About me

I am a dynamic, young writer and English Literature graduate from Kings College London. In September last year, I completed my MA in Comparative Literature at SOAS. My love of literature and the desire to build my career in the literary world had me doing editorial work placements at publishing companies for a year following my graduation in 2005.

I have written free-lance for a number of London (print and online) magazines, focussing mainly on covering art, entertainment, film and all things gloriously pop culture. In 2009 I became involved in writing for the Japan edition of the Directory of World Cinema. This is a directory that Intellect published in February 2010. (A Pdf version of the directory is available for download on the publishers webpage for a limited time *,id=39977/.)

Following completion of the work, I was asked to write for the second edition of the directory and continue to work with Intellect on this project. I currently also contribute to the F64 magazine online, am involved in editing an anthology of poetry and short stories for the Muslim Writers Awards, and two personal/creative blogs online (, alongside my more serious writing.
Presently I am Communications Officer for a London based International Development Agency. I have worked in this capacity for over 3 years now across two such NGOs. I have demonstrated on countless occasions that I have strong multi-tasking abilities and know how to priorities work. As part of a small and busy team, I often find myself working on regular workloads alongside producing materials in response to sudden humanitarian emergencies.

Our campaign material often consisted of literature or material for different audiences, which required me to work with different formats and styles of writing at the same time. My creativity is elemental to how I work. At my workplace prior to this one, I was appointed to the Communications department in mid 2008 to help change the very traditional, dry style of writing we previously had. I was persistent in helping Managers understand the need for adoptive styles, particularly when writing for the web. Yet I was also consistent in ensuring that all Communications material remained faithful to Organisation's house style, but was also fresh and immediate. This is still how I work today.

I am very good with Microsoft Office applications, and am confident enough with PhotoShop and InDesign (though self-taught and still improving!)

I believe that with my background (in terms of education, writing experience, and work in Communications) I will have much to contribute.

Elest Ali