Amelie Friess. Amelie is an 18-year-old poet, playwright, and actor from Warwickshire. With a love of language from their German-English upbringing, Amelie has become a commended Foyle’s Young Poet, winner of the Felix Dennis Stratford Literary prize, and has cowritten and directed a performance for the Edinburgh Fringe. They were a runner-up in this year's Warwickshire Young Poet Laureate. Over the coming year Amelie will be writing, directing and performing at Playbox Theatre as co-founder of a resident Young company. @amelies_poems
Celia Rees. Celia has written over twenty novels and has become a leading YA writer with an international reputation. Her novels have been translated into 28 languages. She has been short listed for the Guardian, Whitbread (Costa) and W.H. Smith Children’s Book Awards. Her books have won awards in the UK, USA, France and Italy. Her latest book for Young Adults, Glass Town Wars, was nominated for the Carnegie Medal. in 2020 her first adult book, Miss Graham's War, was published by Harper Collins. Celia lives in Leamington Spa, Warwickshire and divides her time between writing, reviewing and teaching creative writing. She has been a regular tutor on Arvon courses. She has been Chair of the Society of Authors Children’s Writers’ and Illustrators’ Group and a member of the Society of Authors’ Management Committee. @CeliaRees
Claire Millington. Since winning a Jackanory poetry competition aged 6 ½, Claire Millington has rarely been without a pen – or at least a laptop – at hand. Despite this promising start she has not yet found fame as a writer, although she has written for trade magazines and occasionally the national press. After joining the diplomatic service and a posting to Rome she retrained as an archaeologist, making an appearance on last summer’s Time Team excavations at Broughton Roman Villa near Banbury. As well as her recent Classics PhD, Claire has a Graduate Certificate in Creative Writing from Birkbeck and has been finishing a time-travelling children’s novel set in Pompeii, where the volcano is about to erupt... T @Claire_M https://archaeoblog.uk/
Creative Writing Events, Alyson Morris and Poppy Sall. Alyson has a Ph.D. in Creative Nonfiction and Memoir. She has been a Senior Lecturer and Course Director for a BA in English and Creative Writing and has published academic papers, short stories and poetry. She is currently writing a novel.
Poppy is a former lawyer and has a Ph.D. in Historical Fiction and Storytelling. She has taught Creative Writing at University and is a published author of children’s books and adult fiction. She also runs Creative Writing workshops at schools and literary and arts festivals. Together they run short story and poetry workshops at the Temperance Café in Leamington Spa. They also offer writing retreats and writing activities for company staff days, festivals and parties. www.facebook.com/WritingEvents info.writingevents@gmail.com.
Emily Hunt. Emily, 16, is the current Warwickshire Young Poet Laureate and is really enjoying taking on commissions and performing at a variety of events. Other writing achievements include: First place in Guernsey Literary Festival 2021 and 2022 (and Second Place in Guernsey Lit Fest 2023); First place in Stratford Lit Fest's Felix Dennis Young Poets' Competition; winning Young Wild Writer 2022, Hen Harrier Day; being Highly Commended in Live Canon's Young Poets' Competition 2021 and 2022 and WEM Solstice Prize for Young Writers 202, amongst others. She is currently working with OCR exam board on the development of the Natural History GCSE, is a Youth Councillor for Reserva, the Youth Land Trust, and has had articles published in Conker Magazine, the OCR newsletter and on the Cameron Bespolka Trust blog. I @em_loves_nature_ or T @em_nature https://emilyjanehunt.wixsite.com/natureblog .
Erin Green. Erin is published by Headline Publishing Group and represented by David Headley of DHH Literary Agency, London. She writes contemporary romance and romcoms drawing together a healthy mixture of love and romance amidst the realities of life. She will have her twelfth book published this year. Erin is a member of the Romantic Novelists Association. http://ErinGreenAuthor.co.uk T @ErinGreenAuthor
Fran Hill. Fran is a Leamington-based author and probably-retired English teacher who wrote short pieces of fiction, non-fiction and poetry before deciding to make a little more effort. 'Miss, What Does Incomprehensible Mean?', a funny teacher-memoir, was published by SPCK in 2020 and 'Cuckoo in the Nest', her first full-length novel, was published with Legend Press in April 2023 in paperback and audiobook. She has written regularly for the Times Educational Supplement and has won some competitions for writing and performance poetry. In 2016 Fran spent a year on the prestigious Writing West Midlands Room 204 mentoring programme for emerging writers.
www.franhill.co.uk Twitter/Insta @franhill123
Gabrielle Mullarkey. Gabrielle trained as a journalist and has worked for many years in the magazine industry. The author of three published novels, she’s also contributed nearly 2,000 short stories and serials to women’s magazines, alongside travel and opinion pieces. Her work has been recorded for radio and audio download. She has an MSc in creative writing for therapeutic purposes and works as a creative writing tutor for both Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Adult Learning. www.gabriellemullarkey.co.uk @authorgabrielle
Gwyneth Box. Children’s author and award-winning poet, Gwyneth loves the taste of words. She is a regular at open mikes and on local radio, and has performed her poetry at TEDx Leamington Spa and Art in the Park. She hosts the monthly TreeHouse Sessions for music and spoken word at the TreeHouse Bookshop in Kenilworth. You'll find more about her – including links to her books, courses and social media – on her website: gwynethbox.com.
Louise Boland, CEO Fairlight Books. Louise is a publisher and writer of fiction and non-fiction books, based in Oxford. She founded Fairlight Books six years ago, a literary press established to promote new and emerging talented writers. A keen champion of bookshops, Louise is also the author of bestselling travel guide Bookshop Tours of Britain
Melissa Addey. Melissa is a self-published author of 15 books and has a PhD in creative writing. She is a workshop facilitator and writer in residence at the Leverhulme Trust at the British Library, also facilitating workshops at Surrey University New Writers Festival amongst others. Melissa was the winner of the inaugural Novel London Award. On her days off she is the campaigns manager of the Alliance of Independent Authors and was a judge for the 2022 Kindle Story Teller Award. She is also host of two podcasts and has written two non-fiction books. She has a Masters in Creative Talents and Solutions, which focusses on creativity in a business setting. www.MelissaAddey.com Melissa@MelissaAddey.com
