CONFERENCE SPEAKERS' BIOGRAPHIES 2008

ANDREWS, ELLA
Ella joined the Darley Anderson Agency in 2005. She is building on the strong list of commercial women's fiction authors at the agency.

ARNOLD, ELIZABETH
Elizabeth Arnold's first book, The Parsley Parcel was published in 1995 and short listed for the Whitbread Children's Award. It is now published by Back to Front. Her second book, Gold and Silver Water, was commended for the TES/NASEN Special Educational Needs Award. 2001.The third book in the series is A Riot of Red Ribbon. The trilogy became a television series called Gypsy Girl shown on CITV. A ghost story, The Gold-Spectre, was recently published by A & C Black. Elizabeth has contributed to Higher Ground, a collection of stories edited by Anuj Goyal, about child Tsunami survivors. The profits are being given to several children's charities. She also edited Soul-Fire, a collection of stories written by children for children. Now writing her ninth book, Elizabeth feels that there is still plenty to learn and that learning is much more fun if it is shared.

ASHTON, BRAD
Brad has written more than 1,000 television and radio shows. He has written shows and series for Tommy Cooper, Bob Monkhouse, Les Dawson, Dick Emery, Frankie Howard, David Frost and for fourteen weeks, he was Head Writer for the great Groucho Marx. He has given comedy writing seminars for television companies in Germany, Holland, Austria and Finland and has published How to Write Comedy and The Funny Thing about Writing Comedy, 2006 and is the author of many published articles. He currently writes as Theatre Critic for Taxi Newspaper which is a nationally circulated newspaper read by cab drivers.

BARLOW, JOHN
John has worked in both broadcast television and the feature film industry on the production side. He has written several adaptations for film, created and taught on the MA Radio and Scriptwriting course at the University of Salford and is chairman of City-Eye, a video production company, and is area representative of the UK Film Council. John is Principal Lecturer in Film, Television and Performance at Southampton Solent University and also directs drama for stage and screen.

BAVERSTOCK, ALISON
Alison began her career in publishing before turning to writing. Her first book How to Market Books (now in its 4th edition) is often referred to as a 'bible of book marketing', and subsequent titles for authors (Marketing your Book, An Author's Guide and Is There a Book in You?) have proved very popular. She is the co-author of Whatever! A Down to Earth Guide to Parenting Teenagers which has been very positively reviewed and reprinted many times.
Alison has written features (on writing and parenting) for most of the national papers and magazines, been interviewed on Women's Hour, Open Book, Richard & Judy, and is a regular contributor to BBC Breakfast. In December 2007 she received the annually awarded Pandora Prize from Women in Publishing for her contribution to the industry.

BAVISTER, PAUL
Paul Bavister worked for Macmillan Publishers for many years and now teaches creative writing at the University of Reading and Birkbeck College, London. He has published three books of poetry.

BELLI, LORELLA
Lorella worked for various publishers and literary agencies before setting up her own agency in London's Notting Hill in 2002. She studied literature and languages and her MA dissertation was entitled ''The Literary Agent as Businessman and as Promoter of Literature'. She is particularly interested in first time novelists, journalists, multi-cultural and international writing, and books about Italy. A member of the Association of Authors' Agents, Lorella is often asked to give talks to creative writing course students, writers' groups and at literary festivals. She teaches a publishing seminar at the Portobello Business Centre and is an Ambassador for the Girls, Make Your Mark! a nationwide campaign which aims to kick-start a more enterprising culture amongst young people in the UK. LBLA (Lorella Belli Literary Agency) handles full-length fiction from literary to genre - in particular women's fiction, historical and crime/thrillers and general non-fiction, humour, popular music, popular science, history, business, lifestyle, current affairs, memoirs, biography, autobiography, self-help, travel, sport, women's issues, fashion, and food/wine.

BIRCH, BEVERLEY
Beverley Birch is both author and editor. She commissions children's fiction for Hodder Children's Books, where she works with some of the most outstanding children's writers, among them David Almond, Rachel Anderson, Catherine Fisher, Charlotte Haptie and Tanith Lee. Her latest novel, RIFT, a mystery thriller set in contemporary Africa, is currently nominated for the Carnegie Medal and shortlisted in UK and abroad for a number of prizes. Author of more than 40 books, from picture books and novels to science biographies and retellings of Shakespeare, Beverley has been involved with children's publishing, on both sides of the fence, since she joined Penguin Books in 1975 to edit economics textbooks. Immediately offered the chance to work on the children's list, she realised she had found her true home, and has never looked back. She is currently working on a new novel for Egmont, SIRI, to be published in 2009.

BRYANT, JULIA
Julia Bryant was discovered at the Winchester Writers' Conference by Carolyn Caughey and has published 6 seaport sagas for Hodder and Stoughton. She is the founder of Portsea Writers and is busy on a new venture; The Girl with the Paper Boat.

BUTT, MAGGIE
Maggie Butt is an ex-journalist and BBC TV documentary film maker, turned widely-published poet. Her day job is head of the Media Department at Middlesex University, where she has been teaching Creative Writing since 1990. Her recent books are: Story, the Heart of the Matter and poetry collection, Lipstick.

CARRADICE, PHIL
Phil Carradice is a novelist, poet, short story writer and historian. He has published over thirty books, the most recent being "Highlights of Welsh History" (Gomer) and "People's Poetry of World War One" (Cecil Woolf Publishers). His most recent novels for young people are "Hannah Goes to War" and "Black Bart's Treasure" (both Gomer/Pont). A regular broadcaster on BBC Radio and TV, he presents his own weekly history programme, "The Past Master," on BBC Radio Wales.

CAUGHEY, CAROLYN
Carolyn is an editorial director at Hodder and Stoughton, part of the Hachette Livre group of companies. Nearly all her books are novels with a romantic or suspense theme, aimed at the mass market.

CHRIS, TERESA
Teresa has been the agent for best selling authors and wannabes for many years. She sells books internationally and in her 'stable' she numbers several successful graduates from the Winchester Writers' Conference including Debbie Holt, Lesley Horton and Dolores-Gordon Smith. Always on the lookout for another 'gem', she is happy to work with those showing great potential.

CLAY, DANIEL
Daniel is a pen-name for Nigel Spriggs, who has attended the Winchester Writers' Conference as a delegate on and off for the past ten years. He has had short stories, articles and poetry published in the past and his debut novel, Broken, was published by Harper Press in March this year. It is also due to be published in the US, Canada, Italy and Holland.

COOKE, DANIEL
Daniel Cooke, Business Development Director of AuthorHouse UK, manages its marketing, corporate partnerships and affiliations.

DAVIS, TIM
Tim Davies, MD of AuthorHouse UK, has worked in the book trade for 27 years, including spells at Faber & Faber, HarperCollins and Oxford University Press. AuthorHouse is the largest division of Author Services Inc, the New Generation publishing group, whose other divisions include iUniverse, Wordclay.com and Inkubuzz.

DINES, ADRIENNE
Adrienne was a teacher, speechwriter and after dinner speaker before embarking on a writing career in 2005 with the publication of her first novel, Toppling Miss April. Since then she has continued her speaking career while publishing two more novels, The Jigsaw Maker and Soft Voices Whispering, finishing one sequel and is currently writing her fifth. Her first script, In the Arms of a Child, was performed at Christmas 2007. Ever the teacher, she loves the opportunity writing affords her to meet and encourage new and struggling writers.

EDWARDS, MARCELLA
Marcella is a literary agent at Peters Fraser & Dunlop Group Ltd. She represents an extremely wide range of authors, as well as managing all Estates and backlist for the agency. Before joining PFD she worked in publishing, at Penguin, Random House and HarperCollins.

ESPINER, KATIE
Katie spent seven years as a fiction editor at Harper Collins Publishers, where she worked with authors including Tracy Chevalier, Bernard Cornwell and Lionel Shriver. She also edited Conn and Hal Iggulden's bestseller, The Dangerous Book for Boys. She is now a senior commissioning editor on the Corgi/Black Swan list at Transworld.

ESSER, CAROLIN
Carolin is a medievalist with an interest in fantasy and historical fiction. Her research in Old English poetry and Middle English literature has provided many contact points with possible inspirations for works of fantasy and settings for historical novels. She has recently begun to employ her experience in order to advise writers in both fields. Carolin Esser is a lecturer in English Language and Medieval Literature at the University of Winchester.

EVANS, JUDE
Jude is Associate Publisher of Little Tiger Press, an independent publishing house specialising in picture books and novelty books for 0-7-year-olds. Previously she has worked on young fiction, teenage fiction and non-fiction.

EWING, BARBARA
Barbara Ewing has worked all over the world in theatre, television and films and, despite winning the gold medal at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, is a minor cult heroine because she appeared in Dracula Has Risen From The Dead, an early Hammer horror movie! She has written six novels which have been translated into many languages, one of which, A Dangerous Vine, was on the longlist for the Orange Prize in 2000.

FARNELL, GARY
Gary is a lecturer in English at the University of Winchester. His publications have appeared in a variety of journals and periodicals, including English Literary History, Literature and History, New Formations, and The Times Higher Education Supplement. In June 2007, he was the adjudicator for the Hampshire Chronicle Short Story Competition, 'I'll Try Anything Once'.

FERGUSSON, LORNA
Lorna is Head of English at Cherwell College, Oxford and teaches Creative Writing on Oxford University's Summer School programme. A past Ian St James Award winner, she has judged several short story competitions. Her novel, The Chase, is published by Bloomsbury.

FRANCIS, WILL
Will is a literary agent with Greene & Heaton Ltd. They handle a broad range of clients including Bill Bryson, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and William Shawcross.

GALE, PATRICK
Patrick is the author of 11 novels, including Rough Music and Friendly Fire, and his newest novel, Notes from an Exhibition. He is also the author of a collection of short stories, Dangerous Pleasures. He is currently writing an opera, Falling Across, due to be staged in Birmingham in 2008.

GARBETT, ANDREW
Andrew Garbett is a solicitor who specialises in intellectual property and works at South Coast law firm Coffin Mew. He has acted for authors and publishers, as well as other clients in the creative industries, on a wide range of deals and disputes and is often asked to speak at events organised by private, public and educational sector organisations to give practical guidance on legal issues.

GLASSBORO, PHILIP
Philip has worked extensively for BBC Radio 4 and American stations. His credits include dramatisations of classics such as Silas Marner (starring Michael Williams, Jenny Agutter and Alex Jennings) and Peter Pan (starring Toyah Willcox, Ron Moody and June Whitfield) to original plays and drama-documentaries like The Gorey Details starring David Suchet.

GRAHAM, MARGARET
Margaret is the author of 12 novels including the bestselling Canopy of Silence and Fragment of Time, and two acclaimed writing handbooks. She writes features, short stories, and has written two plays. She is a creative writing tutor, and Writers' Forum contributor. She is co-founder of the fundraising international Yeovil Literary Prize and Patron of the Yeovil Community Arts Association.

GREEN, GILLIAN
Gillian joined Random House's Ebury Press in January 2008 where she is launching a brand-new commercial fiction list. Gillian has been working in fiction for over fourteen years, the last nine of which were spent running the fiction department at Piatkus Books. As Editorial Director for Fiction at Ebury she is actively looking for women's commercial fiction, crime and thrillers, historical fiction and accessible literary fiction. She is not looking for science fiction, fantasy, short-stories or children's fiction.

GREENBERG, LOUISE
Louise set up her own literary agency after leaving the BBC 10 years ago, where she had been an award-winning chief producer, working as Louise Pursloe. She has seen many new writers, historians and performers onto the air. Louise runs her list and gravitates toward serious non-fiction. The agency is also responsible for some successful fiction, both literary and light, as well as humour. There are three household names on her list but most are newcomers. Three of them have appeared, variously on the Booker long-list, the Wingate short-list and won the Sir Banister Fletcher Prize for an art book.

GUTTRIDGE, PETER
Peter has been dubbed 'the King of Crime Comedy' by Shots Magazine and 'essential reading' by The Times. He is also a crime fiction reviewer for The Observer. For the past two years he has been the Royal Literary Fund Writing Fellow at the University of Southampton

HABENS, ALISON
Alison Habens is the author of three novels: Dreamhouse, Family Outing and Lifestory. She is Course Leader for Creative Writing at the University of Portsmouth. She lives in a converted church on the Isle of Wight with her husband and three children.

HAMPSON, JUNE
June started her writing career in the 1980's as a journalist for a Scottish newspaper. She has sold over 700 short stories, poetry and articles to magazines in Britain, Ireland, Sweden, Germany, Scotland and America. She has been a Creative Writing tutor for Hampshire County Council for many years and currently teaches at three colleges in the Gosport and Fareham area. In 2006 her novel, a gritty gangster saga, Trust Nobody, the first in a three book deal from Orion books was published. Broken Bodies 2007 and Damaged Goods 2008 followed. Inside Out, from a further three book contract is to be published shortly.

HANSEN, DAVID
David worked in British television in the 1980s, writing comedy series and co-creating the television character Max Headroom. In 1984 he moved to the USA to write for HBO, ABC Television and Universal Pictures. In addition to writing he now runs Bournemouth University's screenwriting degrees, and in 2005 became Director of the Bournemouth Skillset Screen Academy, which develops and enhances training for the UK film industry.

HARRETT, JACQUELINE
Author of Exciting Writing, Jacqueline is currently senior lecturer in Education at the University of Glamorgan. Previously she has worked as a teacher, lecturer and freelance educational consultant. She has taught every age group, from nursery to postgraduate.

HELEY, VERONICA
Veronica will be celebrating her 60th book publication this month. She writes cosy crime and also some romance/suspense. She has also written book reviews, articles, resource books and stories with a Christian background for children of all ages.

HENLEY, JAN
Jan Henley, also writing as Anna Cheska and Juliet Hall, has written numerous articles, stories, and 11 novels of contemporary women's fiction, published in the U.K, Germany, Greece, Holland and the U.S.A. Jan holds a BA in arts and literary analysis and an M.A. in creative writing for personal development. She is an experienced creative writing tutor and runs her own manuscript appraisal service.

HOLDEN-BROWN, HEATHER
Heather was an editor for over 20 years, 15 of them at BBC Books and Headline. She worked with a range of fascinating people on their autobiographies including Barbara Windsor, Sue MacGregor, Kate Adie and Hilary Clinton. She now runs her own agency, which represents writers of commercial non-fiction, in particular, journalism, history politics, contemporary autobiography and biography, entertainment and television, business, family memoir, food and cookery.

HOLLAND-ROGERS, BRUCE
Bruce Holland Rogers is an American writer of both category and literary fiction. He has published commercial novels, but is best known for his short fiction and his non-fiction book for writers, Word Work: Surviving and Thriving as a Writer. He is on the fiction faculty for the Whidbey Writers Workshop, a post-graduate creative writing programme in Washington State USA, and he has also taught in Canada, Greece, and Portugal.

HOLT, DEBBY
Debby is the author of The Ex-Wife's Survival Guide, published February 2006, Annie May's Black Book, published January 2007 and The Trouble with Marriage, published January 2008. She has also sold over fifty short stories in women's magazines at home and abroad. Debby is currently working on her fourth novel which is due out in January 2009.

HORTON, LESLEY
It is thanks to the Winchester Writers' Conference that Lesley got her first big break. An agent read the first page of her manuscript, took the rest home and by the following Wednesday had agreed to represent her. Since then she has written five novels, that latest of which, Twisted Tracks, will be published in November. She is currently chairman of the Crime Writers' Association.

HYDE, KATE
Kate is a Senior Editor at HarperPress and one of the team behind the Authonomy project, as well as the innovative 5th Estate blog.

JAMES, DAVID
David is the author of more than thirty articles and book reviews, and has taught at universities in England, North America, North Africa and The Gulf. 'Punching Judy' is his third published novel. He is at present in Sutton, Surrey with his wife and two teenage children.

JAMES, ELLY
Elly joined HHB Agency in January 2007 with a background in television and film development. She is looking for fresh writing talent in the non-fiction market with particular interest in: journalism, history, travel and adventure, contemporary autobiography and biography, humour, wordy books, popular culture, original thinking, entertainment and family memoir. She also enjoys upmarket commercial fiction which she is happy to discuss with writers.

JENKINS, JOHN
John has been an editor and publisher for a variety of newspapers and magazines and is now a tutor and assessor for the National Council for the Training of Journalists, who will open up this world for you.

JUDD, JANE
Jane handles general fiction and non fiction, women's fiction, crime, thrillers, literary fiction, humour, biography, investigative journalism, health, women's interest and travel. She is looking for good contemporary women's fiction, but no scripts or gardening

KING, CATHERINE
Catherine was born in Rotherham, South Yorkshire and grew up surrounded by iron and steel works and coal mining villages. She developed her story-telling skills by writing romance novels and has published five titles under a pseudonym. However, it was a search for her roots and an interest in local industrial history that provided the inspiration for her longer novels, which are published by Sphere, an imprint of Little, Brown. Women of Iron, her first saga, is now available in paperback. Silk & Steel is her second title. It was published in hardback last December and was short listed for the Romantic Novel of the Year 2008. The paperback is out in August 2008. A third saga is going through the editing process and she is working on her fourth book.

KING, SOPHIE
Sophie King is the pen name for journalist Jane Bidder who has been a journalist for the past thirty years and written for most national newspapers and magazines. As Sophie King, she writes contemporary romantic fiction for Hodder & Stoughton. Previous novels include The School Run, mums@home, Second Time Lucky and The Supper Club (to be published this September).She has also written four non-fiction books and two series of non-fiction books for children. Sophie also teaches creative writing.

KING, ZOË
Zoë is a literary editor for the Darley Anderson Literary Agency. Her non-fiction ranges form cookbooks to narrative non-fiction and miscellany. She will work with any person or theme that she finds interesting, and that has commercial appeal.

McCUTCHEN, JULIA
Julia is the author of The Writer's Journey: from Inspiration to Publication and works as a writers' coach and professional publishing consultant. She has 20 years of experience in publishing and a track record that includes UK No. 1 and international bestsellers. Julia is passionate about helping people who want to write a book for publication to enjoy the journey and arrive at the destination! Julia offers courses, masterclasses, individual coaching and a mentor programme which are all designed to inspire, inform and guide writers towards a more confident and successful experience of the world of publishing.

MCKENNA, JULIET E
Juliet has been fascinated by myth and history, other worlds and other peoples since she first learned to read. After studying Greek and Roman history and literature at St Hilda's, Oxford, she worked in Human Resources before a career change to combine book-selling and motherhood. Her first novel, The Thief's Gamble was published in 1999, first of the highly acclaimed Tales of Einarinn series. The Aldabreshin Compass sequence concluded with Eastern Tide, her ninth book. Her next series, The Chronicles of the Lescari Revolution will be published in the UK and the US from Spring 2009. She is also one of the leading lights of The Write Fantastic a successful authors' initiative promoting the SF&F genre

MEDLICOTT, MARY
Mary is a professional storyteller working in performance, education and community settings. She has been Chair of the Society for Storytelling and is a leading participant in the revival of oral storytelling in this country. She is also the successful published author of books and articles on storytelling as well as two children's novels, Open Secret and Elephant Luck. Her new cross-over book for adults and children, Shemi's Tall Tales, has just been published.

MURDOCH, JUDITH
Judith began her literary agency in 1993 and specialises in quality popular fiction. Her authors include Lisa Jewell, Meg Hutchinson, Sally Spedding, Pamela Jooste and Anne Wilkinson.

MUSSI, SARAH
Sarah was born in Gloucestershire. She completed a post graduate degree at the Royal College of Art before leaving the UK for West Africa, where she lived for 18 years, treaching in Accra. Sarah's first published novel, The Door of No Return won the Children's Book of the Year 2007 Award at the Glen Dimplex New Writers' Awards.

NORTH, SAM
Sam is the Course Leader for the MA in Creative Writing at the University of Portsmouth and the author of seven novels, notably 'Diamonds- The Rush of '72', The Curse of the Nibelung - A Sherlock Holmes Mystery. His latest work 'Another Place to Die' is about the coming flu pandemic of 2009. Sam is also editor of the international writer's magazine www.hackwriters.com. His latest book for children, Mean Tide, a young boy's induction into fortune telling and psychic phenomenon, will be published this spring.

PATTERSON, PHILIP
Philip Patterson is a book agent with Marjacq Scripts, where he represents mostly fiction. His career began in publishing, followed by seven years as a film agent. Currently his list includes Stuart MacBride, R.G. Wingfield, Kathrin Collier, Christopher Gofford and Jack Sheffield.

PELTER, STANLEY
Stanley is a retired Principal, now a writer and illustrator. He has been writing Haiku and Haibun (prose with embedded Haiku) for 12 years. His published work includes Seventeen Is Sufficient, Word Plays, Coming on Lately, Pensees, Past Imperfect, I'll Unsee You in My Dreams, A Moment is Forever, &YNot and Inside Out.

SANDFORD, PATRICK
Patrick is the Artistic Director of the Nuffield Theatre, Southampton. He has worked closely with many living playwrights including Michael Frayn, Tom Stoppard, Claire Luckham, Claire Tomalin, Richard Harris and many others. His career has taken him from the West End to France, South Africa, Australia and most recently, Russia. The Nuffield handles 400 new scripts each year.

SHEFFIELD, JACK
A retired Yorkshire headmaster, Jack brought his first novel to the 2005 Winchester Writers' Conference and was taken on by a London literary agent. In 2006 he signed a contract with Transworld Publishers and Teacher Teacher!, launched in May 2007 in Corgi paperback, was selected as one of Waterstone's Books of the Year. The follow-up novel, Mister Teacher, was published in January 2008 and will be followed by Dear Teacher in 2009. Jack is currently writing the fourth novel in the series, Please Teacher, plus his first teenage novel, Hexagon.

SPEDDING, SALLY
Sally's first supernatural crime novel, Wringland was published in 2001, followed by Cloven, A Night With No Stars, Prey Silence, and in 2007, Come and Be Killed. Her short stories have won awards and been published in several Crime Writers' Association anthologies. Strangers Waiting, her first collection of crime short stories, was published by bluechrome in February 2008.

STANNARD, JULIAN
Julian Stannard is the author of Rina's War and The Red Zone, both of which are published by Peterloo Poets. He teaches Creative Writing at the University of Winchester

STANSBIE, STEPHANIE
Stephanie is Commissioning Editor at Little Tiger Press - an independent publisher specialising in picture books. She has also edited novelty books, non-fiction and young fiction, during her time at Random House Children's Books.

URCH, MARION
Marion is a novelist and writer of short stories with credits for film, radio and television. Her company Adventures in Fiction has been providing mentoring and manuscript appraisal since 2003, specialising in literary and commercial fiction. She also runs the groundbreaking Apprenticeships in Fiction scheme which supports first time novelists.

WAITE, JUDY
Judy is an award winning author, and has published over 30 titles for children and young adult fiction. Her novel Forbidden has recently been selected as a NYPL 'Best Teen read' and has also been shortlisted for the Heartland Award for Excellence in Young Adult Literature. Her most recent novel - Game Girls - was published June 2007. Judy teaches Creative Writing at The University of Winchester.

WATERS, FIONA
Fiona is the Editorial Director of Troubadour Ltd., the largest independent bookfair for children. She has worked in publishing for 37 years as author, anthologist, bookseller and publisher.

WELSHMAN, MALCOLM
Malcolm has been a freelance writer for many magazines over the past twenty years including The Lady, She, People's Friend, My Weekly, Best of British, Yours and Parrots Magazine. Though his topics have been wide-ranging from lettuces to sunburn, he's drawn on his experiences in veterinary practice for many of his animal-orientated tales. These have culminated in the publication of his novel Pets in Prospect, the paperback edition of which came out earlier this year. He's currently undertaking a series of 24 talks including three Literary Festivals

WENHAM-JONES, JANE
Jane is the author of three best-selling novels and, as a freelance journalist, has written for many women's magazines and national newspapers and is Writing Magazine's agony aunt. Her most recent book Wannabe a Writer? is a humorous and informative look at the world of writing with contributions from top authors including Jilly Cooper, Frederick Forsyth, Ian Rankin, Jill Mansell, and many more.

WHITEHOUSE, LUCIE
Lucie is a former literary agent turned novelist. She worked for five years with leading commercial agency Darley Anderson before publishing her own first novel, The House at Midnight, with Bloomsbury in January. She also works as a freelance reader and editor.

WRIGHT, ANNABEL
Annabel is a Senior Editor at HarperPress, acquiring non-fiction and commercial literary fiction.