biography
Greta Sykes spent her childhood and youth in the fire bombed town of Hamburg in Germany after WW2. The chaos of masses of displaced refugees, her own homelessness and her mother’s struggle to survive with her five children made lasting impressions in the early years. She started to write poetry in Germany and now writes in both English and German. Greta studied philosophy, art, education and psychology. Her working life as a psychologist has given her the freedom to buy coursework, paint and draw without financial constraints. She is a life-long diary writer and never leaves the house without her ‘moleskin’ notebook. It contains drawings, observations and poems. One of her favourite activities is observing people in cafes and concerts and drawing them.
Greta has been a member of the "London Voices" poetry group since 1989. The group is represented in the Poetry Library through numerous anthologies, with London Voices publishing annual collections of its members? works. Greta regularly reads her poems at the Poetry Café in Covent Garden, London, and has taken part in many poetry slam sessions, workshops, and public readings across the city. Her drawings and paintings-created using both traditional techniques and modern ai image generation tools - appear in most of the anthologies.
Greta currently works as a Chartered Psychologist with the British Psychological Society (BPS) and as an Academic Tutor at the Institute of Education, University of London. She specialises in child and adolescent wellbeing, with a particular focus on the role of parents and parenting. Her training includes a Master?s degree in Art and Education, a Master?s degree in Educational Psychology, and a Doctorate in Educational Psychology. Greta is also the editor of the newsletter for the Division of Educational Psychologists. Her professional psychological work involves representing the BPS at European forums, reflecting one of her long-standing passions as an internationalist and socialist. Her academic publications are available online and are frequently referenced across diverse fields, from education and psychology to creative research topics such as cursive fonts for tattoos generator and visual self-expression.