A POET who has strong links to Maldon is writing her life story in three screen plays – for which she already has a director and producer.

Cassandra Swan, who still lives in the district in Tollesbury, is an internationally acclaimed poet who has written award-winning epic poems. Her other current projects include work with ballet choreographers to produce ballets based on two of her poems – one about the poet Sylvia Plath and the other a tribute to Russian poet Vladimir Mayakovsky.

Carrying out most of her work online due to her own current health issues, Cassandra hasn't found her life much changed in the pandemic, with her focus totally on her creative work.

She said: "I don't do anything conventionally. I always make new tracks on creative pathways – after all, why portray something the way it has always been portrayed? Surely that only serves to be consistently boring."

In an in-depth Q&A interview, Cassandra tells of her connections with Maldon, the importance of the landscape of the estuary coastline in her work, what inspired her to start writing and, finally, what the pandemic has shown her and her hopes for the future.[.B]

Q: Tell me about your connections to Maldon and the Maldon district.

A: My mother was evacuated to Maldon as a child in the war and she found her way back to the area - for the final twenty years of her life - in Heybridge. She was an artist and loved the estuary. My stepfather was a marine artist and spent a lot of time with mum in Maldon many years ago before mum moved back to Heybridge and they both painted the estuary, boats, and places of interest including some churches. I have lived in the district twice in my lifetime, although I was born, and spent a good deal of my life in Southend.

I moved closer to my mum to care for her after she was diagnosed terminal with cancer and she passed away in October 2012.

When I first moved to be near mum I lived in Goldhanger for two years and then moved to Tollesbury six years ago. Tollesbury was my mother's favourite place and I've grown to embrace it here too. Tollesbury has become my retreat from life altogether. Mum loved the sail lofts and marina here.

Q: How important have the landscapes of the beautiful Essex estuary coast been to your work?

A: The landscape here is of paramount importance for my soul. I'm indoors day and night because of my health, so Tollesbury and the breath-taking view, coupled with the peace are appropriate reasons for me to be here at this stage in my life. I feel blessed to have a flat with a view of fields as far as the eye can see and then the estuary beyond and, in the far distance, I can see the other side of the estuary which is Bradwell.

The view here is such a tonic to me. I find the time away from biographical writing essential. I'm very limited as to how long I can write now, whereas years ago I could write all day and night, I simply haven't got that kind of stamina anymore.

Q: What inspired you to start writing? Have you always enjoyed it? What do you hope to achieve through it?

A: I knew when I was a child I wanted to be a poet and creativity was always of prime importance to me. I was inspired by John Donne's dirges at school and my English teacher said I was "gifted" and saw me as a prime candidate for University. My life was sorely disrupted by many very unpleasant and painful experiences from childhood, which set the pace for my painful teenage years, and into adulthood. I often feel like a salmon

swimming upstream and life has been like trying to escape the jaws of a huge bear with its mouth open ready to swallow me up. However, I use my wisdom in enlightening and surreal ways therefore no experiences are wasted to me as a passionate writer with an immense wealth of unusual experiences to keep my writing interesting.

When I was thirteen, I remember thinking that a writer must have something interesting to write about. I went about living my life and allowed myself to write in my later years for that reason, as one can reflect and use experiences to write about. A lot of writers, like Stephen King for instance, have written novels but a lot of his work has been drawn from his personal experiences and background. I think writers do use personal experience in their work even in fiction. I am a lot more open and my experiences are

from the core of my soul and completely open in poetic works and now they will also be in screenplays.

Q: What insight into the human condition has the pandemic given you, if any?

A: The human condition is fragile and yet the human spirit is powerful and indefatigable.

In the 70s there was a TV drama "Survivors" and it was all about germ warfare and virus/disease. It had such a huge impact on me that I've never forgotten it. Strangely, last year, it kept rising to consciousness, and then, suddenly, the worldwide pandemic hit us. I was self-isolated for many years before this pandemic and I'm still self-isolated. My only hardship was finding it hard to get food delivered, as I'm dependent on it here.

On a personal level I'm leading the same life now as I was years before the pandemic!

I feel great compassion for everyone in the world who has and continues to suffer, either by loss of loved ones or contracting the virus. The NHS workers and everyone negatively affected with overwhelming demands to save lives remain in my prayers

Q: What are your hopes and fears for the future?

A: My hopes for the future - on a global level - are that all relevant changes will be safely integrated, healthy national and international leaders to be in office, that they will be appropriate for their roles with humanity at the very core of their agendas. I hope for global co-operation and war to cease. This is a subject I have to temper because there is so much to say and it isn't all connected to my writing. I am a truth seeker and teller.

Fear is something I try not to embrace, as it then entertains doubt and doubt is not a guest or an option. I would say that my only fear is that I will transition from this planet and not be instrumental in the positive changes I'd like to see and contribute to manifesting before the changes become evident. I'm very aware of my compromised state of health. So, I live in Tollesbury – humbly and quietly - in the hope that my life will be spared until I have accomplished the things I so want to accomplish before my time is up!

These are challenging times we live in but we have to remain positive and hopeful that times will change for the better. This is a time of awakening and enlightenment for humanity.

Cassandra's collected poems are now consolidated into one volume, ready to publish as a book and produce as a CD when the films premiere.