
Leanda Senior now lives in Weston-super-Mare, having lived in London for more than twenty years. She respects the sea and the river, but her love lies with the latter, having spent time with the Thames as a constant companion to her life in the city. She read English at Oxford and studied for an MA in Japanese art at SOAS, University of London. She worked with predominantly international students in the higher education sector. This included several years based in the Faber Building, Russell Square, where Eliot had worked, an awareness that never lost its frisson.

Leanda lived in Japan for two years, teaching English as well as etiquette, while doing her best to become familiar with as many Japanese iterations of that practice as she could. She began writing poetry after attending a performance of the first The Waste Land Revisited, then joining Sue Boyle’s poetry workshop, and is delighted to be a part of this new project. She has had her work published in collections, gathered a few small prizes, and has read both her own work and compered poetry events. Leanda continues to write poetry and has recently begun to swim in a new, untested element – creative fiction.

Leanda Senior has contributed to The Waste Land Revisited performance day compilation, ‘The River’s Tent is Broken’, some of whose passages link closely with the photograph above.
Leanda writes :