About Elaine

Elaine Cusack

—— Writer Performer Bookseller

I’ve been writing and performing poetry, songs, memoir and working as a print and broadcast journalist for over 35 years. My work has appeared in various collections and anthologies as well as on national TV and radio.

I was born in Felling on Tyne and started writing poetry in 1985 aged 15. My first book, Bed and Breakfast with Lydia Lunch was published the following year. Since then my poems have won numerous awards and appeared in various collections as well as on national TV and radio.

After graduating from Hull University in 1992, I moved to London and worked as a rock music journalist. In the 1990s I was both a staff and freelance writer for various publications including Mojo, Select and The Times.

During this time I fell, like Alice, into the weird wonderland of out of print bookselling. In 1998 I set up my own online book business and also wrote and performed with the musician David O’Connell in the band Micklewhite. [click here for Micklewhite

In 2003 I started working as a Recycling Officer for the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. I combined this day job with volunteering on a range of community radio and oral history projects in London and Cambridge at nights and weekends.

In 2009 I returned to the North East to care for my parents and settled in the seaside town of Whitley Bay. Over the past decade I’ve created a unique place for myself working with the region’s cultural, creative and volunteer communities I currently work part-time as a library assistant, which sits well beside my writing and bookselling. 

Elaine Cusack – Writer Performer Bookseller

GET IN TOUCH