Anita Belli

I write layered tales about love, family, and the quiet magic of self-discovery. Through Ruby Sixpence, I share stories and reflections that empower wiser, older women (WOWs) to live their own magic. Passionate about storytelling, I explore the transformative power of creativity and its ability to change the world in weekly posts on Substack and Medium.

I find great joy in coaching women to discover and share their stories, as a mentor and creative coach and has helped dozens of authors bring their books to life, particularly in poetry, memoir, and biography.

So, how much do you want to know about me? Reading my fiction is probably the best way to find out who I really am. It is amazing how much of ourselves we put into our fictional stories.

The Backstory

When I was very young, I said that I wanted to be a writer when I grew up, and I was told categorically not to be silly, ‘they have people who do that sort of thing.’ Subsequently, my professional work led me to focus on supporting and developing the creative practice of arts professionals, local communities and children by providing access to media, literature and performing Arts. I have a Drama degree and then trained, postgraduate, as a dancer at The Place. When my knees hurt too much to continue dancing, I went to London Film School where I gained a distinction and won a major award as a writer and filmmaker.

I have worked as a Director in the Arts since 1990, first at The Place, London, where I was founder and Director of The Video Place, and then I devised and taught post graduate filmmaking courses, including an MA at The London School of Contemporary Dance.

I moved to Essex and developed media courses within the community as Director of Signals Media Arts and was then appointed Creative Director for a Creative Partnerships Programme by Arts Council England, East, which lasted for 6 years, until the programme concluded in September 2011.

During all of this time, I wrote consistently. However, the landscape of writing has shifted. I have published 6 novels and several books to help other writers. And since I began writing, the opportunities have expanded; I now publish weekly on Medium and Substack as well as on my own wordPress blog.

I am constantly looking at new ways to continue to support writers; exploring online publishing, blogs and websites which provide access, information and opportunity to all writers, for many different purposes, so that we may all become ‘the people who do that sort of thing.’

The Stories Behind The Stories

I think all authors do this to some extent; our themes and ideas come from our life experiences; from our interest and passions. And the more life we have lived, and the more interests we have, the deeper our stream of ideas, thoughts and themes for our books. And this means that we have even more stories to tell.

The themes and ideas for my books come from a number of places. Patterns are set in childhood and these often form the background colour and pattern to what follows. Later, when we move away from out childhood homes, we grow into our own skins, and begin to forge a unique life for ourselves, based on the choices we make. Our experiences then come from our studies, work and family. These become the focus around which our lives dance, and provide the narrative threads which we draw on in our fiction.

In my early and most formative career, I was a dancer and filmmaker – so I experienced the creative worlds of touring theatre and film sets. I was fortunate to work with many creative and interesting artists both on stage/ screen and behind the scenes.

When my knees hurt too much to dance, and early starts on film sets became inadvisable with small children, I became an arts manger, supporting the creative development and practice of dancers and filmmakers. We moved out of London – Camden Town which had been my soul home until now – for a better family life by the sea. Standing at the school gates in a small coastal community is a great leveller and the focus of my life shifted from the ‘Arts World’ to the ‘Real World.’

I began to work with communities to develop creative activities which would include more people; firstly, filmmaking projects and then around a bigger agenda of ‘Creativity.’ I worked for Arts Council England delivering a unique programme of creativity in schools and communities in the most deprived areas of England. And this really opened my eyes; not so much to deprivation – I had grown up with that (more about that later!) but exploring the very bones of Creativity and the tools which can be learned and which can enhance every aspect of our lives.

This taught me that creativity is not just something we do; it is the basis of who we all are as humans. After all, if humans were not a creative species, we would still be living in caves and foraging for food!

And now, in my 3rd age, or act 3 as I prefer to call it, I am Writing The Magic; working with older women to explore where the magic sits humming quietly beneath the surface of our everyday lives, waiting for a nudge. Join me on any of the links below to follow the magic…

Follow the Magic

Check out my facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/anitabellibooks

Follow me on Substack: https://anitabellibooks.substack.com

Follow me on Medium: https://medium.com/@bellianita2

I also write for Wiser Older Women (WOWs) in Your Glorious 3rd Age: G3A: https://g3a8.wordpress.com