Introducing the
Parfitt-Pascoe Writing Residents 2018

Learn more about the Parfitt-Pascoe Writing Residency

 Jo Parfitt and Robin Pascoe are delighted to announce the Parfitt Pascoe Writing Residents who have been chosen to cover the 2018 conference. As the 20th anniversary of FIGT, the 2018 conference will be a big one and so, accordingly, the PPWR is now bigger and better than ever. For the first time we will be training not four but six budding expat writers to write about every session, conduct interviews, blog for their own websites and FIGT's and, more importantly, produce the 2018 Insights and Interviews book to be published by Summertime Publishing.

This year the PPWR are being asked to go further, to push their writing envelopes and write about other outsiders, those who live abroad but are live on the margins – the refugees, the divorced, those living cross-culturally on a daily basis but have never moved. This year we are asking the writers to write in other languages than English because we want to spread the word about FIGT further and wider into the communities. This year the PPWR will be more exciting than ever. Our writers are a mix of first-timers and those familiar with the organization and the board. They live in Australia, South Africa, Malaysia, the US, Scotland and Germany. They are multi-lingual, travelled and passionate. Let us introduce them..

Maryam Afnan Ahmad

Chronic expat, serial biter-off-of-more-than-she-can-chew, expert procrastinator and a recovering perfectionist. Maryam is being raised by her two diplomatic TCKs. When she is acting grown up, she is a teacher of gifted children in Reston, VA. She has just completed two terms on the FIGT Board and is incredibly inspired by her experiences and is ready to launch a couple of projects on under-addressed communities in the expat world. She has presented at four previous FIGT conferences, including an ignite session on "The Muslim Expat Experience" in 2017. She is the co-author of the children's story and journaling activity book, ‘Slurping Soup and Other Confusions’, with a group of intercultural moms from 5 continents. She also frequently conducts trainings.

Co-Author at Slurping Soup and Other Confusions
www.slurpingsoup.com, www.facebook.com/slurpingsoup
Teacher at Edlin School, Reston VA
www.edlinschool.com

Nikki Cornfield

Nikki Cornfield is a British expat now based in Australia where she is now a yoga and meditation teacher. She travelled regularly to Bali and Perth to study and qualified in 2013 whilst living in Singapore.  She is currently working on a memoir, a vivid picture of the joys and sorrows they have shared as a family whilst living all over the world.

Prior to leaving the UK in 2003 she enjoyed almost a decade in the skies, landing her dream job with British Airways in 1995.

Moving to Adelaide in 2015 she has devoted her time to writing, learning Italian and renovating the family house. She is passionate about sharing her experiences to inspire, motivate and support other globally mobile families.

Claire Hauxwell

Claire Hauxwell is a trail-blazing expat spouse from the United States, currently living in Johannesburg, South Africa.  Claire has been living abroad for the past 8 years, and has also enjoyed living in Switzerland, Belgium and Mexico. She is the author of the blog ‘My Theory On Blooming’ (www.mytheoryonblooming.com) where she ponders her off-beat lifestyle, and the trials and tribulations of life living abroad with her husband, her multi-lingual children, and two crazy dogs in tow…all while not taking her life too seriously! You can follow her on Instagram: @mytheoryonblooming and Facebook: @mytheoryonblooming.

Annabelle Humanes

Annabelle wants to live in a world where diversity is celebrated and valued, where parents of multilingual families are never asked to stop speaking their home language(s) and, more importantly, where books come bundled with chocolate. 

As a linguist, she worked in academia for a decade teaching and carrying out research in language acquisition in young children. Multilingualism is her passion and her own family lives with four languages (and cultures) on a daily basis. 

When she is not travelling or eating her way around the world with her little European citizens, she is blogging at www.thepiripirilexicon.com about being the mother of two cross-cultural children. 

Annabelle is honoured to be a 2018 Parfitt Pascoe Writing Resident and hopes to move from writing academically to writing for a broader global audience. She is excited about joining the FIGT community and making real-life connections with other like-minded global families and professionals.

Lillian Small

Lillian is a tri-lingual, chemical engineer turned blogger/digital marketer.  Born and raised in Toronto, Canada to Portuguese parents, she married a TCK and started her expat life abroad in 2013.  Since then she has lived in Paris where she became fluent in French, traveled all over Europe, and began her quest for her life's purpose and work.  Currently living in Aberdeen, Scotland, she just completed her Masters in Digital Marketing and looking forward to starting a business.  She loves to travel, bake French desserts, listen to podcasts, binge on Netflix and stays active by running, doing Crossfit, and yoga.  As a multi-passionate with a curious mind, she is ready to take on challenges, learn new things, and share her knowledge and experiences with others.  She currently helps FIGT with their social media and keeps a blog called TheSmallsAbroad.

Zita Stern

Born and raised in The Netherlands, Zita is now a trailing spouse. She started out her expat life with her husband and they had their first child in the USA, then moved to Italy, The Philippines and Vietnam before her family-of-five-plus-dog recently moved to Malaysia. She is fascinated by societal development, cultural variety and mutual tolerance and has written many articles but never dared to publish. She is currently working on a historical novel and it is her hope that through participating in the PPWR she will gain the confidence to publish and make a difference.