About

Hello, my name is Ilkay. I’m a writer based in London, though it didn’t start that way. I grew up across five countries. I learned to speak English in Ontario, then dispersed that across California and France and Scotland. I’m somewhat trilingual, I speak and write Russian and French, too. Before London, I attended St Andrews where I studied English and Psychology. And then my masters at London Film School. Currently in a long distance relationship with about four different pets. I lived at the Edinburgh Zoo for my Psychology dissertation, so I guess, more than four.

I’m interested in loads. If I had to pick: medieval, anthropological, surreal. I like spaces as characters. My favourite alien to explore is people who lived a thousand years ago. Fantasy often finds its way to me. But so does the abstract. Gustav Meyrink, Max Ernst, Andrea Arnold; my darlings. I really hate T.S. Eliot.

Scattered throughout are some of the things that I’ve done. I value the bursts and threads of lore as much as the full thing, the full story. I love writing collectibles, descriptions, events, anecdotes just as much as I love developing a story from concept through to production, solo or inter-department. For that reason I maintain some of my favourite writing of all time is the Legion expansion in World of Warcraft (it’s always competing with Attack on Titan). What I’ll say to close is: I love to be moved, and I love a writer’s room!