systems shaping everyday life. My work is interested in what sits beneath ordinary experience: the stories carried by landscapes, bureaucracy, family histories, faith, ecology and the communities we build around them.
My novella How to Bring Him Back (Fly on the Wall Press) follows Cait as she navigates memory, grief and longing in 1990s Birmingham. Alongside fiction, my poetry moves between lyric, documentary and place-writing, asking how personal lives intersect with the social and political worlds we inhabit.
Teaching has always been part of my practice. I work with writers who want to deepen their craft without losing what makes their voices distinctive. Whether you’re just beginning or returning to writing after years away, I’m interested in creating spaces where curiosity matters more than confidence.
This website is a place to share new writing, essays on craft and creativity, workshop opportunities, and news of readings, performances and publications. It’s also a home for readers and writers who have ever felt that literature wasn’t written with them in mind.
I believe our accents, histories, communities and ways of seeing are not obstacles to good writing – they’re often where the most interesting writing begins.
Thanks for visiting. I hope you find something here that stays with you long after you’ve left.
Claire Harnett-Mann 