There are ten years and quite a few countries between these two pictures (above); the first one in Budapest, 2004, the second taken last week in a pub in Pimlico. And these girls are still as strong, funny, fun and gorgeous (even more so!) as they were when we were all young expats living in Hungary.
I spent eleven years in Budapest. They were heady years when I grew up in many ways: when I first fell in love, got a proper job, learned to drive, took my degree, first published my creative writing, bought my first properties and found many of my closest friends. All the above are milestones in one’s life and mine all happened in Hungary. It’s a country which continues to inspire and give grist to my creative output, even if I’ve not lived there in six years now.
I moved to the UK to do an MA in 2008. For the purposes of my Ph.D., I’ve been living in Kensington/Chelsea, London, since September 2014 (as it’s close to the focus of my thesis, the Royal Court Theatre in Sloane Square). This part of London is an impressive and captivating territory and as full of history as Budapest. Likewise, there’s culture and art and parks and shops and museums galore. And now spring’s here, there are visitors… and I’m using them as an excuse to explore the backstreets of Chelsea, or ‘my manor’ as they say in London.
In other words, Chelsea and I have hit it off. I feel that this area and I will have as long and positive a connection as I’ve enjoyed with my friends Kristina and Fiona (pictured above). Nowhere I live in the future will ever compare to Budapest and what I gained from my time there, but when Chelsea’s got her blossom on (see pics below), she sure is going to conjure your muse. Wherever you live, writers, make sure it inspires.
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About suehealy
From Ireland, Sue Healy is Literary Manager at the Finborough Theatre, London, a full-time Lecturer in Creative Writing at the University of Lincoln. Her book on theatre literary management is published by Routledge, December 2022.
Sue is an award-winning writer for stage, TV, and prose writer.
TV
Her current project, a 6x60minute TV series, is under option. She is under commission with Lone Wolf Media, producers behind PBS’ “Mercy Street”, to co-write the pilot and treatment for a six-part TV series.
Stage
Her most recent stage-play, Imaginationship (2018), enjoyed a sold out, extended run at the Finborough and later showed at the Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough. Her previous stage productions include Cow (Etcetera Theatre, 2017) and Brazen (King’s Head Theatre, 2016), funded by Arts Council England. Sue’s short plays have been performed at the Criterion (Criterion New Writing Showcase), Arcola (The Miniaturists) and Hackney Attic (Fizzy Sherbet Shorts).
Radio
Her radio work includes nine plays broadcast on BBC Radio 4 (Opening Lines winner), WLRfm and KCLR96fm.
Prose
Sue has won The Molly Keane Award, HISSAC Prize, Escalator Award, Meridian Prize and has been published in nine literary journals and anthologies including: The Moth, Flight, Tainted Innocence, New Writer, Duality, HISSAC, New European Writers. She has been writer-in-residence on Inis Oírr, Aran Islands, and at the Heinrich Boll Cottage on Achill Island. She has also benefitted from annual artist residencies at the Tyrone Guthrie Centre, and at Ginestrelle, Assisi in Italy.
An academic with a PhD in modern theatre history, specifically the Royal Court Theatre, Sue has presented her research internationally. She spent eleven years in Budapest, editing Hungary A.M. She has a PhD in modern theatre history (Royal Court Theatre) and is a UEA Creative Writing MA alumnus.
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suehealy 
April 19th, 2015 at 19:07
Truly lovely for you, Sue.
April 19th, 2015 at 19:22
Thanks Mary. Hope you’re doing alright? x