Writers Day 2026

NOVELIST & SHORT STORY WRITER

Molly Aitken is the author of Bright I Burn, a RSL Encore Prize shortlisted novel. It was a BBC Best Books of 2024 and an Irish Bestseller. Her debut was The Island Child. Molly's prize-winning short fiction has been published in the New Yorker, and Ploughshares, and dramatised for BBC Radio 4.

EDITOR

Now freelance, Hannah spent ten years, acquiring non-fiction for Little, Brown Book Group across a range of genres including memoir, lifestyle, humour and current affairs. Eight of the books she published hit The Sunday Times bestseller charts, with two reaching the number 1 spot.

NOVELIST

Caroline is a bestselling novelist with internationally published books and an award‑winning film adaptation. She writes about love, loss, and the untold stories of lives history has left behind. Her next novel, Daughter of the Titanic, will be published in March 2026.

NOVELIST

Susan is the bestselling  author of five published novels, including the critically acclaimed The Flight of Cornelia Blackwood and, most recently, All I Ever Wanted.

NEW WRITING NORTH

Sarah is the Programme Manager for Talent Development and Research Lead at New Writing North, working on writer development programmes and prizes, including the Northern Writers' Awards, and supports their research and evaluation strategies. She previously managed A Writing Chance, a writer development programme for working-class and other underrepresented writers, and was involved in establishing The Bee, an online magazine that publishes and platforms working-class writing.

POET

Elizabeth is an academic and poet whose work has been extensively published in journals and anthologies. She is the author of four full-length collections of poetry. Her current project is a memoir set against the backdrop of the decline of the coal industry and the 1984 miners’ strike. Elizabeth has worked as a writer in a variety of settings including schools, community organisations, a prison and radio. She has been a Royal Literary Fund Fellow since 2022 and currently runs the RLF Reading Round Scheme in Sheffield.

POET

Andrew taught creative writing at University level for over ten years and has run workshops with Off the Shelf and community organisations. His poetry and reviews have appeared in Plumwood Mountain Review, Epizootics, Dissonance, The North, and Green Letters.

PUBLISHER

Isabelle is MD of Fly on the Wall Press and was named a Leader of the Year by the Bookseller in 2025. Founded in 2018, Fly on the Wall Press has won Small Press of the Year at the British Book Awards 2024 (North), achieving finalist status five times in the years 2021-2025.

EDITOR (nonfiction)

Lily is an editor at Weidenfeld & Nicolson (an imprint of Orion Publishing Group, part of the Hachette publishing family), where she commissions, develops and oversees the publication of a list of non-fiction titles. She’s interested in exceptional writing that illuminates the world we live in – and our relationships to one another – in fresh and fascinating ways.

AUTHOR

Helen has published three poetry collections, a novel, and two full-length works of nonfiction. She also writes drama and creative nonfiction. Her most recent nonfiction publication is Ethel : The biography of countryside pioneer Ethel Haythornthwaite (Vertebrate Publishing Ltd, 2025) is a portrait of the pioneer, activist, environmentalist, and poet who played a huge role in the establishment of the Peak District National Park.

SHORT STORY WRITER, MEMOIRIST

In 2024, Mie was selected as one of sixteen emerging writers for New Writing North’s ‘A Writing Chance’ programme and has been published in Bee Magazine. Shortlisted for the Northern Debut Award and longlisted for the Sid Chaplin Award in 2025, Mie is currently writing a creative nonfiction memoir.

NONFICTION WRITER & NOVELIST

Noreen is a South Yorkshire-based author, TEDx speaker, and digital educator. In 2021, she self-published Expelled from Uganda, a story of her father’s experience, which led to a TEDx talk, raising awareness of the mass Ugandan Asian exodus.

WRITER & RESEARCHER

Lauren is a writer, game designer, and PhD researcher based in Yorkshire. Her short fiction has been featured in publications including Mslexia, Northern Gravy, and Blood Orange Review. As a freelance arts workshop facilitator, her recent clients include Leeds Trinity University, XR Stories, and Children’s Capital of Culture.

NOVELIST & NONFICTION WRITER

Sally is the author of four novels, published by Penguin Books, Myriad Editions/Picador US and Scribe UK/Australia, and the nonfiction guide How to be a Writer (Piatkus). Sally’s most recent novel is Hagtale: A Macbeth Origin Story (Scribe UK, 2025). Now a full-time writer, her stories celebrate lost history and forgotten women’s voices.

WRITER, COMEDIAN

Graeme is a comedy writer and facilitator whose work focuses on the craft of writing humour for the page, from character voice and dialogue to structure, rhythm, and point of view. He began his comedy journey in 2018, taking a stand-up comedy course as a way to honour the memory of his late mother. Since then, he has performed all over the country. He is co-director of Gags for Good, a nonprofit social enterprise.

POET & SPOKEN WORD ARTIST

Sile is an award-winning BBC radio presenter, event host, and spoken word performer known for bringing stories to life on stage, on paper, and on air. She has produced immersive storytelling experiences for StoryTrails and co-authored the anthology Spit Out the Myth: Three Sheffield Poets. Her poetry has been commissioned by Sheffield Theatres, Concerteenies, Grimm & Co, Rivelin, Sheffield Inspires, Creative Lives, Arc Cinema, Rotherham Museums, Darts, Derbyshire Makes, Ilkley Literature Festival, and Hive.

LITERARY AGENT

Julia is an agent with Greyhound Literary, and a former editor for publishers including Hachette, Simon & Schuster, and Penguin Random House. In fiction she specialises in upmarket commercial/accessible literary fiction, and in non-fiction she looks for new, eye-opening perspectives. Coming from a culturally mixed family, she is strongly committed to increasing representation and accessibility.

NOVELIST

Russ lives in Sheffield, UK. He grew up gay in the 80s (which he wouldn't recommend to anyone), reading anything he could get from the library. He is the author of a critically-acclaimed, bestselling crime series, set in Sheffield, featuring DS Adam Tyler: Firewatching (Times bestseller; Waterstones Thriller of the Month), Nighthawking (Times Book of the Month), Cold Reckoning, and Sleeping Dogs. He is currently writing a new horror novel.

WRITER, COMEDIAN

April is a comedian, writer, and co-founder of Gags for Good. After breast cancer and becoming a mum, April’s confidence took a serious hit. She turned to stand-up comedy as a way to process what she’d been through, reconnect with herself, and find light in a dark time. This led to the creation of Gags for Good, a social enterprise using comedy and creative writing to support confidence, wellbeing, and inclusive spaces.

WRITER

Beverley is the original founder of The Writers Workshop. She writes poetry and is a growing voice on the spoken word scene. Her grief memoir Dear Blacksmith was published by Valley Press in 2019, and she continues to publish nonfiction via Substack. She also supports young people to enjoy creative writing through her Writing Revolution books for teachers and children.