Actress and author gets her short stories in print

The work of Lucia Cox (34), a former pupil at St Theodore’s Sixth Form, features in “Panopticon”, the debut title from new Manchester-based Pandril Press which promotes emerging writing talent.

Lucia’s “The Woman Who Walked into Pictures” is about an office worker who journeys into the creation of a great master, while “Tarmac Nights” is the story of a young woman’s drive home, through disturbing memories and a semi-surreal landscape.

Lucia Cox, who attended Edge End High School, Nelson, and was a member of Burnley Youth Theatre, left Burnley to study acting in London in 1996. After parts in plays, on television and film, she returned to university to study creative writing.

Lucia’s debut novel “Bad” is with agents in London and she has written a play “Blackbird” which will be performed in Manchester as part of the Not Part Of Festival in July.

She has also written poems, short stories, writes for Chimp Magazine and What’s On Stage and has more recently started her own film and theatre production company called The House of Orphans and is producing short films and, later this year, her first feature film.

Pandril Press was formed by a group of seven writers – including Lucia – who began working together on a master’s degree course in creative writing at Manchester Metropolitan University in 2007. The launch of the new press and its first publication will take place in Manchester in May.

Lucia said: “We started our own press as we became aware of a groundswell of opinion that says London isn’t necessarily the last word in publishing. Gifted writers from the regions – especially the North-West – are increasingly willing to take up the challenge and launch their own presses and we wanted to stand up and be counted.

“The entire venture has been enormously rewarding – not just the writing, but also designing the book, working with printers and negotiating with book sellers.”