Lisa Climie-Somers
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Meum et Teum – An Extract
The journey to Dorset started early. Vyvyan watched as the train chugged and hissed to a standstill at Risca station. Next to him on the platform were two elderly women. The woman standing closest to Vyvyan clutched a small pug under her arm. The other carried a worn brown leather case in one hand, an umbrella and a picnic basket in the other; obviously prepared for any eventuality. Vyvyan tapped his knapsack to reassure himself he had packed the cheese sandwich made earlier that morning.
The woman with the pug looked expectantly in Vyvyan’s direction as the train stopped in front of them. Taking the hint, he opened the door to the carriage and helped her with the step up. He followed her into the carriage and settled back into a seat opposite as the train jerked into motion…
About Lisa
She is currently in the final year of a practice-based PhD in English at Loughborough University. Her thesis is on UK women who joined the early Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) and then travelled in large numbers to the American west as pioneers. Her direct ancestors were part of this movement.
The Women of Mormondom
Lisa viewing special Mormon collection at Reid’s Rare Books – Provo Utah https://moons-rare-books.myshopify.com/
Academic
Lisa’s academic focus includes Victorian literature and culture; the history of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (the Mormons); women and gender; women’s suffrage: diaspora of religious groups. She also is interested in the early work of Arthur Conan Doyle and its focus on the Mormon movement, in the light of British Victorian attitudes to the Church and its followers. She has an ancestral connection to TE Lawrence’s long-term friend Vyvyan Richards and has researched and written extensively about this relationship while studying her MA at UEA.
Thesis
The subject of her final year thesis is the development of the early Mormon movement, more formally known as The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, in the mid-19th century. In particular, it explores the expansion of the church through the mass conversion of those from the UK and wider Europe, followed by a migration programme into the US. This area is important to investigate because it both highlights women’s sexual subordination and domination by a patriarchal system, especially through plural marriage and also the consequent emergence of the Women’s Suffrage Movement. It further investigates mass migration and nation-building by a persecuted minority and, by doing so, tells an important story about women’s history and American history, and the relevance these have today, as well as the wider history of diaspora movements prompted by religious beliefs. The study also looks at how this particular group of migrants directly influenced popular Victorian literature.
Lisa won a full scholarship from the University and has conducted research trips with the UK as well as to North America. Her supervisors are Dr Claire O’Callaghan and Dr Barbara Cooke and the independent assessor is Dr Nick Freeman.
Publications
A Richer Dust
Turnstones – Hastings Writers Group Anthology (2024)
My Mother Said
Hidden Sussex – Writing Our Legacy Anthology for Sussex (2019)
https://writingourlegacy.org.uk/product/hidden-sussex-anthology
Shadow Man
Part 1: T.E. Lawrence Society Journal (2014)
Part 2: T.E. Lawrence Society Journal (2015)
Four Seasons
UEA Non-Fiction Anthology (2014)
Memberships
International Daughters of Utah Pioneers – Salt Lake City, Utah, USA
British Association of Victorian Studies
Women’s History Network – UK
Victorian Popular Fiction Associations – UK
Utah State Historical Society – Salt Lake City, Utah, USA
Neurodivergent Humanities Network – Durham University, UK
The Biographers’ Club – London, UK
Textual Editing Group – Loughborough University, UK
Contemporary Research Group Reading selected memoir – Loughborough University, UK
Feminism, Sexual Politics, and Visual Culture – Loughborough University, UK
Lives and Afterlives – Loughborough University, UK
Writers Group, Write Now! (Bury St. Edmunds) UK
Hastings Writers Group – Hastings, UK
Education
2020 – Present
PhD in Creative Writing – Loughborough University, UK
2012 – 2014
MA in Biography and Creative Non-Fiction (Merit) – University of East Anglia, UK
2018
Creative Writing Programme/Advanced Writing Programme (New Writing South) – Brighton, UK
2018 April – July
Stage Play Writing (City Lit) – London, UK
2012
Fiction with Chris Wakling (Arvon), UK
2011
Flash Fiction with Sarah Salway, Tania Hershman (Arvon), UK
2010
Starting to Write Fiction with Mavis Cheek, Paul Sussman (Arvon), UK
Work
Throughout her working life, Lisa has been involved in the music industry. In recent years she established Lisa Climie Management representing solo artists, song writers and bands before diversifying to work as a Multi-Media Manager for Eric Clapton’s Crossroad Foundation Charity. In 2024 Lisa became a full-time writer.
Lisa began her career as an actress and singer with roles including: award-winning BBC short film Queen Sacrifice; featured parts in lead BBC series such as in Bergerac and ITV’s The Bill; various stage plays In London and festivals in Edinburgh and Europe. She also performed and recorded as a solo artist, as well as touring both nationally and across Europe with bands such as Mari Wilson and the Wilsations.
Always interested in psychology and in marginalised groups, Lisa moved away from the entertainment business and from 1992 she held a variety of social care roles in the field of substance abuse including: Care Manager, Substance Misuse Team – Richmond Borough Council, Surrey; Drink and Drug Outreach and Inreach Worker – Spear Night Shelter, Richmond, Surrey. She then retrained as a counsellor and, in 1997, co-founded and managed Focus 12 Charity, Suffolk, a specialist Addiction Treatment Rehabilitation Service. She combined this role with that of Counsellor and Group therapist at RAPT (Recovery of Addicted Prisoners Trust), Downview Prison, Surrey. From 2005 – 11 she was first Assistant then Commissioning Manager at Suffolk County Council with a focus on Carer Services and Support.
She returned to Focus 12 in 2012 to set-up and manage a new counselling service and training centre. She feels both proud and privileged to have been able to work so closely with both the homeless and those affected by addiction.