Alex Foulkes

Inspiring the next generation of creatives

BA (Hons) English and Creative and Professional Writing graduate, Alex Foulkes is a published children’s author who regularly visits schools to inspire students to follow their creative desires. Alex has always had a passion for writing and wanted to study a course at university that would take her writing to the next professional level and progress from hobby to potential career.

"I was drawn to the University of Derby initially for my course, I was looking for a degree that would challenge me and open the door to thinking about English in a different way."

Knowing Derby was the right fit

Alex visited the campus on an open day, to find out more about life as a student at Derby and the city she would call her home.

"I found it comforting how leafy the city is, how it has that green feel. Kedleston Road campus gave me a good gut feeling - which is also so important to me, sometimes you just know when something's the right fit for you. I'm quite sensitive to the atmosphere of a given place, so I wanted to make sure my chosen University was definitely the one. I'd be spending a lot of time there, after all!"

Tailoring a degree based on her interests and ambitions

Alex chose to study one of our Joint Honours degrees, combining two subjects she was passionate about.

"I consider myself to have had the best of both worlds with my choice of courses - English Literature being the in-depth analysis and theories, and Creative Writing being practice-based."

A Joint Honours degree is ideal if you have a specific career in mind, like sharing your own original stories as an author, and want to create a tailored degree to prepare for your future. 

Studying a Joint Honours degree also meant that Alex stepped out of her comfort zone at times and was encouraged and supported by her teaching teams to try something new, such as exploring feminist texts and a poetry module. 

"I actually really loved it and I think it's definitely informed my prose in terms of thinking about rhythm and structure."

Learning from professionals

Many of the course highlights for Alex were the people she was taught by or had experience of interacting with and learning from such as storyteller Shonaleigh who was an inspirational guest speaker on oral tradition and being mentored by Carl Tighe, who was an essayist, novelist, poet and the first Professor of Creative Writing in the UK at the University of Derby.

Life after graduation

Alex worked in schools as an inclusion support assistant and librarian as she planned to become a teacher and continued to write her own fictional stories in any spare time she had. 

In 2020, Alex was in discussions with literary agents for her first book, Rules for Vampires, with a number of publishers interested in bidding for it. A year later, Alex became a published author and a full-time career author, writing and visiting schools. Alex feels that due to her professional working experience in schools, they’re an environment she thrives in. 

Alex's success continues

Alex has released three books with publisher Simon & Schuster: Rules for Vampires, Ghosts Bite Back and Ministry of Mischief and is currently planning for the release of The Takeover. 

School visits continue for Alex and she travels around the UK visiting primary and secondary schools to inspire students who want to work in the creative and cultural industries. Alex also takes part in a Dungeons and Dragons podcast with some of her writing heroes such as Chicken House Prize winner Lucas Maxwell, authors Gráinne O'Brien and Alex Dunne, and rising Media Studies star Chloe Homewood. You can find them at ‘You Should Have Been a Meat Shield podcast’ to catchup with their latest adventures.

You can find Alex Foulkes online and on social media @foulkeswrites