The Writers' Conference programme

Conference

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The Writers’

2 | THE WRITERS’ CONFERENCE 2014

Welcome to The Writers’ Conference 2014, a day for writers and the writing industry to cometogether to share ideas, meet people and make

new contacts. It is brought to you by Writing East Midlandsin partnership with The University of Nottingham.

The Writers’ Conference 2014 is the first in the region for four yearsand is the springboard for an annual conference, which will build onthe strong programme of events and opportunities Writing EastMidlands currently delivers.

Writing East Midlands is the writer development agency for theregion. We work to create opportunities for experienced writers, andto nurture and encourage new talent. Our activities includeresidencies, live literature events, courses and workshops. We seewriting at the heart of the creative industries, and the East Midlandsat the centre of writing in the UK.

The Conference programme today brings together an inspiringrange of speakers, starting with our keynote speeches from Matt Haigand Jon McGregor. It will close with a brand new piece of work,created in collaboration with the delegates and speakers present,from Conference Poet in Residence Rob Gee.

The rest of the programme is made up of a series of in-depth talks,panel events and agent one-to-ones with agents from some of theUK’s top agencies. Sessions take place in four time slots, with a choiceof panels.

All of our panels and speeches take place in the prestigiousPortland Building. Refreshments and lunch will be served in theAtrium and, if you need some time to reflect on what you’ve heardtoday, or if you want to chat and network, we have a breakout spacefor you to use. All rooms are marked out on the map in the middle of

Welcome

THE WRITERS’ CONFERENCE 2014 | 3

this programme. If you need any assistance, please do ask any of theWriting East Midlands support team.

We thank all of our supporters, sponsors and partners of TheWriters’ Conference 2014, and in particular Arts Council England andThe University of Nottingham for their generosity. Special thanks go tothe many volunteers, organizations and colleagues who are helping tomake today a success.

We would be grateful if you could fill in our feedback form andhand it in to one of our team. Your contribution will help us todevelop the conference for the future.

We hope you enjoy The Writers’ Conference 2014 and find ithelpful, thought-provoking and inspirational.

Henderson Mullin, Chief ExecutiveAimee Wilkinson, Writer Development Manager

Annabel Bennett, Education ManagerJacqueline Gabbitas, Marketing Manager

Eleanor Hughes, Marketing and Events OfficerElla Gordon, Writing School East Midlands Admin Officer

Writing East Midlands 49 Stoney Street, The Lace Market, Nottingham NG1 1LX

Tel: 01159 59 79 29 / [email protected]

Twitter: @writingem, The Writers’ Conference hashtag #wemconfFacebook: www.facebook.com/writingeastmidlands

WRITINGEAST

MIDLANDS

The Writers’ Conference is brought to you by Writing East Midlands,in partnership with The University of Nottingham

The Writers’ ConferenceBuilding successful writing careers

9.30 – 10.00am Arrival and registration

10.30am Welcome: Jane Streeter – Chair of the Board, Writing East Midlands

10.35am Keynote Speakers: Jon McGregor / Matt Haig

11.00 – 11.45am Slot one

Panel 1 Working as a Writer in the Community: Panya Banjoko / Ali Betteridge (Chair) / Cathy Grindrod / Helen Mort

Panel 2 How to Sell Your Script and See it Produced (Sponsored by De Montfort University): Suba Das / Jim Hill (Chair) / Michelle Lipton / Hayley McKenzie

Panel 3 Writing for YA and Children – Rights and Responsibilities: David Belbin / Helena Pielichaty / Bali Rai / Jane Streeter (Chair)

11.45 – 12.15pm Break

12.15 – 1.00pm Slot two

Panel 1 Finding and Securing Funding: Ali Betteridge / Sara Bullimore / Henderson Mullin (Chair) / James Urquart

Panel 2 Working as a Writer in the Digital Age: Wayne Burrows / Adrian Reynolds / Farhana Shaikh / James Walker (Chair)

Panel 3 Promoting Yourself as a Writer: Stephen Booth / Cathy Bramley / Alex Davis (Chair) / Niki Valentine


At a glance

1.00 – 2.15pm Lunch

2.15 – 3.00pm Slot three

Panel 1 The Truths and Lies About Self-Publishing: Cathy Bramley / Alan Dance / Alex Davis (Chair) / Wilf Morgan / Georgia Twynham

Panel 2 Working in Schools and with Young People: Jonathan Davidson (Chair) / / Jess Green / Richard O'Neill / Helena Pielichaty

Panel 3 Managing a Writing Life: Jim Moran (Chair) /Cathy Grindrod / Jonathan Taylor / Lydia Towsey

3.00 – 3.30pm Break

3.30 – 4.15pm Slot four

Panel 1 Everything You’ve Ever Wanted to Ask an Agent: Carole Blake / Shelia Crowley / John Jarrold /Henderson Mullin (Chair)

Panel 2 Writing Residencies: Judith Allnatt / Corinne Fowler (Chair) Rob Gee / Pippa Hennessy

Panel 3 Prizes and Awards, Improving Your Chances: Luke Kennard / Éireann Lorsung / Alison Moore / Matthew Welton (Chair)

4.30pm The Writers’ Conference Poet in Residence – Rob Gee

4.45pm Closing Conference from Jane Streeter

5.00pm Conference ends


11.00 – 11.45 SLOT ONE

Panel 1Working as a Writer in the CommunityThis panel will look at different forms of community work undertakenby writers, including running one-off site-specific workshops, engagingwith different groups, reaching out to new audiences and venues, andhow to set up your own writing in the community projects.

Speakers: Panya Banjoko / Ali Betteridge (Chair)Cathy Grindrod / Helen Mort

Panel 2How to Sell Your Script and See itProduced (Sponsored by DMU)Scriptwriting for theatre, film and television is one of the mostcompetitive but potentially rewarding outlets for a writer’s skills.Thousands of scripts are written every year, but selling a script andseeing it produced can take more work than the writing itself. How dowriters go from a finished script to a finished production, and whatare the opportunities today for new writing?

Speakers: Suba Das / Jim Hill (Chair)Michelle Lipton / Hayley McKenzie


Programme

Panel 3Writing for Children and Young Adults– a Writer’s Rights and ResponsibilitiesIn the ever growing genre of writing for children and young adults,how do you as a writer negotiate the fine line between subject matterand what is appropriate for your audience’s age range? How do youaddress the latest language on the street, and are there any subjectswhich can’t be covered? How do these considerations affect languageand tone? And how do sensibilities change over time, or even overmedia? This panel will bring together leading writers in the field toexplore just these issues.

Speakers: David Belbin / Helena Pielichaty Bali Rai / Jane Streeter (Chair)

12.15 – 1.00 SLOT TWO

Panel 1Finding and Securing Funding for WritersSo, you’ve got that shining project or book in you, but how do you findthe funding to turn that dream into a reality? This panel will explorethe different sources available for writers, from Arts Council England toCharitable Trusts and Foundations, to local authorities and crowd funding,and how best to take advantage of these different funding streams.

Speakers: Ali Betteridge / Sara Bullimore Henderson Mullin (Chair) / James Urquart



Panel 2Working as a Writer in the Digital AgeNew technologies are changing how stories are told and how weencounter them. The internet and computers provide ways to makeinteractive and immersive stories that are still being explored. Videogames are experimenting with ever more sophisticated narratives andare providing exciting platforms for writers. This panel has a particularfocus on the opportunities that the new digital age can present towriters and how authors can best promote themselves in the onlinelandscape. It will also give examples of different projects writers canget involved in.

Speakers: Wayne Burrows / Adrian Reynolds Farhana Shaikh / James Walker (Chair)

Panel 3Promoting Yourself as a Writer –Building AudiencesPromoting yourself and your projects is crucial for a successful careeras a freelance writer. In the ever-competitive literature landscape,with publishers’ marketing budgets diminishing, how do you reachout to new audiences and ensure your writing is read? This panel willbring together leading authors who have a particular expertise in thisarea, to discuss strategies for making your voice heard.

Speakers: Stephen Booth / Cathy Bramley Alex Davis (Chair) / Niki Valentine


2.15 – 3.00 SLOT THREE

Panel 1The Truths and Lies About Self-PublishingIn a world where it's safer for an editor at a mainstream publishinghouse to buy a book that reads a lot like last year's bestseller than tosupport an unproven concept, it is small wonder that there has beena recent surge of interest in self-publishing. Hear four well establishedself-published authors talk about their experience in the publishingworld, how they reach their readers and why they chose thisparticular avenue for their writing.

Speakers: Cathy Bramley / Alan Dance / Alex Davis (Chair)Wilf Morgan / Georgia Twynham

Panel 2Working in Schools and with Young PeopleFor emerging and established professional writers, working in schoolsand with young people can be an important part of their career, bothcreatively and financially. This panel will bring together leading writerswith a wealth of experience in this area and discuss the practicalitiesof working with this particular audience.

Speakers: Jonathan Davidson (Chair) / Jess GreenRichard O'Neill / Helena Pielichaty

Panel 3Managing a Writing LifeThis panel will explore the practicalities of being a writer in today’sworld of other commitments, the demands of a day job and alsopromoting yourself as a writer. It will look at how you carve time foryour own writing, and the considerations you have to take intoaccount when you are managing various projects and deadlines.

Speakers: Cathy Grindrod / Jim Moran (Chair)Jonathan Taylor / Lydia Towsey

3.30 – 4.15 SLOT FOUR

Panel 1Everything You’ve Ever Wanted to Ask an AgentAgents are the bridge between writers and publishers, and are among the most influential people in the publishing industry. The role of the agent can include much more than simply selling yourbook, and agents are increasingly responsible for finding andnurturing talented new writers. Choosing the right agent can affectevery step of a writer’s career, and understanding how the agent /author relationship works is essential to making that choice. Now’syour chance to have your questions answered.

Speakers: Carole Blake / Shelia Crowley John Jarrold / Henderson Mullin (Chair)


Panel 2Writing ResidenciesWriting residencies can take all sorts of shapes and formats, fromworking in heritage and library settings, to health and wellbeing or working in prisons or schools. They facilitate the creativedevelopment of writers and strengthen their links with localcommunities and audiences. This panel will look at the practicalitiesof being a writer in residence, how to make the connections and what exactly being a Writer in Residence can involve.

Speakers: Judith Allnatt / Corinne Fowler (Chair)Rob Gee / Pippa Hennessy

Panel 3Prizes and Awards, Improving Your ChancesWith a whole host of new and established writing prizes, awards andcompetitions available, how do you choose which award would bebest to apply for, and how do you improve your chances at gettingnoticed? Does being nominated and indeed winning such prizes lead to writerly fame? This panel will look at the value such awardsbring to the writers and the writing community, and how best toapproach applying.

Speakers: Luke Kennard / Éireann Lorsung Alison Moore / Matthew Welton (Chair)


Matt Haig / – Keynote SpeakerMatt Haig is the author of novels for both adults andchildren. His adult novels include the bestsellers The LastFamily in England, the film rights of which were sold toBrad Pitt’s production company, The Radleys, which was aTV Book Club ‘Best Read’ and The Humans, which is a 2014World Book Night title. His first novel for children, Shadow

Forest, won the Gold Smarties Award and the Blue PeterBook of the Year, and his latest book is a young adult novel Echo Boy, the film rightsof which have just been sold. The Guardian described his writing as ‘delightfullyweird’ and the New York Times called him ‘a writer of great talent’. His works havebeen translated into over thirty languages. He was recently the Booktrust’s Writer in Residence.

Jon McGregor / The University ofNottingham – Keynote SpeakerJon McGregor is a novelist and short story writer and hisrecent books include This Isn’t The Sort Of Thing ThatHappens To Someone Like You, winner of the East MidlandsBook Award 2013, and Even The Dogs, winner of the IMPACDublin Literary Award 2012. In 2002, he was longlisted for

the Booker Prize as its youngest contender with his first novel, If Nobody Speaks ofRemarkable Things, which went on to win the Betty Trask Prize and the SomersetMaugham Award. He is the Writer in Residence at The University of Nottingham’sSchool of English, where he edits ‘The Letters Page’, a literary journal in letters,celebrating the epistolary form and exploring its place in a literary culture which ismoving slowly into the digital world.

Rob Gee / The Writers’ Conference Poet in ResidencePerformance poet, comic, and ex-psychiatric nurse, Rob has clocked up over two thousand shows around the worldand won numerous poetry slams, including The EdinburghSlam, The Orlando Poetry Smackdown and BBC 2’s ‘Why

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Poetry Matters’ slam. He’s performed with Harold Pinter, Sarah Millican, Jo Brand,Frankie Boyle and Jimmy Carr, and appeared on BBC Radio 4’s Bespoke Poetry. Robhas been commissioned to write comedy and poetry for Leicester City Football Club,Leicester Comedy Festival, Groundwork, The Mighty Creatives and the NHS. He isalso sent into schools as a warning to children. Rob’s is the only performance ever tohave instigated a fight at The Leamington Spa Peace festival. His school workshopsspecialise in motivating people to write, and promoting teamwork and confidencethrough performing what they’ve written. He also leads comedy/poetry workshopswith mental health service users and artists wishing to work in mental health.

Judith Allnatt / AuthorJudith Allnatt is an acclaimed short story writer andnovelist. Her first novel, A Mile of River, was a Radio 5 LiveBook of the Month and was shortlisted for the Portico Prizefor Literature, and her second novel, The Poet’s Wife, wasshortlisted for the East Midlands Book Award. Short storieshave featured in the Bridport Prize Anthology, theCommonwealth Short Story Awards, and on BBC Radio 4.

Her third novel is The Moon Field, (HarperCollins 2014), set in the First World War.Judith has lectured widely on Creative Writing for universities and freelance foralmost two decades. She lives with her family in Northamptonshire and is workingon her fourth novel. www.judithallnatt.co.uk

Panya Banjoko / Freelance Learning andEngagement Project WorkerPanya Banjoko has worked extensively with museums andgalleries as a creative writer. Her roles for Nottingham CastleMuseum and Galleries include Learning and EngagementProject Worker and Outreach Worker. She has managed anumber of community projects including SANKOFA, a

bicentenary project, in partnership with Wedgwood. She writes creative packs toaccompany the Museum’s Community Loans Boxes and has been Poet in Residencefor the National Trust’s 100 verses at Charlecote Park, Warwickshire. In 2010 shefounded Nottingham Black Archive (NBA) an organisation dedicated to researching,collecting and preserving black history, heritage and culture in Nottingham.


David Belbin / AuthorDavid Belbin is the author of more than thirty novels forYoung Adults, numerous short stories, and ten short novelsfor ‘reluctant’ readers. He is best known for Love Lessons,Festival, and The Beat, a Nottingham-based crime series. Hiswork has been translated into twenty five languages. David’snovels for adults include The Pretender and Bone and Cane.

He runs a module in Children’s and Young Adult Fiction onthe MA Creative Writing at Nottingham Trent University. His most recent novel, Student,follows a student at the University of Nottingham over her three year degree course.

Ali Betteridge / Literature DevelopmentOfficer, Derbyshire County CouncilAli Betteridge is the Literature Development Officer forDerbyshire County Council. She develops a range ofliterature events and activities and gives advice to writers,writing groups, and to organisations interested indeveloping literature projects. She also manages the

Derbyshire Poet Laureate project and is a member of the organising team for theDerbyshire Literature Festival. Her background is in participatory arts and artsdevelopment. www.derbyshire.gov.uk/literature

Carole Blake / Joint Managing Director, Blake Friedmann Literary AgencyCarole Blake founded her literary agency in 1977 afterfourteen years working for publishing houses, finally asMarketing Director of mass market paperback imprintSphere. Carole is the past president of The Book TradeCharity and the Association of Authors’ Agents, and past

chairman of The Society of Bookmen. She is currently a member of the advisoryboard for the post-graduate publishing studies courses at both City University andUCLA. She is also the the author of From Pitch to Publication (Macmillan 1999).Carole’s clients include Elizabeth Chadwick, Barbara Erskine, Peter James and JulianStockwin. She is the recipient of the Pandora Award 2013 for ‘Significant andSustained Contribution to the Publishing Industry’. www.blakefriedmann.co.uk


Stephen Booth / AuthorA former newspaper journalist, Stephen Booth is the creatorof two young Derbyshire police detectives, DS Ben Cooperand DS Diane Fry, who have appeared in thirteen novels, allset around the Peak District. The Cooper and Fry series haswon awards on both sides of the Atlantic, with Ben Cooperbeing nominated for a Sherlock Award for the ‘Best Detective

created by a British author’. In 2003 the Crime Writers’Association presented Stephen with the Dagger in the Library award for ‘The authorwhose books have given readers most pleasure’. The novels have been translatedinto fifteen languages, and are currently in development as a television series.Stephen lives in rural Nottinghamshire, and his latest title is Already Dead.

Cathy Bramley / AuthorCathy Bramley arrived to study European Business atNottingham Trent and never really left Nottinghamalthough she is thankfully no longer in studentaccommodation. She writes commercial women’s fictionand if pressed, also admits to running a PR and MarketingAgency. She self-published her first novel, Conditional Love

in October 2013 and it became an Amazon Kindle best sellerin January this year. Cathy’s next novel Ivy Lane will be her first foray into traditionalpublishing. It will be serialised digitally, from April 2014 with the paperbackfollowing in 2015 published by Transworld Books. She is represented by literaryagent Hannah Ferguson at The Marsh Agency.

Sara Bullimore / Arts ConsultantSara Bullimore has worked within the arts and culturalsector for over fifteen years. Since becoming the ArtsOfficer for the City of Lincoln in 2003 she has created,fundraised and managed many festivals including theLincoln Book Festival. She became freelance in 2009 andhas continued to work with a variety of clients creatingbespoke fundraising action plans, delivering and fundraising

for festivals including Wolds Words. She is the Creative Director of Lincoln Inspired,a new festival of literature, performance and art, which currently receives themajority of its finances from philanthropic methods including two successful crowd funding campaigns, donations and sponsorship. She is a member of ArtsDevelopment UK and a Crowdfunder affiliate.


Wayne Burrows / PoetWayne Burrows is a writer whose work spans poetry,journalism, performance, short film and visual installations.He has published three collections of poetry, most recentlyThe Apple Sequence (Shoestring, 2011) and several fictionchapbooks, including Spirit Wrappings (NottinghamContemporary, 2012). He is the editor of Staple magazineand was the first Writer in Residence at NottinghamContemporary.

Jane Commane / Editor, Nine Arches PressJane Commane is a poet, writing tutor and editor at NineArches Press. She also co-edits Under the Radar magazineand has run a variety of indoor and outdoor writingworkshops, everywhere from castles and museums toallotment gardens and riverbanks. Her work has beenpublished in Anon, The Warwick Review, Tears in the Fence,The Morning Star and anthologised in The Best British

Poetry 2011 and Lung Jazz: Young British Poets for Oxfam. Born in Coventry, shelives and works in Warwickshire. www.ninearchespress.com

Sheila Crowley / Literary Agent, Curtis BrownSheila started her career at Poolbeg Press, before movingto London in 1991, where she worked at a number ofleading publishers, including HarperCollins and Hodder.During the 1990s and early ‘00s she held a number of highprofile sales and marketing positions and worked closely

with many authors and agents. This was her inspiration to change to ‘the other side’and in 2003 she became a literary agent. She worked at APWatt for five years beforemoving to Curtis Brown, the biggest Literary Agency in the UK. Sheila represents awide range of authors, and she specialises in quality fiction, crime and thrillers,memoir, business, sport and MBS. Her clients include Jojo Moyes, Santa Montefiore,and Declan Hughes.


Alan Dance / Writer and Publisher,Arundel BooksAlan was born in Nottingham in 1946 and spent his workinglife in the rail industry. His first book, The Chilwell Ghost – ANew Investigation, was published in 1998. Retirement in2004 gave him more time to devote to his interests,particularly local and family history, and these have greatly

influenced his writing. Whilst researching family history he became fascinated bythe lives of people living and working in the slums of early nineteenth centuryNottingham, where many if his ancestors worked. This gave him the inspiration forhis best-selling first novel, Narrow Marsh. The sequel, Leen Times, was published in2011 and his latest book The Westbrook Affair was published last year.

Suba Das / Associate Director (ArtistDevelopment), Curve TheatreSuba Das is Associate Director at Curve, the East Midlands’flagship performing arts centre. Before taking up his post atCurve, Suba was Director in Residence at The NationalTheatre Studio, English Touring Theatre and Theatre RoyalStratford East. In 2010, he founded the company

Custom/Practice, committed to widening access to classical theatre for actors andaudiences from diverse backgrounds, supported by the Royal Shakespeare Companyand The Almeida Theatre. In 2011 he was selected as one of seven directors sent toNew York by the Old Vic New Voices as a showcase of new British talent. Suba hasdirected for Theatre 503, Tamasha, Ice & Fire, and the Young Vic.

Jonathan Davidson / Chief Executive,Writing West MidlandsJonathan Davidson is founder and Chief Executive of WritingWest Midlands. He is a member of the National Associationof Writers in Education and jointly-convenes their Writers’in Schools Project Managers Network. He is Chair of theArtistic Policy Committee of the Belgrade Theatre and a Board

member for Artspace and Interplay Theatre. His radio plays are regularly broadcast onBBC Radio 3 and BBC Radio 4. His stage adaptation for young people with learningdisabilities of Mary Webb’s novel, Precious Bane, toured in 2009. His second poetrycollection, Early Train, was published by Smith Doorstop in 2011 and he’s performedpoetry widely, including at the 2014 Nicaragua International Poetry Festival in Granada.He has produced four touring poetry-theatre shows, most recently Being Human.



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Alex Davis / Writer, Boo BooksAlex Davis is a freelance author, events organiser, tutor,proof-reader and copy editor specialising in science-fiction,fantasy and horror fiction. He has taught writing courses all over the Midlands. His first two anthologies as editor, No Monsters Allowed and X7, are available to buy onAmazon, and he has recently launched a new small press

based in Derby, Boo Books, with a view to publishing thebest talent from around the East and West Midlands. Forthcoming anthologies aseditor include Breaking the Rules, After the Fall, Strange Fortune and Worms.Twitter at @AlexDavis1981 or email [email protected]

Corinne Fowler / Director, Centre for New Writing, University of LeicesterCorinne Fowler is Director of the Centre for New Writing,which supports writers by resourcing and commissioningnew work. She is a published fiction writer and editor. Dr. Fowler’s research specialism is regional British black and British Asian writing. She co-authored Postcolonial

Manchester: Diaspora Space and The Devolution of Literary Culture and has curated exhibitions about regional writing in the North West and the East Midlands. She directed an Arts Council-funded project called ‘Grassroutes:Contemporary Leicestershire Writing’ and is co-investigator on an Arts andHumanities Research Council-funded project about de-industrialised buildings,called ‘Affective Digital Histories’.

Jess Green / PoetLocal performance poet, Jess Green has performed around the country at festivals including Latitude, SecretGarden Party, Bestival and at the Edinburgh Fringe as well as working as a Writer in Residence for Newcastle’sJuice Festival. Her first collection #romance was publishedwith Holdfire Press is 2012. She was mentored by PolarBear whilst a member of the Roundhouse Poetry Collective

and was runner up in the UK Slam Championships. She is currently writing her firstsolo show, Burning Books, and delivers workshops across the country.


Cathy Grindrod / WriterCathy Grindrod is a poet and playwright, and formerDerbyshire Poet Laureate. She has published two pamphletsand three full collections of poetry, and also wrote thelibretto to More Glass Than Wall, a collaboration withcomposer James Redwood, shortlisted for a BBC Radio 3Composer of the Year Award. Cathy was recently awarded

an Honorary Master of Letters by Derby University for herwork with writing and wellbeing across Derbyshire. She is a freelance tutor, mentor,project coordinator and consultant, and her work includes projects with carers inDerby City, prisoners at HMP Sudbury and HMP Foston, and secondary school pupilsin Nottingham Schools with the charity, First Story. She also mentors on the BA inCreative and Professional Writing at the University of Nottingham.

Pippa Hennessy / Development Director,Nottingham Writers’ StudioPippa Hennessy was a software developer in a previous life. She is now the Development Director at NottinghamWriters’ Studio, a lecturer at the University of Nottinghamon the Creative and Professional Writing and Humanitiesdegree programmes, and works for Five Leaves

Publications. She writes poetry and fiction and is studying for an MA in CreativeWriting. As a freelancer she produces ebooks, runs workshops on ebook production,and had led creative writing workshops in prisons, art galleries, schools, museums,and libraries. She also manages the EU-funded ‘Dovetail’ project, a collaborationbetween writing groups in Nottingham, Karlsruhe and Budapest.

Jim Hill / Senior Lecturer, MA TV &Scriptwriting, De Montfort UniversityJim Hill is a graduate of the National Film and TelevisionSchool and has worked extensively as a freelance writer,producer and director in television. He is best known as the co-creator of the television series Boon. He has worked on popular shows including Minder, The Bill,

Lovejoy, Casualty, and Pie in the Sky and has worked extensively in Europe forFremantle Worldwide Drama as a story consultant on a daily serial drama. He is currently the Senior Lecturer for the MA Television Scriptwriting degree programme at De Montfort University in Leicester and a visiting lecturer at City University, London.

John Jarrold / Literary AgentAs an editor and editorial director, John Jarrold publishedbestselling novelists including Iain Banks, Terry Brooks,Arthur C Clarke, David Gemmell and Michael Morcock.After leaving London publishing he worked as an editorwith new and published writers. Since 2004 he has run theJohn Jarrold Literary Agency, which specialises entirely inSF, Fantasy and Horror and has clinched multi-book dealsfor over 20 debut novelists.

Luke Kennard / Lecturer in CreativeWriting, University of BirminghamLuke Kennard is the author of four volumes of poetry, twopamphlets and a novella called Holophin. His secondcollection of prose poems and verse, The Harbour Beyondthe Movie was shortlisted for the Forward Prize for BestCollection in 2007 making him the youngest poet ever to

be shortlisted. He lectures at the University of Birmingham and has been workingon his first novel for some time.

Michelle Lipton / ScriptwriterMichelle Lipton is a scriptwriter who works in television,radio and film. Since graduating from De Montfort Universitywith an MA in TV Scriptwriting, she has written for Doctors,Hollyoaks and Rocket’s Island. She has had original seriesoptioned and developed by companies such as Hat Trick,Red and CBBC, has written three five-part drama series for Radio 4, and in 2011 won the ‘Imison Award for Best

Original Drama by a Writer New to Radio’. She has adapted cult classic novelCassandra at the Wedding into a romantic comedy feature for Mass Productionsand has also developed and written animation features for Creative England.

Éireann Lorsung / WriterÉireann Lorsung grew up in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where she completed her undergraduate degree in Englishand Japanese and a Master of Fine Arts in Poetry and Visual Arts. She received her PhD from The University ofNottingham in 2013. She is the author of Music For LandingPlanes, Her Book and Sweetbriar. Recently her poems haveappeared in Beloit Poetry Journal, La Vague, Burnside


Review, Colorado Review and Women’s Studies Quarterly. Éireann is currently atwork on a novel about archives and earthquakes, pieces of which can be found inTwo Serious Ladies, DIAGRAM and Bluestem. She edits the journal ‘111O’ and runsthe micropress Miel. www.miel-books.com

Penny Luithlen / Agent, Luithlen AgencyPenny Luithlen’s Leicester-based Luithlen Agency wasestablished in 1986 and is internationally renowned foroverseeing high quality fiction by award-winning writers.The agency’s focus is children’s fiction, and their authorshave won every major children’s fiction award in the UK.Luithlen Agency is also well known for selling foreign rights,with many of their authors in over fifteen languages. Penny

is passionate about offering page-turning fiction that children want to read, talkabout, and pass on to their friends. The agency is proud to have produced so manybrilliant novels for avid readers, as well as the kind of book than can convert a non-reader into a reader.

Hayley McKenzie / Script Editor, Script AngelHayley McKenzie is an experienced script editor in TV and feature films and the founder of Script Angel. She hasworked as Development Executive at ITV Studios and script edited on Casualty, Blue Murder, Heartbeat andHollyoaks. Her film script editing credits include indie hit

Papadopoulos & Sons, Chakara and The Watcher Self. She is a Project Mentor forNorthern Film & Media, Script Consultant for The Sitcom Mission and a featureswriter (on screenwriting) for Script Magazine.

Alison Moore / AuthorAlison Moore’s first novel, The Lighthouse, was shortlistedfor the Man Booker Prize 2012, the National Book Awards2012, the East Midlands Book Award 2013 and the Sydney J Bounds Award 2013 before winning the McKitterick Prize2013. Her second novel, He Wants, is published in August2014. Her shorter fiction has been anthologized in BestBritish Short Stories and her debut collection, The Pre-War

House and Other Stories, has been shortlisted for the East Midlands Book Awrds.She is a member of Nottingham Writers’ Studio and an honorary lecturer in theSchool of English at The University of Nottingham. www.alison-moore.com


Jim Moran / University of NottinghamJim Moran is an associate professor in English at theUniversity of Nottingham. He has written and edited anumber of books, most recently The Theatre of SeánO’Casey and Regional Modernisms. At the moment he isworking on a book entitled The Theatre of D.H. Lawrence,which will be published by Bloomsbury in 2015. Jim is

currently a mid-career fellow of the British Academy; avisiting fellow at the National University of Ireland, Galway, and the presenter of a monthly book review on BBC Radio Nottingham, where he gives particularattention to authors from the local area. In 2013 he won a Philip Leverhulme prize for his research into twentieth-century drama.

Wilf Morgan / Eighty8TalesWilf Morgan is the author of several novels, novellas andshort story compilations for both adults and youngerreaders. His works include That Time in Honduras and The Assasin’s Wedding. A computer programmer by trade,he took time off in 2010 to look after his children and setup Eight8Tales Press, an independent self-publishing

label. His recent title is Arthur Ness and the Secret ofWaterwhistle Pt. 1, an adventure novel for young readers. Passionate aboutencouraging children to have fun writing, he visits local schools and delivers creative writing sessions. Wilf lives in Southwell, Nottinghamshire with his wife and three children.

Helen Mort / Derbyshire Poet LaureateHelen Mort was born in Sheffield in 1985. Her collectionDivision Street was shortlisted for the T.S. Eliot prize, the Costa Prize and the East Midlands Book Awards. She has published two pamphlets with Tall-LighthousePress; The Shape of Every Box and A Pint for the Ghost, a Poetry Book Society Choice in Spring 2010. Five-timeswinner of the Foyle Young Poets award, she received

an Eric Gregory Award from The Society of Authors in 2007 and won theManchester Young Writer Prize in 2008. In 2010, she became the youngest everpoet in residence at The Wordsworth Trust, Grasmere, and she is the currentDerbyshire Poet Laureate.


Henderson Mullin / Chief Executive,Writing East MidlandsHenderson is the Chief Executive of Writing East Midlandswhich runs and supports writing projects and events across the region. Writing East Midlands works to createemployment opportunities for established writers and todiscover new writers of quality. Before setting up WEM in

2008, Henderson worked as the Publisher, then Chief Executive, for Index onCensorship, the campaigning NGO which publishes books and magazines in supportof freedom of expression. He has contributed to various advisory boards includingWriters and Scholars Educational Trust, New Art Exchange, Open Air FM, HumanRights House Network, and the Free Word Centre for Literature, Literacy andFreedom of Expression. He was a Regional Artist Advisor for Artists taking the lead,and a member of The Rhythm Writers performance collective based in London.

Richard O’Neill / WriterRichard O’Neill was born and brought up in a large Romanyfamily in the North of England and learned his storytellingskills from some of the best travelling storytellers inEngland, Scotland, Ireland and Wales. He has been a fulltime professional storyteller and writer since 2004. Hedelivers sessions in over one hundred schools across thecountry, helping to improve literacy, attendance, transition,

inclusion and entrepreneurship. He was recently awarded the title of ‘NationalLiteracy Hero’ by the National Literacy Trust. He is the author of nine children’sbooks and his latest is Time Cat and the Missing Pie Oven. He is currently WritingEast Midlands’ Writer in Residence at both Babington College and Medway Primaryschool in Leicester.

Helena Pielichaty / WriterHelena Pielichaty (pronounced Pierre-li-hatty) is a quarterPolish, quarter Russian and half Yorkshire. Her first book,Vicious Circle, published in 1998, was one of the BookTrust’s Top 100 books of that year. Since then she haswritten over thirty books for children, many of which have been translated into several languages. Helena ispassionate about encouraging children to read for pleasure

and in 2012 became the UK’s first Patron of Reading at a school in North Wales. Inbetween writing books and school visits she follows Huddersfield Town FC andtweets too much. She lives in Nottinghamshire and has two grown up children.


Bali Rai / AuthorBali Rai grew up in Leicester, where he returned afterstudying in London to do a variety of jobs before writing his first acclaimed novel, (Un)arranged Marriage. Published in thirteen languages to date, he is now adistinctive voice in young adult fiction and is invited all over the world to talk about his work. Bali likes cooking,talking and is a devoted Liverpool FC fan.

Adrian Reynolds / WriterRecovering copywriter Adrian Reynolds scripted episodesof Doctors for the BBC and feared he faced writing medicaldrama for years unless he did something drastic. His focusis now primarially on genre storytelling, often in digitalform such as the App-Released supernatural thriller serialMaking Sparks, fantasy audio serial Dragon Run Saga and

online science fiction comic Dadtown. He also turned to the internet to fund a short science fiction film, White Lily and uses skype to speak with collaborators inAmerica, Australia and beyond. His experience also includes developing material for online roleplaying games, and concepts that work across different media.www.about.me/adrianreynolds

Farhana Shaikh / WriterFarhana Shaikh is a writer, freelance editor and publisherborn in Leicester. She did a BA in Publishing with English at Loughborough University and later founded The AsianWriter, an online magazine championing Asian literature. In 2010 she established Dahlia Publishing, a boutique indie press which seeks to nurture regional and diversewriting. She hosts the monthly Writers Meet Up Leicesterand has just launched LeicesterWrites.co.uk for writersliving across the county.

Jane Streeter / Chair, Writing East MidlandsJane Streeter began her bookselling life in 1984, working at Hammick’s Legal Bookshop and the Parks BusinessBookshop in London. Following a move back to her hometown of Nottingham, and three children later, she still hadnot kicked the habit, so in 1996, Jane opened The Bookcase


in Lowdham, the village where she lives. She is a Trustee of the East Midlands BookAward and current Chair of Writing East Midlands. She is passionate about ourregional literary heritage and about encouraging the writers of the future. Jane hasbeen a member of various book industry panels and has just taken up the post ofWorld Book Day Chair, having recently completed a two year term as the Presidentof the UK Booksellers Association.

Jonathan Taylor / Writer and Lecturer,Leicester UniversityJonathan Taylor is a lecturer in Creative Writing at theUniversity of Leicester, and Co-Director of arts organisationand small publisher Crystal Clear Creators. JonathanTaylor’s books include the novel Entertaining Strangers;memoir Take Me Home; and short story collection,

Kontakte and Other Stories. He is also the editor of Overheard: Stories to ReadAloud, winner of the Saboteur Award for Best Fiction Anthology 2013.www.jonathanptaylor.co.uk.

Lydia Towsey / PoetLydia Towsey is a poet and performer with a Mastersdegree in Creative Writing. Previous commissions include:Freedom Showcase (Literature Network); Spoken Word AllStars Tour (Poet in the City) & Beyond Words, a U.K. tour offour South African poets, including the South African PoetLaureate (Apples and Snakes). She has won a Decibel

commission, was shortlisted for the Bridport Prize, spoke at the House of Lords andwas featured by The London Magazine. In 2014, Lydia will be touring Three the HardWay with Jean ‘Binta’ Breeze MBE and Alison Dunne.

Georgia Twynham / Author, Thirteenth SeriesBorn in Wellingborough in 1972, Georgia moved with herfamily to Menorca at the age of fifteen. She wrote shortstories and poetry from an early age but her real passionfor writing didn’t truly emerge until she was thirty onewhen she wrote articles and for her own website to support

herself and her daughter. Georgia felt there was a need for a strong British femaleheroine, and wanted a main character that had a normal family could relate to, andso Val Saunders was born. Georgia spends her time with her daughter in their homein Leicestershire and her life is filled with promoting her books and writing.


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James Urquart / Arts Council England:Relationship Manager, LiteratureJames Urquart spent a decade bookselling and another as abroadsheet literary critic before joining the Arts Council in2010. He has been Chair of Nottingham Writers Studio andinvolved in writing related projects around Nottinghamever since.

Niki Valentine / Course Leader BACreative and Professional Writing, The University of NottinghamNiki Valentine is the award winning author of The Haunted,Possessed and The Doll’s House. She also writes gritty,realist fiction as Nicola Monaghan. When she isn’t working

on her next novel, Niki teaches Creative and Professional Writing at The Universityof Nottingham. www.nikivalentine.webeden.co.uk

James Walker / Editor, Dawn of the UnreadJames is the Chair of the Nottingham Writers’ Studio andLiterature Editor at LeftLion. He was recently commissionedfor BBC Arts Council multimedia platform The Space wherehe created the Sillitoe Trail, exploring themes from AlanSillitoe’s Saturday Night and Sunday Morning. He is currentlyworking on an interactive graphic novel called Dawn of theUnread in support of libraries. www.dawnoftheunread.com

Matthew Welton / Lecturer in CreativeWriting, The University of Nottingham‘Matthew Welton is a poet whose books include The Bookof Matthew, ‘We needed coffee but…’ (both Carcanet) andWaffles (EggBox). He has won an Eric Gregory Award, theJerwood Opera Writing Fellowship (with Larry Goves), theAldeburgh First Collection Prize, and second prize in the

Arvon International Poetry Competition. He has become ‘increasingly admired byand influential on an emerging generation of UK poets, but his work remainsdifficult to categorise – British in sensibility, yet orientated towards European andUS poetry traditions’ – The Quietus, 2013. Matthew was born in Nottingham, lives inNottingham, and teaches creative writing at the University of Nottingham.



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Five Leaves Bookshop

Five Leaves Bookshop opened in November in Nottingham city centre – the first independent in Nottingham since 2000 and the only indie to have opened in any city centre over the last fewyears. The bookshop grew out of the longstanding Five LeavesPublications, the region’s “biggest small press”. It follows the radical and literary tradition of the publishing side, but has a much wider stock.

Five Leaves is particularly strong on landscape/cityscape andmodern poetry, carries 80 literary, cultural and political magazinesand is open six days a week (and, soon, on Sunday afternoons).

The Bookshop has an events programme – “Wednesdays in theBookshop” – with talks, readings, book launches and other events.We work with groups such as Nottm. Irish Studies Group,Runnymede Trust, Nottm. Trades Council, Amnesty, Society ofFriends (Quakers) and Nottingham Writers Studio.

Five Leaves Bookshop, 14a Long Row, Nottingham NG1 2DH

www.fiveleavesbookshop.co.uk

Writing East Midlandswww.writingeastmidlands.co.uk

Documents

The Writers' Conference programme