Fiona Forsyth

When I was ten, I formed my plan – I would study Classics. I arrived at this point by the usual path – becoming fascination with Greek myths, learning that the Romans had conquered Britain and reading all the historical fiction in the school library. I had also learned that people were not necessarily thrilled when I told them of my ambition to study such a “useless” subject. My Headmistress called me “a condemned Classicist” and she was right.

I had a wonderful time at Somerville College, Oxford, and once I had my degree, I spent a year working in Nuffield College Library while I made the choice between librarian and teacher. The decision to give teaching a go was a good one and I spent twenty-five years at The Manchester Grammar School, teaching what I loved every day, and running the school Bookshop in my spare time. It was a proper bookshop too.

When my husband was offered a job in Qatar, we were ready as a family for the adventure and I am so glad we did it. There were, however, no jobs for Classics teachers, so I was the “trailing spouse” and found myself with the time to rescue many cats, become a prison visitor – and write. I lived in a country where writing poetry was considered a proper job, and in 2020 won the Qatar Poetry Centre’s prize for poetry written in English. I also wrote novels about my favourite subject, ancient Rome.

So far I have written four novels, set in ancient Rome and published by Sharpe Books. I am now back in the UK and my work-in-progress is centred on the Roman poet Ovid. Despite all their faults, my heart is still with the Romans.