CONFERENCE SPEAKERS' BIOGRAPHIES 2010

ATKINS, WILL
Will Atkins is Editorial Director at Pan MacMillan, with special responsibility for publishing debut fiction.

ALLNATT, JUDITH
Judith Allnatt teaches at the University of Leicester. Her novel, A Mile of River, was shortlisted for the Portico Prize for Literature and was Simon Mayo’s Book of the Month on Radio 5 Live in April 2008. Her short stories have featured in the Bridport Prize Anthology and
on Radio 4. www.judithallnatt.co.uk.

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 and the Wow! 366 Scholastic collection. The profits are given to several children’s charities. She also edited Soul-Fire, a collection of stories written by children for children. Elizabeth has diversified and written the story behind a computer game, Escape from the Asteroids, produced by Zarista Games.
She is working on another expansion.

ASHFORD, LINDSAY
Lindsay Ashford is a former BBC journalist who studied criminology at Queens College, Cambridge. She is the author of five novels featuring forensic psychologist Megan Rhys, the second
of which, Strange Blood, was shortlisted for the Theakston’s Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award. Now published in the USA and Canada as well as the UK, her first novel, Frozen, has recently been translated into Portugese for publication in Brazil. She is currently working on a sixth crime novel which features a new main character and is set in Sicily.

ASHTON, BRAD
Brad has written more than 1,000 television and radio shows including 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 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
a Theatre Critic for Taxi Newspaper which is a nationally circulated newspaper read by cab drivers.

BATTY, CRAIG
Dr Craig Batty is Senior Lecturer in Screenwriting at Bournemouth University. He is a writer and script consultant, and has worked on short film, feature film and television projects. He is co-author of two books: Writing for the Screen: Creative and Critical Approaches, and Media Writing: A Practical Introduction


BAVERSTOCK, ALISON
Alison Baverstock was a publisher, has written widely about publishing and writing and now runs the MA in Publishing at Kingston University. She is the author of Is There a Book in You? and Marketing Your Book, An Author's Guide (both A&C Black) and her website is www.alisonbaverstock.com

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 Belli has 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 courses 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. 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, popular history,
business, lifestyle, current affairs, memoirs, biography, autobiography, self-help, travel, sport, women’s issues, fashion, and food/wine). They represent authors whose books have been New York Times and Sunday Times bestsellers, as well as several
award-winning writers. No children’s, fantasy or science books.

BENNETT, KEITH
Keith Bennett's poems have won prizes, Keith Bennett's performances have won prizes, The New Forest Poet Society he started, has won prizes. Reader for The Literary Consultancy, Mentor for NAWE. Long-lister for Hampshire Library's Poet Laureate. Keith says: 'There's more to poetry than winning prizes.'

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, Sarah Mussi,
Paul Bryers, S. I. Martin and Tanith Lee. Her latest novel, RIFT, a mystery thriller set in contemporary Africa, was 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 has just finished a new novel for
Egmont, SIRI, to be published in 2010.

BOULTER, AMANDA
Dr Amanda Boulter teaches English and Creative Writing at the University of Winchester. She has written two novels (Around the Houses and Back Around the Houses) and a textbook for students (Writing Fiction: Creative and Critical Approaches). She is also
involved in the Transition Town movement and her current projects (a teen novel, a series of short stories and a circus script) all respond to the issues of climate change.

BROCKLEHURST, HELEN
Helen Brocklehurst is a freelance editorial consultant, specialising in illustrated and narrative commercial non-fiction. She started her publishing career ten years ago with Routledge, then moved to Random House, where she edited illustrated lifestyle titles. She went on to spend seven years commissioning at HarperCollins where she was latterly Editorial Director for popular non-fiction, natural history and health.

BRYANT, JULIA
Julia Bryant was discovered at Winchester by Carolyn Caughey and has published six 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.

BRYERS, PAUL
Paul Bryers is a writer and filmmaker based in London. He is currently working on a series of novels set during the Wars of the French Revolution, the first of which - The Time of Terror - was published by Hodder Headline in June 2008 under the pen name Seth Hunter. He has also been commissioned to write a series of children's novels - Mysteries of the Septagram - the first of which - Kobal - was published by Hodder in July 2008. The sequels in both series - The Tide of War and Avatar - are to be published in Spring 2009.His previous novels include The Used Women's Book Club, Prayer of the Bone, In a Pig's Ear, the Adultery Department and Coming First, all published by Bloomsbury in the UK. He has taught creative writing as a senior lecturer at Bath Spa University. He won an English Arts Council award for Best First Novel. 'In a Pig's Ear' was named as one of the Guardian's six Best Novels of the Year.
He has produced and directed documentaries in many parts of the world and was deputy editor and series director of Channel Four's The Shape of the World and A Week in Politics. Price of Glory will be published by Hodder Headline in June and Abyss published by Hodder Children's Books in May. Further details on www.paulbryers.com

BURNS, CAROLE
Carole Burns is the author of Off the Page: Writers Talk About Beginnings, Endings and Everything in Between (Norton 2008) which is based on interviews that she conducted for washingtonpost.com with writers including Martin Amis, A.S. Byatt and Paul Auster. She is programme leader for the MA in Creative and Critical Writing at the University of Winchester.

CARRADICE, PHIL
Phil Carradice is a novelist, poet and historian. He has published over thirty books, fact and fiction, and presents his own weekly history show on BBC Radio Wales. His most recent books are The Black Chair, a novel for older teenagers and adults (Pont/Gomer)
and People’s Poetry of the Second World War, an account of the poetry produced by ordinary men and women between 1939 and 1945 (Cecil Woolf Publishers).

CAUGHEY, CAROLYN
Carolyn Caughey has worked for many years at Hodder & Stoughton, where she is now a Consultant Editor. She loves all kinds of popular fiction, from love stories to horror stories by way of thrillers and detective fiction. Her authors currently include - in no particular order - such varied writers as Mandasue Heller, Audrey Howard, Anthony Riches and Jill Paton Walsh. She hopes to find one new bestseller this year and publish it in 2011.

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.

CHURCHILL, JULIA
Julia Churchill joined The Greenhouse Literary Agency in 2009 after six years at the Darley Anderson Literary Agency. The Greenhouse is a specialist children’s book agency with agents in
the UK and US. With an emphasis on working creatively with clients, Greenhouse can help writers develop their unique voice and focus their work and then be their advocate, ambassador and
long-term partner through the whole publishing process and beyond.

CLAY, DANIEL
Daniel Clay is the pen-name for Nigel Spriggs. He is thirty-nine years old and his debut novel, Broken, was published by HarperPress in 2008. He has also had short-stories, articles and poetry published and works as a creative writing tutor for Writers' News. He is presently finishing his second novel, Swap, which is due to be published in February of next year.

CONDON, DONNA
Donna Condon is commissioning fiction editor on the Piatkus list at Little, Brown. She works across the wide-ranging list, with particular focus on supernatural fiction.

COOPER, ELINOR
Elinor Cooper studied English and American Literature at the University of Manchester, and then worked as a bookseller before joining A P Watt in 2004. She was made Associate Agent in 2007. Her interests include literary fiction, narrative non-fiction and books for young adults.

CORDEROY, TRACEY
Tracey Corderoy is the author of several picture books and fiction titles for children, including The Grunt and the Grouch series and The Little White Owl for Little Tiger Press. Previously a teacher, she also worked with primary schools implementing specialist literacy programmes and re-integrating children returning to school following periods of long-term illness. It was during this time that she became passionate about writing for children - convinced that language, expressed through wonderful literature, is the key that stimulates learning and imagination.

DINES, ADRIENNE
Adrienne graduated from Trinity College, Dublin as a teacher before moving to the UK and establishing herself as a speechwriter and after dinner speaker. Her first novel, Toppling Miss April was published in 2005 , followed by The Jigsaw Maker and Soft Voices Whispering in 2006 and a play, In the Arms of a Child in 2007. She is currently busy writing, giving talks and running creative writing workshops in Dublin and the UK. Ever the teacher, she welcomes the opportunity writing affords her to meet and encourage new and struggling writers.

DINSDALE, ROBERT
Robert Dinsdale is a literary agent at HHB Agency Ltd, having formerly worked at Conville and Walsh and AM Heath. He represents a small but eclectic group of fiction and non-fiction writers. His first novel, The Harrowing, was published by Faber & Faber in 2009.

DUFFY, CAROL ANN
Carol Ann Duffy lives in Manchester, where she is Professor and Creative Director of The Writing School at Manchester Metropolitan University. She has written for both children and adults and her poetry has received many awards, including the Signal Prize for Children's Verse, the Whitbread and Forward Prizes and the Lannan and E.M. Forster Prize in America. In 2006, she won the T.S. Eliot Prize for Rapture. She was appointed Poet Laureate in 2009.

ELLIOT, ROSE
Rose Elliot MBE is Britain’s foremost vegetarian cookery writer and her books have won her popular acclaim all over the world. She has written over 60 books, with sales of over 3½ million and contributes to national magazines, radio and TV. For more about Rose, see her website www.roseelliot.com.

ESSER, CAROLIN
Carolin is a medievalist with an interest in fantasy of cultural concepts and identity through the monstrous and the other. Her classes on Anglo-Saxon monsters and on the devil invite her to explore the concept of the monstrous repeatedly. She also works on non-linear texts and hypertexts, both in medieval and modern contexts. She has recently begun to employ her experience in order to advise writers in both fields. Carolin is a lecturer in English Language at the University of Winchester.

EVANS, JUDE
Jude Evans 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.

FARNELL, GARY
Gary Farnell 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, and New Formations. He was the adjudicator of the 2009 Hampshire Chronicle Short Story Competition, 'Revenge is Sweet'.

FERGUSSON, LORNA
Lorna Fergusson 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. She blogs at http://literascribe.blogspot.com and offers writing courses and editorial, critiquing and mentoring help at www.fictionfire.co.uk

FORD, MICHAEL
Michael Ford studied Classics and English at Worcester College, Oxford, then taught English in Greece before working in various publishing roles. He is currently a Senior Commissioning Editor at Working Partners, a packaging of bestselling fiction for UK, US and foreign language publishers.

Michael has written non-fiction books for seven year olds, and he is one of several authors writing under the pseudonym Adam Blade on the multi-million-selling Beast Quest series for boys aged from seven and above. He also writes a series for Egmont called Striker under the name Nick Hale, about a teenage footballer-come-spy, aimed for 10 year olds. For Bloomsbury, Michael has written an ancient historical trilogy called Spartan, also for the ten year old age group, and his latest novel for Bloomsbury (coming out in August) is a standalone Victorian paranormal murder mystery called The Poisoned House which is about a girl whose dead mother revisits her to say she was murdered.

GILBEY, JOHN
John Gilbey is a professional writer and photographer living in rural West Wales. An environmental scientist and computer science lecturer by training, his stories and images have appeared in a range of publications including Nature, The Guardian, International Herald-Tribune, New Scientist, Times Higher Education, The Independent - as well as more unusual titles such as the Journal of Unlikely Science and the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, a local paper in Alaska. He and his violinist wife share their home with a surprisingly large - and opinionated - tabby cat, a colony of brown long-eared bats and assorted other wildlife - including their two children.

GODDARD, ROBERT
Robert Goddard was born in Hampshire and worked in local government for ten years before becoming a full-time novelist in 1987. He has written more than twenty best-selling novels distinguished by their deeply plotted storylines. His latest novel, Long Time Coming, was published in January.

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; and has recently completed a PhD on the theme of 'divine inspiration'. She lives in a converted church on the Isle of Wight, with her husband and three young children.

HAMPSON, JUNE
June Hampson began her writing career as a journalist for a Scottish newspaper in the 198O's. She has sold over 7OO short stories, articles and poetry to magazines in Britain, Sweden, Germany and America. She has been a creative writing tutor for Hampshire County Council for many years currently teaching 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 was bought by Orion. Broken Bodies, (2007) Damaged Goods (2008) followed. A further three book deal resulted in Fatal Cut (February2009) Jail Bait (April 2010). Rough Trade continues the harsh and hard bitten lives of her unforgettable characters.

HANSON, DAVID
In the US and UK David Hanson has written film scripts, documentaries and comedy series for BBC, ITV, Channel 4, HBO, ABC Television and Universal, and was co-creator of the UK/US television character Max Headroom. He has also created University screenwriting courses and is now Head of the London School of Film, Media & Performance at Regents College.

HARVIE, ROBIN
Robin Harvie is a publisher at HarperCollins commissioning non-fiction print and digital projects across both the 4th Estate list and The Friday Project. The Friday Project was originally conceived to take the best of the web and put words between covers. Since joining HarperCollins it has since expanded to take the printed word back to the web in the form of interactive eBooks, community-created content and apps. Recent projects include the mathematician Marcus du Sautoy's The Number Mysteries to be published in print, eBook book and app formats http://bit.ly/DailyTelegraph and It's All Their Fault the UK's first social-media based interactive eBook: www.itsalltheirfault.com, allowing the Facebook generation of first-time voters to contribute their own content: http://bit.ly/Litplatform. He is also the author of the forthcoming Why We Run, to be published by John Murray.

HELEY, VERONICA
Veronica celebrated the publication of her 65th book this month. She is currently writing two gentle crime series which are popular here and in America. She also writes romance/suspense, short stories, book reviews, articles, resource books and stories with a Christian background for children of all ages.

HERBERT, JO
Jo Herbert has worked in publishing since 1996. She’s worked for three mainstream publishers in various editorial roles, most recently at A&C Black for the past seven years as Editor of the
Writers’ & Artists’ Yearbook and the Children’s Writers’ & Artists’ Yearbook. She lives in London but is originally from Wales.

HILLIER, BEVIS
Bevis Hillier, who holds an Honorary Doctorate of Letters from the University of Winchester, was born in 1940. He was educated at Reigate School and Magdalen College, Oxford, where he read History. His first job was on The Times and later he edited the Connoisseur Magazine and wrote for The Times Saturday Review. For five year he was a columnist for The Los Angeles Times, where he was awarded the Gladstone Memorial Prize 1961. He is the author of 30 books. These include, Art Deco (1968) - the book that popularised that name for the decorative style of the 1920's and 30's. He is perhaps best known for his glorious biography of Sir John Betjeman, Poet Laureate, published in three volumes which took 28 years to research and write. The result was described by Professor John Carey as 'a model of biography'.

HOGG, CAROLINE
Caroline Hogg first started work at Little, Brown Book Group in 2003 as an editorial assistant. She worked her way up through various roles before becoming an acquiring editor in 2009. She commissions commercial women's fiction for the Sphere imprint


HOLT, DEBBY
Debby Holt began her writing career by producing short stories for magazines. She met her agent, Teresa Chris, at the Winchester Conference and since then has written five novels, the latest of which, Recipe for Scandal, was published in January 2010.

HORTON, LESLEY
It is thanks to the Winchester 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, the latest of which, Twisted Tracks, was published in December 2008 and is now working on her sixth.

JAHANS, KEITH
Keith Jahans is a writer and microbiologist. He formed Peatmore Press as an on-line magazine in 1996 to publish and promote his writing. In 2008 he left his microbiology job at Defra's Veterinary Laboratories Agency and established Peatmore Press as a Limited Company the following year. His first novel, Cogrill's Mill was self-published as an ebook in March 2006 and as a paperback in April 2009. His second Victim of Compromise was launched in February 2010. He has gained considerable experience and expertise in the world of self publishing. Further information about him can be found by visiting his website at http://peatmore.com.

JAMES, DAVID
David James has taught English at universities in England, North America, Morocco and the Gulf. In 1965 he was awarded a Commonwealth Scholarship and in 1978 a British Academy Fellowship. Years later, having by then written sundry plays, stories, articles and reviews he self-published three novels. A fourth novel, The Confessions of Becky Sharp, will be commercially published by Pegasus Elliot Mackenzie in January 2011. For more details on David please visit www.freewebs.com/davejamesbooks

JENKINS, JOHN
John Jenkins is a former night editor of the Daily Telegraph. From Fleet Street he established two publishing companies, has edited 22 books, written three biographies and established the magazine Writers’ Forum. He has sold articles and stories to more than 300 titles throughout the world and lectured at several universities. His
latest work is a text book for journalists entitled: Essential Editing.


JOHNSTON, PHILIPPA
Philippa is Director of Writers' Compass, a wing of the National Association of Writers in Education with a specific remit for providing information and advice on professional development for all writers. She has had experience of helping a wide range of writers at all stages of their career to move forward professionally.

KING, CATHERINE
Catherine jumped the gap from being an academic to becoming a full time author in the space of a year and is working on her sixth, romantic, historical novel. All her titles are published in hardback, paperback, large print and spoken word formats. Silk and Steel was shortlisted for the Romantic Novel of the Year 2008. She comes from Yorkshire and uses her family history and local industry in the Victorian era to spark off her stories. Further details on www.catherineking.info


KING, SOPHIE
Sophie King (pen name for Jane Bidder) has been a journalist for over 25 years and contributes regularly to national newspapers and magazines including The Daily Telegraph and The Sunday Express. She has written five novels, The School Run, mums@home, Second Time Lucky , The Supper Club and The Wedding Party - all of which are best-sellers. She is published by Hodder & Stoughton. The Wedding Party was shortlisted for Love Story of the Year (an award given annually by the Romantic Novelists Association).
Sophie has had hundreds of short stories published in magazines such as Woman's Weekly and My Weekly as well as non-fiction books for both adults and children. Her recent book How To Write Short Stories For Magazines And Get Published has been called 'A real gem'. Her latest non-fiction book is called How to Write Your First Novel and has had great reviews. Both are published by How To Books.
In 2005, Sophie won the Elizabeth Goudge Short Story Trophy in 2005 and was a runner up in the Harry Bowling Prize. She has also appeared on breakfast television and radio including Woman's Hour. In addition, she is a member of the Romantic Novelists Association; Women in Journalism; the Society of Women Writers and Journalists and the National Union of Journalists. She also runs an online appraisal service to give advice on novels and short stories and articles. At last year's Winchester Festival, she was able to help a delegate get an article published in a national newspaper. More details at www.sophieking.info.

KING, ZOË
Zoe King is an Associate Agent for the Darley Anderson Literary Agency. Her non-fiction ranges from cookbooks to narrative non-fiction and miscellany. She will work with any person or theme she finds interesting and that has commercial appeal.

LAMONT, LOUISE
Louise Lamont studied English Literature at the University of Cambridge and Medieval Studies at the University of Toronto before joining A P Watt in May 2006. She was made an Associate Agent in 2009.

McKENNA, BERNARD
Apart from teaching scriptwriting at the University of Winchester from first years to graduates, he has co-written a satirical television comedy which is in its early stages of development, is
working on a book Scriptwriting that is both anecdotal and instructional and is writing a script about his encounter with Jean-Paul Sartre in Paris 1966.

MORRISON, CRYSSE
Crysse Morrison writes fiction, poetry, and drama. Hailed by 'The Times' as a 'superb storyteller' for her debut novel, Crysse also writes short stories and plays, and leads creative writing courses in the UK and abroad. Her Good Practice column appears monthly in Writing Magazine.

MURDOCH, JUDITH
Judith Murdoch worked as an editor before setting up her own agency in 1993. She specialises in quality commercial fiction and is always interested in new authors who have a strong individual voice and a powerful story to tell. Her authors include Anne Berry, Tony Black, Lola Jaye, Jessie Keane, Jaishree Misra, Leah Fleming, Trisha Ashley and Catherine King.

MURPHY, BRIAN
Brian Murphy is a highly experienced actor. Although his television appearances number into hundreds, he is still best known for his portrayal of George Roper in the smash hit series George and Mildred. He started his career with Joan Littlewood's theatre workshop company where all the plays were written and devised by the actors in the company. As well as his vast CV as an actor, he has also directed theatre all over the world.

MUSSI, SARAH
Sarah Mussi's first novel, The Door of No Return won the Glen Dimplex Children's Book of the Year Award, and was shortlisted for the Branford Boase Award amongst others. Her second novel, The Last of the Warrior Kings, published in April 2008, shortlisted for Lewisham Book Award, is a fast-paced tale charting the downfall of Max, a black hoody from South London, determined to redress history and avenge his brother's death by restoring the Benin Bronzes to Nigeria.
Sarah has appeared at many festivals, including Henley and Guildford; she is a regular tutor for the Winchester Writers' Conference, and has given workshops for SCBWI as well as to many schools.

NASH, KATE
Kate Nash launched a literary agency in January 2009 and is actively looking to build her client list. She represents authors Lesley Cookman, Sally Spedding and Fenella Miller. Kate worked
with Myrmidon Books since their launch in 2006 as well as undertaking publicity for authors, publishers and book trade events including the YoungMinds Books Award 2007 at Red Wave Communications Ltd where she is a director. Kate writes
historical romance under her maiden name Kate Allan. The Agency website and blog is at http://slushpilemountaineering.wordpress.com.

NORTH, SAM
Author of the ghost story 'Mean Tide' & the flu pandemic novel 'Another Place to Die'
He has a two book deal with Hodder Childrens Books to be published in 2011 He is currently the Course Leader of the Masters in Creative Writing at the University of Portsmouth and Editor of the long running web magazine Hackwriters.com

PELTER, STANLEY
Stanley Pelter, now 74, was part of the very first Writers' Conference in 1980. Having spent a working life in Further Education he has, since retiring, written several books of haiku and five collections of haibun, the genre that embeds haiku into 'haikuesque' prose.

PICKERING, JULIET
Juliet Pickering joined A P Watt in September 2003, and became an Associate Agent in 2007. Prior to joining the company, she studied English Literature at the University of Surrey before becoming a fiction buyer for Waterstones

REGAN, LINDA
Linda is a successful actress who has always written alongside her acting assignments. After winning a crime novel competition, in 2005, she had her first crime novel Behind You published, and has since followed that with two others. She has also written for radio and many short stories, one which won a national WHSmith award. She has recently acquired a master's degree in creative writing.

RULE, SUE
Sue Rule self-published her first novel Cloak of Magic as a Print On Demand title in 2006 through Authors On Line. The second in her Shaihen Heritage series, Staff of Power, was published by traditional methods in January 2009 with Pegasus Elliott Mackenzie
Vanguard Press. As well as her personal experience as an independent author, Sue brings her experience of setting up and running a small business and her professional marketing expertise. Sue is a member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing and earns her living as Marketing Director for SMS Ltd., a specialist IT management consultancy in which she and her husband are major shareholders.

SANDHAM, FRAN
Fran was an editor at Rough Guides for several years and worked in bookselling and the voluntary sector. His book Traversa: A solo walk across Africa was serialised by the Sunday Times, and he has written for the Daily Telegraph, the Financial Times and various travel magazines. He divides his time between freelance writing, freelance editing and public speaking.

MYRA SCHNEIDER
Myra Schneider's tenth collection of poetry is Circling the Core (Enitharmon 2008). Writing Your Self with John Killick (Continuum 2009) is her third book about personal writing. She has co-edited four anthologies of poetry by contemporary women writers, is an experienced writing tutor and currently works for the Poetry School. She is consultant to the Second Light Network of women poets.

SHEFFIELD, JACK
Jack Sheffield is the author of the best-selling Teacher series of novels. A retired Yorkshire headmaster, Jack's first novel attracted the attention of a literary agent at the 2005 Winchester Writers' Conference. In 2006 he signed a contract with Transworld Publishers and his first three novels, Teacher, Teacher!, Mister Teacher and Dear Teacher were Waterstone's Books of the Year for 2007, 2008 and 2009. His latest novel, Village Teacher, published earlier this year, is expected to follow his first three books into the international market. Jack is currently writing the fifth and sixth in the series along with his first teenage novel, Hexagon.

WALLIS SIMONS, JAKE
Jake Simons is a published novelist, journalist and Senior Editorial Consultant at Addison and Cole. His first novel was named as an Independent on Sunday Book of the Year, and he writes for the Times and the Guardian.


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 crime short stories have won awards and appeared in two CWA anthologies. Sword Lilies is included in Best British Crime Stories Vol 7 (ed Maxim Jakubowski) due out in March 2010. Strangers Waiting, her first collection, was published by bluechrome in 2008. She is currently working on her latest crime mystery set beneath the Cambrian Hills. www.sallyspedding.com

SPENCER, ALLIE
Before becoming a full-time writer, Allie obtained degrees in English Literature and Medieval studies. She also qualified as a barrister and practised family and matrimonial law for a number of years. Her first novel, the romantic comedy Tug of Love was the winner of the 2009 RNA New Writers' Award and her second, The Not-So-Secret Diary of a City Girl is out on 1st April 2010 with Little Black Dress.

STANFORD, 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.

STANNARD, JULIAN
Julian Stannard is the author of Rina's War (Peterloo Poets, 2001) and The Red Zone (Peterloo Poets, 2007).
His next collection - The Parrots of Villa Gruber Discover Lapis Lazuli - will be published by Salmon Poetry
in 2011. His work appears in Poetry Review, Ambit, Poetry London, Guardian, TLS, Spectator, Poetry Ireland, Poetry Wales, Magma and in several European publications, His study of Fleur Adcock - Fleur Adcock in Context: From Movement to Martians - is available from the Edwin Mellen Press. He is a Senior Lecturer in English and Creative Writing at the University of Winchester.

STANSBIE, STEPHANIE
Stephanie Stansbie is Editorial Director at Roar Publishing – an independent publisher of children’s books. She has edited picture books, novelty books, non-fiction and young fiction during her time at Little Tiger Press and Random House Children’s Books.

SWEENEY, SALLYANNE
Sallyanne Sweeney is an agent at Watson, Little Ltd and has a BA in English and Sociology from Trinity College, Dublin, and an MPhil in American Literature from Cambridge University. She is currently building her list and is looking for talented writers of literary and commercial fiction. She is also passionate about exciting and original writing for children and young adults, and is interested in narrative non-fiction, quirky gift books, food writing and crafts


TAGGART, CAROLINE
Caroline Taggart has been an editor for 30 years and is the editor and spokeswoman of Writer's Market UK and Ireland: your guide to making money from your writing. She is also the best-selling author of a number of popular reference books, including I Used to Know That and My Grammar and I (or should that be 'Me'?)

WELSHMAN, MALCOLM
Malcolm Welshman is a retired vet and novelist. He started writing in the mid 70s and became the Agony Uncle for 'My Weekly' for 15 years. He has had over two hundred features published. His novel based on his experiences in practice, 'Pets in Prospect', has been hailed as the new James Herriot; a paperback edition was published in Japan last year. He is now a BBC Radio panellist and in demand as a guest speaker on cruise liners. Currently he is working on a sequel and a children's novel.

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 Whitehouse is a novelist and former literary agent. She worked for top commercial literary agency, Darley Anderson, for five years before publishing her own first novel, The House at Midnight. Her second novel, The Bed I Made, was published in January this year by Bloomsbury.


WILLS, JAMES
James Wills is a Director at Watson, Little Ltd and looks after a dynamic and wide-ranging list of writers. He has an MA in 20th Century Literature from the University of Leeds and is passionate about reading and good writing. He is hugely enthusiastic about his authors' work and is always searching for new, exciting material.