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Alexandra Sheppard is an author based in North London. Her debut YA novel OH MY GODS was published by Scholastic in 2019 and she's currently working on her next creative projects. When she isn’t writing teen fiction, Alexandra runs creative writing workshops for teens and unpublished adult writers around the UK.
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Lauren James is the twice Carnegie-nominated British author of many Young Adult novels, including The Reckless Afterlife of Harriet Stoker, The Loneliest Girl in the Universe and The Quiet at the End of the World. She is also a Creative Writing lecturer, freelance editor and screenwriter.
Her books have sold over a hundred thousand copies worldwide, been translated into five languages and shortlisted for the YA Book Prize and STEAM Children’s Book Award. Her writing has been described as ‘gripping romantic sci-fi’ by the Wall Street Journal and ‘a strange, witty, compulsively unpredictable read which blows most of its new YA-suspense brethren out of the water’ by Entertainment Weekly. The Last Beginning was named one of the best LGBT-inclusive works for young adults by the Independent. |
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Caleb Azumah Nelson is a 26-year-old British-Ghanaian writer and photographer living in South East London. His writing has been published in Litro and he was shortlisted for the BBC National Short Story Prize 2020. He was recently shortlisted for the Palm Photo Prize and won the People's Choice prize. His debut novel, OPEN WATER, is out next year.
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Reni K Amayo is a British Nigerian author and co-founder of Onwe, an independent publisher and lifestyle brand focused on amplifying diverse voices and under-represented cultures and ideals. She attended Imperial College London, where she earned her MEng in Aeronautical Engineering. Reni was born and raised in London to two Nigerian immigrant parents. She has spent many years studying the intricacies of different African and specifically Nigerian, cultures, mythology & anthropology to unearth a rich history that has been obscured and forgotten across the globe.
Reni's debut novel Daughters of Nri is set in ancient Igbo land and follows two twin goddesses who have been separated at birth on their epic journey of self-discovery as they embark on a path back to one another. The book featured in the BBC, Metro and Bustle. Bestselling author, Dorothy Koomson, said that the book “is something special...so much myth, fantasy and genuinely great storytelling,” whilst Buzzfeed noted, “Amayo weaves a world of literary magic.” Her second novel, Descendants of the First, releases in Spring 2021. |
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Okechukwu Nzelu is a writer and teacher. He was born in Manchester in 1988 and read English at Girton College, Cambridge. His essay 'Troubles with God' was published in the anthology Safe: On Black British Men Reclaiming Space (Trapeze, 2019). In 2015 he was the recipient of a Northern Writers' Award from New Writing North. In 2020 his debut novel, The Private Joys of Nnenna Maloney, won a Betty Trask Award and was shortlisted for the Betty Trask Prize, the Desmond Elliott Prize, and the Polari First Book Prize. He lives in Manchester.
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Sarvat Hasin was born in London and grew up in Karachi. She studied Politics and International Relations at Royal Holloway and then took a masters in Creative Writing at the University of Oxford. Her first novel, THIS WIDE NIGHT, was published by Penguin India and longlisted for the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature. Her second book YOU CAN'T GO HOME AGAIN was published in 2018 and was featured in Vogue India’s and the Hindu’s end of year lists. She won the Moth Writer’s Retreat Bursary in 2018 and the Mo Siewcharran Prize in 2019. Her essays and poetry have appeared in publications such as On Anxiety, The Mays Anthology, English PEN, and Harper’s Bazaar. She works at the Almeida theatre. Her new novel THE GIANT DARK is forthcoming from Dialogue Books in 2021.
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Nicky Watkinson is a writer of fiction, creative nonfiction, and drama. She is particularly interested in formal and linguistic experimentation, and is currently working on her first book. Her “moving and wonderfully evocative” work has been supported by Spread the Word and Oxford’s North Wall. Nicky is also a cultural critic, covering arts and culture for UK and international outlets. She writes regularly about mental health and neurodiversity, and has appeared on podcasts and in YouTube videos to talk about Autism.
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Lucy Irvine is an Associate Agent at Peters Fraser & Dunlop specialising in children's fiction and YA. After graduating from UCL with an MA in Issues in Modern Culture in 2017, she interned at Agora Books before becoming assistant to CEO Caroline Michel at PFD. She began building her own list in the summer of 2019. Alongside building her own list of clients, Lucy sells foreign rights in children’s and YA titles in Eastern Europe and Russia, and handles audio narration rights for the agency. She is drawn to narratives driven by world building; quick-paced, addictive, and adventurous, with returnable series potential. She love stories set in worlds that pull you in and stay with you long after you’ve finished reading, and is particularly keen on fantasy, sci-fi, and speculative fiction.
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Maz Hedgehog is a writer and performer whose work re-imagines folklore and mythologies. She's worked with organisations like Penguin and the Royal Exchange Theatre and performed at events from Edinburgh to Brighton. Fond of flowers and theatrics, Maz's work is imaginative, lyrical and occasionally a little surreal. Find her across social media @MazHedgehog
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