WHO WE WORK WITH
Melanie Abrahams
Melanie Abrahams is a producer and founder of the artist management and production agency renaissance one that works in literature and spoken word. It recognises the power of words as a starting point to artistic innovation and the ways in which they provoke, stimulate and entertain. She has toured artists in the UK and Europe and was the producer of Modern Love, a spoken word tour on love and modern relationships nominated for an EMMA Award for Best Theatre/Play. She recently collaborated with BBC Radio 3 and Topher Campbell on Facing Leicester Square,a revisiting of James Baldwin's Another Countrythrough spoken word and music. www.renaissanceone.com
Acyde
Acyde is a freelance journalist who has written for Straight No Chaser, The Telegraph and Lowdown magazines. He is also a DJ and consultant for members of London's HipHop community and works actively as part of the London based, worldwide affilliated Blacktronica crew, a loose collective of artists, musicians, DJs, writers and photographers pushing forward new possibilities for Black art and music. He is currently writing pilot scripts for MTV and contributing to The Fader and Spinemagazine.com - an online HipHop magazine.
Diran Adebayo
Diran Adebayo is author of the books My Once Upon a Time and Some Kind of Black, his debut novel that was long -listed for the Booker Prize and won him numerous awards including a Saga Prize and a Betty Tasker Award. He has written stories for television and radio and writes frequently on social and cultural issues. He is finishing his third novel The Ballad of Dizzy and Miss P. He is a co-editor of New Writing 12, an anthology showcasing the best in contemporary Uk and Commonwealth writing.
Adisa
Adisa is a performance poet and inspired inspirer. He uses poetry as a means of self-expression and has performed to a wide variety of audiences in all sorts of venues from pubs to Universities to the Hackney Empire. His primary desire is to bring poetry to the mass audience.
Patience Agbabi
Patience Agbabi is a poet respected for her lively performances and innovative publications. In 1999 she was in-house poet at The Poetry Café and Flamin' Eight, a tattoo, a piercing and clothing studio in North London. Both residencies were part of the Poetry Society's Poetry Places Scheme. In 2001 she was poet-in-residence at the Schools of Humanities and Healthcare at Oxford Brookes University. She lectures in Creative Writing at the University of Cardiff and is currently working on her third colletion, Body Language.
Rukhsana Ahmad
Rukhsana Ahmad is an award winning writer, playwright and translator. She has written and adapted plays for the stage and for the BBC. Her first novel, The Hope Chest, was well received and she is currently working on a second, For All My Sins, and a stage play, The Man who refused to be God. Rukhsana has been writer in residence at the Cleveland Writing Project , London Borough of Harrow, and also with Newcastle Multilingual Writing Residency. She is currently a Royal Literary Fellow at Queen Mary, University of London.
Monica Ali
Monica Ali was born in Dhaka in 1967 to English and Bangladeshi parents. As an infant, she moved to the north of England with her family, her first home being Bolton in Greater Manchester. After school, she studied politics, philosophy and economics at Oxford University. her first novel, Brick Lane (2003), is an epic saga about a Bangladeshi family living in the UK, and explores the British immigrant experience. Brick Lane was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2003 and the Guardian First Book Award. She now lives in London with her husband and children, and is working on her second novel.
Linda Anderson
Linda Anderson is the author of two award winning novels, To Stay Aliveand Cuckoo(both published by Bodley Head). Her stories and poems, many of which explore her experience of being Irish and living in England, have been anthologised in Britain, Ireland, Australia, and the USA. Her previous experience includes working as a director of fiction and plays for BBC Radio Drama, and as a writing tutor at Goldsmiths College. She was Head of Creative Writing at Lancaster University from 1995-2002 and is now Reader in Creative Writing at the Open University. She is an occasional reviewer for Mslexia.
Francesca Beard
Francesca Beard was born in Kuala Lumpur and spent the 1970s growing up in Penang, an idyllic island paradise off the coast of Malaysia. Performance poet, lyricist and musician, Francesca has been called the British queen of performance poetry. Francesca's work is funny, laid-back and examines themes of love, relationships and observational commentaries. She has performed all over the world, from the Edinburgh Fringe to the Nuyorican Cafe in New York via Cithea in Paris and has been published in many anthologies and magazines.
Marina Benjamin
Marina Benjamin is writing a memoir based on her grandmother's life in Baghdad, to be published by Bloomsbury. Her previous books are Living at the End of the World and Rocket Dreams, How the Space Age Shaped our Vision of A World Beyond. She is a columnist for Scotland on Sundayand lives in North London.
Caroline Bergvall
Caroline Bergvall is a poet and a performance artist. Her books include Eclat(1996) and Goan Atom: Doll (2001) and she also publishes on the net. She has collaborated on a number of performances and installations, most recently at the South London Gallery, September 2002. She is Associate Research Fellow at Dartington College of Arts and has hosted festivals and seminars concerned with bilingualism and cross-media forms of writing. She has recently edited the Performance Researchissue on Translations (Summer 2002).
Jan Blake
Jan Blake has been building a reputation for telling tales since 1986. Born in Manchester of Jamaican parentage, she specialises in stories from Africa and the Caribbean, such as the trickster Anansi tales. Undaunted by linguistic barriers, she uses the nuances of her speech to send her message across as clear as air. She has appeared at storytelling events all over the world and continues to innovate within the art form. Jan's vast experience and limitless enthusiasm make her an absorbing performer and a hypnotic teacher.
Joan Blaney CBE
Joan Blaney CBE was born in Kingston, Jamaica and has been living in London since she was a child. She is the author of Hidden Lights: Ordinary Women, Extraordinary Lives and co-author of From Kitchen Sink To Boardroom Table with Professor Richard Scase, published by BlackAmber this autumn. Joan is also a Director of The Scarman Trust which provides people with the opportunity they need to develop their talents, encouraging individuals to contribute their skills and ideas into building healthy communities for all.
Patricia Brewerton
Patricia Brewerton is the Director of Graduate Studies at CELL, the Centre for Editing Lives and Letters at Queen Mary, University of London where she teaches bibliography and palaeography, the study of ancient writings and inscriptions. Her research interest is in the production and appropriation of early modern letters. For many years the organiser of the Brentwood Poetry Competition, she is currently writing for the New Dictionary of National Biography
DJ Britton
DJ Britton is a writer and director of stage, screen and radio. Formerly National Executive Producer for Radio Drama at the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, he has since moved to Wales. David's credits as a writer for BBC Radio include numerous classic serials and single plays for both Radio 3 and Radio 4.
Judith Bryan
Judith Bryan won the 1997 Saga for her first novel, Bernard and the Cloth Monkey. Her short fiction has been anthologised in Writing Women, Afrobeat, gas and Air and Sable. Her poems have been published in IC3: The Penguin Book of Black Writing in Britain. In 1999 she received a London Arts Board Award for her second novel-in-progress, and the following year a Betty Trask Award. She has taught creative writing and given readings of her work at venues across the UK and in the USA. Judith recently finished her second novel, The Bluff. She is working on her third.
Tetsuya Chiba
Tetsuya Chiba was born in Tokyo and made his debut as a professional manga writer at the age of seventeen with Hukushu no semushi otoko.Since then he has written numerous works, the most representative of which are Ashita no Jo, Haris no Kaze, Notari Matsutaro and Ore-wa Teppei. He has recently received the Award of Minister of Education and Science from the Japanese Governement for his outstanding contribution to manga culture. He is also Director of the Japanese Mange Association.
Maya Chowdhry
Maya Chowdhry is an award winning poet and playwright. Stage plays include: Sanctuary (Yorkshire Women Theatre), Kaachini (Birmingham Rep), An Appetite for Living (West Yorkshire Playhouse), Splinters (Talawa Theatre at the Lyric Studio). In 2000 she received a Year of the Artist research & Development Award for Destiny -a digital poetc tapestry. She is KODE Electronic-Writer-in-Residence with Jubilee Arts and was writer-on-attachment at the National Theatre Studio in 2002. She is currently under commission with The National Theatre: Shell Connections.
Carol Clewlow
Carol Clewlow is a novelist who has worked as a writer with a genetics research institute, a medical school, Orange, Common Purpose the business leadership organisation and Nexus which runs the Tyneside Metro. She is currenly artist in residence for Operating Theatre which brings together writers, members of the performing arts and the medical profession to produce drama for teaching purposes. Her four novels include the best-selling A Woman's Guide to Adulteryand the Whitbread -shortlisted Keeping the Faith.
Paul Conneally
Paul Conneally is a haiku poet, artist and Education & Regional Director of the World Haiku Club. His haikai poetry is published widely throughout the world and his work has been translated into Japanese, French, and Croatian. He is editor of the World Haiku Review 'Halibun Section' and was Director of the First Global Haiku Tournament last year. He has a particular interest in working with Japanese prints and running haiku workshops that involve interaction with Ukiyo-e (woodblocks). He was haiku poet in resident at Bristol Museum and Art Gallery in 2001.
Charlie Dark
Charlie Dark is a writer, producer and DJ. He is one third of the hip hop-inspired trio Attica Blues, and has toured around the globe (both independently and with the band) to points as far dispersed as Tokyo, New York and Berlin. He makes regular appearances on the literature and spoken word circuit, is an experienced tutor and workshop facilitator, and has been a Poet Coach for the London Teenage Poetry Slam for three years running. Charlie founded Blacktronica, a monthly showcase of the black electronic music scene in Britain.
Ferdinand Dennis was born in Jamaica and is a writer. His books include the novels The Last Blues Dance and Duppy Conqueror, and the travelogue, Behind the Front lines. His short stories have been published in various anthologies, journals and magazines; and broadcast on BBC Radio 4. He has also contributed to a variety of national newspapers. He is currently working on his fourth novel.
Poulomi Desai
Poulomi Desai is an artist who works with text, sound, photography and performance. Her work has been shown nationally and internationally, including The Queens Museum (New York), The Photographers Gallery (London) and The Oxford Gallery (Calcutta). She has worked in collaboration with Moti Roti, Drik, and Autograph. She has been anthologized in Different(2002) a collection of work by contemporary Black artists. Poulomi has been a workshop tutor in many different contexts, including the Phoenix Project in Bolton, Insight Arts Trust an Photoworks.
Omid Djalili
Omid Djalili is Britain's funniest Iranian stand-up comedian and actor. After great success at the Edinburgh Festival in 1995, Omid has become a Festival Fringe favourite with a string of sell-out shows. It started in 1995 with "Short Fat Kebab Shop Owner's Son'. Then in 1996 in 'Arab & the Jew' on to 1997 with 'Omid Djalili is Ethnic'. His next show 'Omid Djalili' was so successful he signed a major video deal with VVL. In 2000 he went back to Edinburgh and had another hit show 'Warm to my Winning Smile' and in 2002 with 'Behind Enemy Lines' both of these shows became Edinburgh's hottest ticket. 'Behind Enemy Lines' received an astonishing six 5 star reviews. He is one of the funniest, freshest and most original comedians in Britain.
Zena Edwards
Zena Edwards is a poet, musician and lyricist. Using live sampling technology to layer her soulful singing voice Zena fuses hip-hop, jazz grooves and the raw magic of traditional instruments to create her own soundtracks for her words and stories. She has collaborated with musicians such as Julie Dexter and Soweto Kinch.
Cherine El Ansary
Cherine El Ansary was born in Cairo and worked as an actor before creating her first storytelling performance for children in 1994. Called Moon Story it toured to great acclaim throughtout Egypt. Since 1996 Cherine has presented her adaptations for stories from A Thousand and One Nights at theatres and festivals around the world including the Egyptian Art Academy, Rome; Dunya International Festival, Rotterdam; Theatre Academy, Damascus; Festival de I'Imaginaire, Paris; Asilah International Festival, Morocco and at venues in Tanzania, Kenya and South Africa. Cherine performs in English with some Arabic language included for atmosphere and authenticity.
Paul Farley
Paul Farley was born in Liverpool and studied at the Chelsea School of Art. His first collection, The Boy from the Chemist is here to See You, won a Forward Prize and the Somerset Maugham Award. He was named Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year in 1999, and was writer-in-residence at the Wordsworth Trust in Grasmere from 2000-2002, before taking up a lectureship at Lancaster University. His second collection with Picador, The Ice Age, was a Poetry Book Society Choice and won the 2002 Whitbread Poetry Award. He also writes for radio.
William Fienes
William Fienes is a writer of fiction and non-fiction. He has contributed to numerous publications including Granta, London Review of Books, the Observer, the Daily Telegraphand the Times Literary Supplement. His first book The Snow Geese, an original blend of travel writing, autobiography and reportage was published in 2002. He has toured widely to read and discuss his work including the Hay-on-Wye Festival of Literature, the Royal Festival Hall and Bath Literarture Festival.
Vivian French
Vivian French is the author of more than one hundred and fifty books for children. She writes both fiction and non-fiction, and her range extends from board books for the very small to novels for readers in their middle teens. She has been short listed for the Smarties Book Prize, the Kurt Maschler Award, the Children's Book Award, won a Sheffield Children's Book Award and has numeous Parents Honor awards for her bookss in the US. Her stories are read all around the world and have been translated into more than thirty different languages. Vivian lives in Edinburgh.
Kadija George
Kadija George works as a literary consultant. She created Calabash for Centerprise Literature Development Project. With two other women she launched a small press outfit, S.A.K.S. Publications which has published two anthologies, and more recently launched a new quarterly litmag called Sable. Kadija is also a published and broadcast poet and short story writer, has edited Six Plays by Black and Asian Writers and co-edited IC3: The Penguin Book of Black Writing in Britain.
Abe Gibson
Abe Gibson is a London-born poet, storyteller and fulltime caretaker with Hackney Council. He is the winner of The Voice Poet of the Year Awardand performed at the Cheltenham Literary Festival in 2002. He has been writer in residence at Feltham Young Offenders Institution. Abe was a member of the Brothaman Poetry Collective and his poetry collection Violently Tenderhas recently been republished. Performing at Word for Word last year, he was spotted by a representative from the London Museum of Transport where he has been writer in residence for the last year.
Paul Gravett
Paul Gravett is an expert on comics from all over the world. He was co-editor of Escape magazine, graphic novel consultant for Penguin Books and director of The Cartoon Art Trust. He is currently a critic, journalist, lecturer and exhibition curator on comic art and is writing a book about Japanese comics entitled Manga: Comics As Air.
Bonnie Greer
Bonnie Greer was born in Chicago where she studied playwriting with David Mamet. In New York she studied at The Actors Studio in their Playwriting and Directors Unit under the late Elia Kazan. In London she has been the Arts Council playwright in residence for the Soho Theatre and NITRO, formerly known as Black Theatre co-operative. her plays have been shortlisted for the John Whiting Award and for the CRE Award. She has won a Verity Bargate Award for Best New Play. Her production company, Emerald City FGH, co-produced the documentary Reflecting Skin, which she wrote and presented and was shown on BBC4 last year. She is a regular reviewer on BBC2's Newsnight Review.
Romesh Gunesekera
Romesh Gunesekera was born in Sri Lanka. His most recent novel Heavens Edge is a New York Times Notable Book for 2003. His other books are The Sandglass, Reef and a collection of short stories, Monkfish Moon. His first novel was shortlisted for the 1994 Booker Prize and his literary awards include the BBC's inaugural Asia Award for Writing and Literature, the Yorkshire Post First Work Award, a Premio Mondello Five Continents award in Italy and several poetry prizes. He regularly runs workshops for the Arvon Foundation, and is a visiting tutor at Goldsmiths College, University of London. More information can be found at www.romeshgunesekera.com.
Negar Hasan-Zadeh
Negar Hasan-Zadeh was born in Bku in what was the USSR Republick of Azerbaijan. She published her first collection of poetry in Russian in 2000 and in 2001 became the youngest member of Azerbaijan Union of Writers. Her book On the Wings Over the Horizon(which has been translated into English by Richard McKane) was awarded the National Public Prize as the best poetry book of 2001 by the National Academy of Azerbaijan. Her latest Russian collection Two Sunswas published in March 2003. Her poems have been published in Russia, Germany, Australia and the UK.
Rob Hitchmough
Rob Hitchmough is an established comedian and writer who is Senior Comedy Tutor at both The City Lit and The Actors Centre. He has been featured on Breakfast News and Stand Up with Alan Davies for the BBC and been a regular guest on the Brian Hayes and Mark Dolan Radio shows for LBC.
Jackee Holder
Jackee Holder is a Life Coach, Personal Development Trainer, Spiritual Counsellor, author and Ordained Interfaith Minister. Jackee works with individuals to fulfill their creative potential from all walks of life. She is passionate about writing and removing blocks to our creative expression. her first book Soul Purpose provides practical exercises, meditations and visualisations for those wishing to develop their full potential. She lives in South London and is currently completing her second book.
Aamer Hussain
Aamer Hussain was born in Karachi in 1955. He moved to London in the 1970's. He has published three volumes of stories; Mirror to the Sun, This Other Salt, and most recently the hightly acclaimed Turquoise. Aamer Hussain has taught at many universities, and was the Southern Arts Postcolonial Writing Fellow at Southampton University in Spring 2000. He is due to take up a Royal Literary Fund Fellowship this autumn at Imperial College, where he will be Writer in Residence in the Department of Civil Engineering.
Karena Johnson
Karena Johnson has worked as a professional theatre since 1997. Her most recent work includes the Oddest Couple by Geoff Aymer at the Theatre Royal Stratford East and Yerma by Federica Garcia Lorca at the Young Vic/Jerwood Space. She has also directed Pat Crumper's The Key Game at the Riverside Studios, Wayne Buchanan's Under Their Influence at the Tricycle Theatre, and Wayne Buchanan's Vengeance at the Oval House Theatre, which was nominated for an EMMA award. In 2003 she was a Jerwood Young Director Award Winner and was nominated for the Carlton Multicultural Awards. She is currently Artistic Director of Kuhite Theatre Company and Head of Theatre Programming at the Oval House Theatre.
Kate Johnson
Kate Johnson is a freelance member of Laban's Education and Community team. She has extensive experience as a community dance practitioner and is founder member of Tongue in Cheek Dance Group. Kate has choreographed, performed and taught in venues across the UK.
Ziba Karbassi
Ziba Karbassi was born in Tabriz, northwestern Iran. She and her family were forced to leave their country in the mid-1980's and came to Britain as political refugees. In exile she quickly became recognised as one of the foremost young Iranian poets. For five years she has been the youngest member of the Iranian Writers Association in Exile. Her four books (in Persian) and Scorpion Under the Pillow(1996), With a Broken Star in My Heart (1998), The Sea Will Drown (1999), & Jizzz (2002). She has read and been translated internationally and is a member of Iranian PEN.
Janis F Kearney
Janis F Kearney was born in Arkansas, USA and now lives in Chicago. She was personal diarist to President Clinton, a job that entailed chronicling the Clinton presidency on a day to day basis. Janis is a W.E.B. Du Bois Fellow and Chancellor's Lecturer for Chicago City Colleges and is currently writing From Hope to Harlema book that chronicles Clinton's lifelong involvement in America's historical race problems. Her book Cotton Field of Dreams is a memoir which centres around her childhood. This is her first visit to London.
Mimi Khalvati
Mimi Khalvati was born in Tehran, Iran, and grew up on the Isle of Wight. She trained in theatre at Drama Centre London and worked as an actor and director in Iran and the UK. Her Carcanet collections include In White Ink (1991), Mirrorwork (1995), for which she received Arts Council of England Writer’s Award, and Entries on Light (1997). Her Selected Poems was published in 2000 and her most recent collection, The Chine, in 2002. She is the founder of The Poetry School and co-editor of the School's two anthologies of new writing, Tying the Song and Entering the Tapestry, published by Enitharmon Press in 2000 and 2003. She teaches at the Poetry School, works as a freelance creative writing tutor and lives in London.
Kwame Kwei-Armah
Kwame Kwei-Armah is an actor, singer and playwright. As writer in residence at the Bristol Old Vic, 1999-2001, he wrote A Bitter Herb which was subsequently staged at the theatre and awarded a Peggy Ramsey Bursary. In 2003 his fifth play, Elmina's Kitchen, which features three generations of a family set against a background of gang violence in Dalston, was staged at the National Theatre to critical acclaim, winning him The Evening Standard Charles Wintour Award for Most Promising Playwright. It was also nominated for Best Play at the Laurence Olivier awards. Elmina's Kitchenhas recently been produced for BBC Radio 3 and BBC4.
Shaun Levin
Shaun Levin is a writer and workshop facilitator. His novella, Seven Sweet Things, was published in 2003. His short stories appear in over thirty international anthologies and journals, amongst them: Modern in Modern South African Short Stories; Boyfriends from Hell; The Best American Erotica 2002; The Slow Mirror: New Fiction by Jewish Writers. Last year, he was a BBC/Booktrust Reader in Residence during the BBC's Big Read. He has taught at Morley College and South Thames College, and has run workshops in venues as diverse as The Poetry Library, London Zoo, a cemetery and a restaurant. He can be found at www.shaunlevin.com.
Jared Louche
Jared Louche is a poet, musician, writer, entertainer and multimedia artist. He is the author of A Handbook on How to Wreck Other Peoples Lives, a collection of poetry and vignettes. Jared has entertained audiences in venues as varied as BAC, the National Gallery, the South Bank Centre and Ocean and has had short stories published in magazines such as Gargoyle, Newsweek and most recently in The X Press collection Westside Storeys. With his rock band, Chemlab he has toured America, the UK and Europe and as an artist worked for many years with the art installation group Art Attack. Jared also facilitates writing workshops for children and adults.
Roddy Lumsden
Roddy Lumsden is a poet, writer and puzzle compiler. His first book Yeah Yeah Yeah was shortlisted for Forward and Saltire prizes. He was Vice-Chairman of The Poetry Society and is on Anvil Press' editorial board. A second collection The Book of Lovewas a PBS Choice and shortlisted for the 2000 TS Eliot Prize and John Llewellyn Rhys Prize. He co-edited Anvil New Poets 3 and tutors for The Poetry School. His third collection Roddy Lumsden is Dead is now available.
Paul Lyalls' has run hundreds of workshops in secondary and primary schools, youth projects and prisons. As a performance poet, Paul has gigged at numerous Edinburgh Festivals and many prestigious venues in cities as diverse as New York and Belfast. He has performed with Will Self, Jean ‘Binta’ Breeze and George Best, to name just a few. Paul offers over 10 years’ experience as a youth worker and a live poet. He has written children’s show called Are We Very Nearly There Yet? And What do we do when we get there? which are currently touring and a book of the same name is also available. Other published work includes Evolver, Chill (CD) and collection Samplified
Stacy Makishi
Stacy Makishi is a Hawaii-born performance artist filmmaker and Artistic Director of runt. She has taught workshops at Harvard, US Berkeley, Wellesley College and MIT, amongst others. Her most recent works include When I Fell I Fell Like The Bomb, commissioned by the Walker Center in Minneapolis.
Aiofe Mannix
Aoife Mannix is a poet, novelist and playwright. She was born in Stockholm of Irish parents and grew up in Dublin and New York. She has been living in London for the past eight years. Her first book of poetry, The Trick of Foreign Words, was published by Tall Lighthouse in 2002 and she is currently writing her first novel for Xpress. She has written for BBC Radio 4 and worked as the general manager of the Royal Court Young Writers Programme. She has extensive experience of running workshops for young people, most recently with Apples & Snakes on the Writers On the Storm tour.
Steve Marchant
Steve Marchant is a cartoonist and illustrator for a range of organisations which include the BBC, Intel, and The British Council. Between 1991-1995, he was Course Director of the London Cartoon Centre and is a frequent commentator on the comics and cartoon scene for radio and television. He is best known for his classes in cartoon art at schools, libraries, colleges, and galleries around the UK. He is currently working with 2000AD on an educational project and writing a book on cartoon art.
S.I. Martin
S.I. Martin is a writer, social historian and lecturer. He is the author of Britain's Slave Trade and Incomparable World. He is the founder of a series of London walks which recapture writers haunts and he has hosted walks for the Open University, University of Maryland and Channel 4 Television. He has lectured in Black British Literature at the State University of New York and the universities of Texas, Middlesex and Ostrava (Czech Republic). He has toured with the British Council to the Former Soviet Union including Moscow, Irkutsk and Angarsk.
Karen McCarthy
Karen McCarthy is a writer and editor working in publishing and the media. She is editor of the aclaimed anthology Bittersweet: Contemporary Black Women's Poetry that was nominated for an EMMA Best Book Award and has presented her work nationwide including the South Bank Centre and City of Women Festival, Slovenia. She is the editor of Kin, a collection of prose by fifteen black and Asian women writers published in 2003. She was commissioned by Channel 4 for her script Keeping Up With Miss Jones and for a radio script on DNA by the Wellcome Trust and Collage Arts in autumn 2003.
Richard McKane
Richard McKane is a poet, translator and interpreter. He has translated over twelve poetry books from Russian which include Anna Akhmatova's, Selected Poems (1989), Osip Mandelstam's The Moscow Notebooks (1991), The Voronezh Notebooks (1996), Nikolay Gumilyov's The Pillar of Fireand most recently Ten Russian Poets and Negar's On the Wings Over the Horizon. From the Turkish he has co-translated the works of Oktay Rifat and Nazim Hikmet. His own poetry is published in Amphora for Metaphors, Poet for Poet, the Turkey Poems and most recently Coffee House Poems.
Jean McNeil
Jean McNeil originally from Nova Scotia, Canada, and has lived in London since 1991. She has spent long periods in Latin America, first as a journalist in Brazil, then as the author of the Rough Guide to Costa Rica and a contributor to the Rough Guide to Central America. Her works of fiction are Hunting Down Home 1996, Nights in a Foreign Country 2001, and Private View 2002. She is interested in themes of trave, memory and exile. She currently works as a freelance reviewer and travel writer, and is a publisher of books about Latin America and the Caribbean.
Miki Miyara
Miki Miyara is a fine artist currently studying for her MA in Sculpture at Wimbledon School of Art. Her most representative works to date are airy installations of flowing landscapes made of paper which she creates using a traditional technique of origami. In May this year she was commissioned to The Pump House Gallery in London to create a fantasy garden of flora and fauna and she is currently exploring landscapes in other forms such as computer animation.
John Morgan
John Morgan is founding member of Workplace Co-Operative 115, a new building project intended for use by designers, makers and artists. He has won numerous awards including a D&AD silver for Common Worship, the design of the new prayer books for the Church of England and a European design award for Handlines a book sold in aid of the British Red Cross Anti-Personnel Landmines Campaign. Recent studio projects include In the Dark, images and text by Mike Figgis, and Ambit poetry magazine. He is a visiting tutor to Central St Martins College of Art and Design and The University of Reading.
David Mostyn
David Mostyn is a cartoonist and book illustrator living and working in Oxford. He has been a practising layout artist, tyographer, art director, graphic designer and cartoonist since 1962. Educated in South Africa, he worked there for a short time before returning to London. He spent many years as an advertising Art Director before moving over to the gentler world of publishing. While working for a major publisher in London, he met his wife, a feisty New Yorker who forced him into starting his own business. David has worked as a cartoonist since 1978 for publishers worldwide. He has also appeared on TV shows and visits schools and book shops talking about and drawing cartoons.
Andrew Motion
Andrew Motion has edited the Poetry Review and was Editorial Director and Poetry Editor at Chatto & Windus. He is now Professor of Creative Writing at Royal Holloway, University of London. His work has received the Arvon/Observer Prize. His biography of Philip Larking was awarded the Whitbread Prize for Biography, and shortlisted for the NCR Award. The Lambertswon the Somerset Maugham Award. Andrew Motion was appointed as Poet Laureate in May 1999.
Preethi Nair
Preethi Nair was born in Kerala, South India in 1971. She worked as a management consultant but gave it up to follow her dream and write her first book, Gypsy Masala. Having been rejected by a number of publishers, she set up her own publishing company and PR agency to publish and promote the book. Working under the alias of Pru Menon, Preethi managed to gain substantial press coverage and subsequently signed a three-book deal with HarperCollins. She won the Asian Woman Achievement award for her endeavours and was also shortlisted as Publicist of the Year for the PPC awards. Her latest novel, One Hundred Shades of White, has been bought by the BBC for television adaptation. Her new book Beyond Indigo, is released in August along with a reissue of Gypsy Masala.
Susheila Nasta
Susheila Nasta is a critic, editor, teacher and broadcaster. She has published widely in the postcolonial field particularly on Sam Selvon and the legacy of his seminal book The Lonely Londoners, women's writing and the literatures of the black and Asian diasporas. She taught for several years at the University of London and is currently a member of the research staff at the Open University. She is founding editor of the international literary magazine Wasafiri.
Patrick Neate
Patrick Neate is the author of three novels: Musungu Jim and the Great Chief Tuloko (Betty Trask prize), Twelve Bar Blues (Whitbread Novel award) and , most recently, The London Pigeon Wars. His latest book is non-fiction: Where You're At: Notes from the Frontline of a Hip Hop Planet.
Courttia Newland
Courttia Newland was born and still lives in West London. He is the author of three novels, the most recent of which is Snakeskin,published by Abacus in Spring 2002. His short stories have appeared in several anthologies. He is the co-editor of IC3: The Penguin Book of New Black Writing in Britain. Courttia has also had five of his plays staged including the acclaimed The Far Side. Mothers Dayand most recently, B is for Black, which premiered at the Oval House Theatre last autumn. He has run workshops for the Arvon Foundation, Spread the Word and Westwords.
Don Paterson
Don Paterson is a writer, editor and musician. His poetry collections include Nil Nil, which won the Forward Poetry Prize, God's Gift to Women, which won the T S Eliot Prize and the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize and The Eyes. His latest collection of poetry, Landing Light won the TS Eliot Prize and Whitbread Poetry Award.
Paulette Randall
Paulette Randall is a theatre and television director and playwright. In 2003 she joined Talawa Theatre Company as Artistic Director. Her television credits include Kerching for CBBC, Desmonds, The Real McCoy, Marvin (pilot), Comin Atcha, Blouse and Skirt and Porkpie. She has worked extensively at the Tricycle Theatre, most recently directing August Wilson's King Hedley II, and at the Theatre Royal Stratford East. Other theatre credits include The Amen Corner (Bristol Old Vic), Sanctuary(Joint Stock) and For Coloured Girls Who Considered Suicide when the Rainbow is Enuf (BAC, Albany Empire).
Benji Reid
Benji Reid is a physical theatre practitioner and deviser. A graduate of the Northern School of Contemporary Dance he has held the UK and the European title for Body Popping and was ranked second in the world in 1996. He has collaborated with numerous artists and touring companies including David Glass and Black Mime Theatre, Faulty Optic and Trestle Theatre and Jonzi D's Aeroplaneman. An exponent of the relationship between theatre and the culture of hip hop, body popping and rap, he has toured throughout Europe and America. He is resident artist at Sydney Opera House this summer.
Crispin Robinson
Crispin Robinson is a percussionist, actor, broadcaster and storyteller with a deep passion for Afrocuban folkloric music. He has organised carnival floats and toured the globe playing jazz, soul, funk and pop music for over 15 years. He has been working with Jan Blake since 1999, playing music, telling stories and spreading positive vibrations around Britain and Europe in schools, theatres and festivals. He is currently working on a radio documentary series about global drumming traditions for the BBC World Service, and taking a Masters degree in Ethnomusicology at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in London.
Leone Ross
Leone Ross is an award-winning novelist, short story writer and editor. She has written two novels, All the Blood is Red and Orange Laughter and is working on her third. Her work has been anthologised in the UK, USA and Europe and includes erotic fiction for Brown Sugar: A Collection of Black Erotica and Brown Sugar 2 One Night Stands. Ross is co-editor of Whispers in the Walls: Black and Asian Voices. She tours with the British Council representing new British Writing.
Jacob Ross
Jacob Ross is a novelist, journalist, academic and poet. Born in Grenada, he has been resident in Britain since 1984. He was formerly Editor of Artrage, Britain's leading intercultural arts magazine and currently lectures in creative writing and international literature in England and abroad. He is the author of Song for Simone, a searching exploration of Caribbean childhood and A Way to Catch the Dust, a story about ordinary people caught up in extraordinary moments. He also runs regular workshops at Centerprise Literature Development Project.
Caroline Jupp Sam Brown
Caroline Jupp and Sam Brown work in collaboration using art as a catalyst for producing new social models. They have been presenting possibilities for alternative libraries since 2001. Previous public art commissions have included Library of Prototypes,a collection of unrealised projects presented at: the disused Isokon building; Grozio Salonas, a free hairdressing salon in Lithuania; Allotment Archive, an urban gardening survey in Lambeth; Redevelopments, the reconstruction of found objects in Vauxhall (including used chewing gum); and Foursight,a postcard pack of overlooked urban views. Both artists have exhibited throughout Europe and the UK, and contributed to international art symposiums in the Baltic States.
Lawrence Scott
Lawrence Scott is from Trinidad and Tobago and lives in London. His novel Aelred's Sin was awareded the 1999 Commonwealth Writers' Prize in 1993 and was a BBC Radio 4 Book At Bedtime. A collection of short stories, Ballad for the New World, published in 1994, included the story The House of Funerals which was awarded the 1986 Tom-Gallon Award. Lawrence has taught at the Arvon Foundation, University of Cambridge, City Lit and Centerprise Literature Development Project. His new novel, Night Calypso, will be published by Allison and Busby later this year.
Danzy Senna
Danzy Senna is a best-selling novelist and short fiction writer who lives in New York City. Her first novel From Caucasia, With Love was an instant best seller in the US and was published in the Uk in 2000. Danzy holds an M.F.A. in creative writing from the University of California where she received several creative writing awards. Her essays and short stories have been published in many anthologies including Half and Half: Writers on Growing up Biracial and Bicultural and Giant Steps: The New Generation of African-American Writers.
Jude Simpson
Dorothea Smartt
Dorothea Smartt was born and raised in London; her parents came from Barbados. A working poet and live artist, her first collection of poetry, Connecting Medium includes poems from her performance works Medusa and From You To Me To You. She has given readings and performances across Europe.
Cherry Smyth
Cherry Smyth is the author of Queer Notions and Damn Fine Art by New Lesbian Artists. Her fiction is included in The Author Book of New Irish Writing and her debut poetry collection. When the Lights Go Up, was published by Lagan Press in 2001. As Writer in Residence at HMP Bullwood Hall, she edited an anthology of the women prisoner's writing A Strong Voice In a Small Space, which won the Raymond Williams Community Publishing Award in 2003. Several of her poems appear in Breaking the Skin, an anthology of Irish poets, and Apples and Snakes 21st Anniversary Anthology, Velocity. She teaches at the University of Greenwich.
Robin Soans
Robin Soans is an actor and writer who has worked in theatre, film and television. His play A State Affair played for two seasons at the Soho Theatre and was the first play to be performed in the House of Lords. The Arab Israeli Cookbook completed a sell-out run at the Gate Theatre earlier this year.
Ade Solanke
Ade Solanke is a screenwriter and story analyst. She has worked for the Sundance Institute, Hollywood Pictures and Disney. She was the BFI's first Writer in Residence and has taught screenwriting at Goldsmiths College, LCP, The City Lit and The Arvon Foundation.
Luke Sutherland
Luke Sutherland works as a writer and musician. He was brought up in the Orkneys and now lives in London. He is the author of two novels: Jelly Roll, which was shortlisted for the Whitbread First Novel Award; and Sweetmeat. His third novel, Venus as a Boy was published by Bloomsbury in March 2004 and charts the story of a boy's mythical journey. He is also known for his musical collaborations with bands including Mogwai and Music AM, to which he contributes guitar, violin and vocals, and for his own personal project: Bows.
Cristina Taquelim
Cristina Taquelim is the Children's librarian at the Bibliotech Municipal de Beja in Portugal. She is the pioneer of the storytelling revival in Portugal, establishing in 1999 the annual national Palavrasandarilhas storytelling festival in Beja. She tells stories for children and adults with dynamism, power and humour. Her performances are in Portuguese.
Debbie Taylor
Debbie Taylor is the founder and editor of Mslexia, the magazine for women who write, which is the fastest growing literary magazine in the UK. She has been writing and travelling ever since she abandoned her career as a research psychologist. She has worked as an editor of The New Internationalist magazine, co-edited The Virago Book of Writing Women and is the author of a number of books, both fiction and non-fiction, including My Children, My Gold (Virago), which was shortlisted for the Fawcett Prize. her latest book, The Fourth Queen (Michael Joseph), is a novel and was published in 2003. She lives with her partner and daughter in a disused lighthouse at the mouth of the River Tyne.
Cristina Teixeira
Cristina Teixeira is the Literary Manager of the Blue Elephant Theatre and has carried out many writing projects with young people. Examples in 2004 include the Young People's Theatre at the Blue Elephant Theatre, Making Waves at Tate Modern, Word Art as part of the STEP festival and Write and Tell through Southwark Arts.
Leah Thorn
Leah Thorn is a spoken-word poet and workshoop facilitator. Venues for her work include Tate Modern, the Holocaust Survivors' Centre, the Royal Festival Hall, yad Vashem Israel and Centre Dar Al-Nadwa Palestine. Her poems are featured in anthologies and magazines in England and the United States.
Judith Vidal Hall
Judith Vidal Hall is editor of Index on Censorship, the international magazine for free expression. Before coming to Index at the end of 1993, she was a founding editor of the Third World magazine South and lectured at City University, London. She has published fiction in the past and contributed to a number of free expression and media books. Her most recent publication is The A-Z of free expression, for Index/Orange. It is available from www.indexonline.org Index is currently leading a training programme for journalists in Iraq.
Stephen Watts
Stephen Watts is a poet and translator. He has published The Lava's Curl (1990 & 2002), co-edited Voices of Conscience (1995), Mother Tongues (2001) & Music While Drowning (2003). His Gramsci & Caruso will also be published in 2003. He works for Multicultural Arts Consortium in London and has organised many multilingual poetry readings. His Bibliography of C20th Poetry in English Translation will be published at the end of the year. His own poetry has been widely translated. He and Ziba Karbassi are working on a bilingual selection of both their poetries for joint-publication.
Liz Williams
Liz Williams is the daughter of a stage musician and a gothic novelist, and currently lives near Brighton seafront. She received a PhD in Philosophy of Science from Cambridge University and her subsequent career has ranged from reading tarot cards on the Palace Pier to teaching in central Asia. Her short stories have been published in Asimov's Interzone and Visionary Tongue and she is co-editor fo the recent anthology Fabulous Brighton. The Poison Master, Liz's third Science Fiction novel, was published by MacMillan earlier this year.
Roy Williams
Roy Williams is an award winning playwright. His third play for the Royal Court, Fallout, won the 2003 South Bank Show Arts Council Decibel Award. His second, Clubland, won the 2001 Evening Standard Charles Wintour Award for Most Promising Playwright and Lift Off, also for the Royal Court, was joint winner of the George Devine Award 2000. His other work includes The Gift (Birmingham Rep), Local Boy(Hampstead Theatre) and The No-boys Cricket Club (Theatre Royal Stratford East). he was the first recipient of the Alfred Fagan Award and winner of both the John Whiting Award 1997 and the EMMA Award 1999 for Starstruck (Tricycle Theatre). This spring a new production of Sing Yer Heart Out For The Ladswill be produced at the National Theatre.
