The Art of Life

The Art of Life is Lapteva’s first full-length poetry anthology and is a collection of cathartic contemplations on life in all its multifacetedness. An exploration of the famous idea that art reflects life and life reflects art, this anthology paints the melancholic, spirited, sensual, grief stricken and serene with the colours of visual, musical and literary media, creating an imaginative canvas of poetry. Joint Winner Richard Hillary Prize 2025.

My Blood

My Blood, a 5 and 4 star reviewed play at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and Burton Taylor Studio Oxford, is a gripping psychological thriller. Set in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, we follow the lives of a powerful banking family as they deal with personal tragedy and betrayal. Devastated by their grief and the justice system’s failure to hold their corrupt father accountable, the two adult children of the family decide to take justice into their own hands. The arrival of a stranger influences the course of events, and as their plans starts to go wrong, it becomes clear that not everything is as it seems…

The Prophecy

The Prophecy, a play written in 2017 around the time of heightened US-North Korean tensions, has never been more timely than now. World War 3 breaks out and a nuclear apocalypse occurs which annihilates most of the world. We follow the lives of 7 people in the bunker of a small English town as they attempt to survive and reach one of the last underground cities. Humanity at its best and worst, questions of fate and free will and who we are as a human race at the end of it all.

St Sepulchre’s Anthology: Rebirth and Remembrance

This is a brief poetry collection inspired by my visit to St Sepulchre’s graveyard. Thinking about the lives, souls and voices of the dead, and their loved ones, led me to produce this collection which explores the unbreakable bonds of love shared between people even beyond death, as well as the rebirth of the voices of those who have died. (Includes bonus poem - Ariel’s Soliloquy)