Ruth Harrison joined Spread the Word in 2015. Her working life has been in the field of the arts and particularly in literature. She has been Director of Apples and Snakes, a literature development officer and programme manager at The Reading Agency. She is passionate about not only widening people’s engagement with writers and writing but also in developing writing talent. Widening participation and engagement alongside developing and building awareness of new voices has been core to her work.

Ruth has previously been a trustee of Little Green Pig – a charity working to inspire children and young people to get creative with writing, sits on the steering committee for The Literary Platform’s Jerwood Fiction Uncovered Prize and is part of the team developing EmpathyLab – a start-up using words and stories to build young people’s empathy skills.

At Spread the Word, Ruth is responsible for leading the company artistically and strategically and working with our highly skilled and dedicated team to make a difference to and for writers and their audiences in London.

Contact Ruth at ruth@spreadtheword.org.uk

Eva Lewin is Writer Development Manager at Spread the Word where she leads on the one-to-one support for writers, through feedback surgeries and professional development coaching.

Eva commissioned the Writing the Future research (published in 2015) into Black and Asian writers and publishers in the UK marketplace. She continues to work on the strategy to take forward the diversity agenda, including Spread the Word’s consultancy on WriteNow with Penguin Random House.

Her twenty years’ experience in the literature sector includes curating creative writing programmes, co-directing the Hackney literature festival, running writers’ residencies and a shop-floor library at Ford’s car factory in Dagenham. Eva is an RD1st accredited coach (ILM Level 7 equivalent).

Contact Eva at eva@spreadtheword.org.uk

Tom is a freelance producer specialising in poetry and spoken word projects. Tom has delivered work for poetry organisations including Forward Arts Foundation, Poet in the City, Poetry Translation Centre, Apples & Snakes, Penned in the Margins and the Centre for Literacy in Primary Education. He is developing and delivering work with poets: Francesca Beard, Anthony Anaxagorou, Eleanor Penny, Ella Frears, Joshua Idehan, John Hegley and Joelle Taylor. His is the producer for Out-Spoken/Out-Spoken Press, Bedtime Stories for the End of the World and Deptford Literature Festival.

Contact Tom at tom@spreadtheword.org.uk

Photo of Tom by Aidan Hornsby

Bobby Nayyar studied French and Italian at Cambridge University. In 2005, he became the first recipient of an Arts Council England bursary to train in publishing at Faber and Faber. He went on to join the marketing department at Little, Brown Book Group, rising to manage campaigns for the Virago and Abacus imprints.

In 2009, he founded his own publishing house, Limehouse Books. In 2011, he took on the role of Consultant Development Manager for the Diversity in Publishing Network, helping to establish the Publishing Equalities Charter and transition of Dipnet from Booktrust to City University London, as Equality in Publishing (Equip). More recently he has managed Wasafiri Magazine’s digital presence and taught creative writing in schools in partnership with Eastside Educational Trust and First Story.

Contact Bobby at bobby@spreadtheword.org.uk

Steve is an experienced voluntary sector finance specialist with management accounting and book-keeping skills. He has worked as a Finance Officer for community organisations in need of part-time skilled finance support for more than fifteen years.

Contact Steve at steve@spreadtheword.org.uk

Aliya is the Communications and Projects Officer at Spread the Word. She works across a number of different areas for the organisation, including working with literary agencies to run call outs for new writers, reading submissions to Spread the Word’s prizes and development schemes, projects and events, running the organisation’s social media channels and newsletters, and creating content for Spread the Word’s website.

Aliya previously managed PLATFORM and the London Short Story Prize. She currently co-manages Spread the Word’s partnership with The Literary Consultancy for their Free Reads scheme. She edited the London Short Story Prize anthology from 2017-2019, and the Life Writing Prize 2020 Anthology.

In 2019, Aliya was selected as a mentor for Roundhouse’s Creative Leadership scheme. This year, she has been selected for The Literary Consultancy’s Editing Skills Training Scheme in partnership with the Publishing Training Centre, and was shortlisted for the Sophie Christopher Volunteer Award.

Contact Aliya at aliya@spreadtheword.org.uk