Davina Hamilton is a rhyming children’s author, journalist and mother-of-two. The former Entertainment Editor for British publication, The Voice newspaper, Davina spent 14 years with the company, before making her foray into the world of children’s literature. 2017 saw the release of her critically acclaimed debut children’s book, Riley Can Be Anything. Her celebrated follow-up…
Joanna Nadin is a former broadcast journalist and special adviser to the Prime Minister. Since leaving politics, she’s written more than a hundred books for children, teenagers and adults, including the Sunday Times bestselling The Worst Class in the World series, and the Carnegie-nominated Joe All Alone, which is now a BAFTA-winning and Emmy-nominated BBC…
Chris Bradford is the multi-million copy bestselling author of the Young Samurai (Puffin), Bodyguard (Puffin) and Jake and Jen series (Harper Collins). Renowned for his dynamic author events and ‘method writing’ technique, Chris is a black belt martial artist, qualified professional bodyguard and former musician. His books are published in over 25 languages and have…
Maria Stoian is an award-winning comics artist and illustrator based in Edinburgh, where she teaches at Edinburgh College of Art. She is the author of the graphic novel Take it as a Compliment, a collection of real-life stories of sexual violence. In collaboration with writer Heather Parry she designed and illustrated The Illustrated Freelancer’s Guide and The Illustrated Fair…
Carol has published almost 20 books, mostly business books based on Neuro-Linguistic Programming. Others cover topics as diverse as weight management, pig-keeping, memoirs and three educational books for children – on ecology, health and making friends. Some have been in print for over 25 years and the pig-keeping one was the leader in its field….
Born and raised in Australia, S.J. Groenewegen has written numerous SF essays, short stories, and novels, and often appears at SFF conventions as a panellist and moderator. S.J.’s latest novel, The Disinformation War, is speculative fiction published by Goldsmiths Press/GoldSF. With a background in law enforcement/criminal justice, mostly in intelligence analysis, S.J. has worked within…
Ray Anyasi is a multiple published author, poet, comic creator and screenwriter. He is the organiser of the Rayany Creators Film Festival happening in Aberdeen. Between 2015 and 2022, Ray was Director of Programs for Lagos Comic Con and Rendacon Animation Film Festival.
Sophie is a Bristol-based poet, artist, copywriter and ex-Canoe Coach. Her work has been published in The Rialto, Magma, The Moth, Banshee, Under the Radar, Propel, Neon, Ink Sweat and Tears, The Interpreter’s House, and Anthropocene and has been broadcasted on BBC Radio Bristol. Sophie has been shortlisted twice for the Bridport Prize and has…
Living alone, age 64, on the low income of state benefits and being one of the 110,000 in the North of Ireland living with a rare disease, I now have first-hand experience of being in the typically underrepresented, marginalised community of artists. My life during the war in the North and my career as a…
Since receiving an Eric Gregory award in 1981, Philip Gross has taught creative writing from schools to universities and published 27 collections, for adults and for young people; his latest, The Thirteenth Angel (Bloodaxe, 2022) was shortlisted for the TS Eliot Prize. He won the T.S. Eliot in 2009, a Cholmondeley Award in 2017, and thrives on collaboration, e.g. with poet Lesley Saunders on A Part…
Fiona Sze-Lorrain is a writer, poet, translator, musician, and editor. She writes and translates in English, French, Chinese, and occasionally Spanish. She also works with Italian and Japanese. Her work includes a novel in stories, Dear Chrysanthemums (Scribner, 2023), five poetry collections, most recently Rain in Plural (Princeton, 2020) and The Ruined Elegance (Princeton, 2016), eighteen translations, and three coedited anthologies…
Zara Slattery is a graphic novelist, illustrator and tutor, and author of the award-winning graphic memoir, Coma. She collaborates with writers and organisations in creating work on issues around the environment, identity, health and disability, and was recently the disability consultant for Canterbury Cathedral’s Miracle Windows comics project. She’s currently working on the medieval eco-fable, Sweeney’s Progress,…
