Contributors
Katie Fforde is the author of thirteen best-selling thirteen novels and is currently writing her fourteenth. Her hobbies include dog sledding and flamenco dancing and everything in her life eventually ends up in her books.
Carole Matthews is an international best-selling author of eleven hugely successful romantic comedy novels. Her unique sense of humour has won her legions of fans and critical acclaim all over the world. www.carolematthews.com
Adele Parks is one the biggest selling women’s fiction authors in the UK selling over a million copies of her novels in the UK alone. She thinks people can be astoundingly brilliant and stupid; often the same person can be both and that’s what she writes about - the beautiful complexity of being human.
Kate Long is the author of three best-selling novels. Her first, The Bad Mother’s Handbook, was screened as an ITV drama starring Catherine Tate. Darkly comic and thought-provoking, Long’s writing has won critical acclaim across a range of publications, from the Times to Heat magazine.
Margaret Kaine is an award-winning novelist whose romantic sagas are set in Staffordshire during the 50's and 60's. A born storyteller, her popular books are described as page-turners, with vivid characters and authentic period detail.
Bernardine Kennedy is the author of 6 novels with number 7 under construction; her books deal with the grittier side of contemporary life. She also writes short stories and travel features which fit in well with her favourite past-time of travelling!
Judy Astley has had thirteen novels published by Transworld/Black Swan since 1991. Her specialist areas - based entirely on hectic experience - are domestic disharmony and family chaos with some
love-and-passion thrown into the mix. Her fourteenth novel, Laying The Ghost, will be published in hardback by Transworld in July 2007.
Martin Davies is the author of three novels including The Conjuror's Bird, which was nominated as a Richard & Judy Book Club Book of the Year. Popular in the US, his Mrs Hudson novels (Mrs Hudson And The Spirits' Curse and Mrs Hudson And The Malabar Rose) have been described as "joyous romps" through Victorian London. Martin works in television and has for many years been involved in the development of what he grimly accepts have become known as "access services" - subtitling, sign language and audio description. He lives in London, drives a small orange car, and despairs about ever sorting out a website. Until he does, he answers letters about his books when he can at:
Daniel Blythe is the author of the novels The Cut, Losing Faith and This is the Day as well as the non-fiction books The Encyclopaedia Of Classic 80s Pop, I Hate Christmas: A Manifesto for the Modern-Day Scrooge and Dadlands: The Alternative Handbook For New Fathers. He is married and lives on the edge of the Peak District with his wife and two young children.
Sophie King is the author of THE SCHOOL RUN and mums@home published by Hodder & Stoughton. Her next novel SECOND TIME LUCKY comes out in August (also Hodder). Sophie King is the pseudonym for journalist Jane Bidder who writes for a variety of national newspapers and magazines. She also writes short stories and non-fiction books as well as teaching creative writing.
Emily Dubberley is a best-selling non-fiction writer, specialising in sex, love and relationships. As well as writing ten internationally published books in the last three years , she founded women’s sex site www.cliterati.co.uk, was founding editor of Scarlet magazine (www.scarlet magazine.co.uk) and has written the four most recent Lovers’ Guide films. She’s currently working on two books for publication later this year, is sex agony aunt for Look magazine and freelances for publications including New Woman, More, Scarlet, Forum and Penthouse.
Kate Walker has been writing for Harlequin Mills & Boon Modern Romance/Harlequin Presents since 1984. During that time she has had 50 novels published with three new titles contracted for 2007/8. Her novels are bestsellers in over 35 different countries. She is also the author of the award-winning 12 Point Guide to Writing Romance (Studymates 2004).
Zoë Sharp is the author of the acclaimed crime thriller series featuring ex-Special Forces turned bodyguard heroine, Charlie Fox - described by Lee Child as "Today's best action heroine." Sharp's fourth title, First Drop, was shortlisted for the Barry Award for Best British Crime Novel.
Susan Lewis is the bestselling author of over twenty including The Mill House, A French Affair and Just One More Day. She lives in the South of France with the hero of all her books, award-winning journalist James Garrett, and her two dogs, Floozie and Coco.
Lynne Barrett-Lee is the author of six acclaimed romantic comedy novels, and also writes fiction under the pseudonym Daisy Jordan. She has written two titles for the Quick Reads campaign for emergent readers, and also writes a weekly column for Wales' national newspaper, the Western Mail.
Jan Henley writes novels, short stories and articles under various pseudonyms, published in the UK and abroad. She has an MA in creative writing for personal development and leads courses and workshops for various colleges and community groups. She also runs her own manuscript appraisal service.
Sue Moorcroft is a novelist and prolific writer of short fiction, serials and articles for magazines. When not writing, she teaches others, either through various courses or at workshops around the country.
Eileen Ramsay is an award winning writer who has published fifteen + books in different genres, from children's to Regencies to her new contemporary series. The first of these, Someday Somewhere, was shortlisted for the RNA award and has just featured in the short list of 'good reads' compiled by North West Libraries. She loves her family, great music, her garden and Toblerone - in that order. Then again, maybe not.
Lynne Patrick survived as a freelance writer for over 20 years by dint of versatility and an absence of pride; anything from a product label to literary fiction counted as writing if there was a fee. In 2003 she founded Crème de la Crime, an innovative small publishing company specialising in high-quality crime fiction by new authors. In December 2005 she was shortlisted alongside leading figures from Penguin, Macmillan and Random House for the Kim Scott Walwyn Prize, which honours women in publishing.
Sue Houghton is an internationally published short story writer and has contributed to the Sexy Shorts range of charity books (Accent Press). She runs workshops on writing for the women's magazine markets and hopes to have her first novel published very soon!
Vanessa Gebbie is a prizewinning short fiction writer. She has won or been placed in over twenty literary competitions, including Willesden (judged by Zadie Smith), The Fish Short Story Prize, The Paddon Award (Exeter University), Guildford/BBC, Cotswold Writers, Flashquake, the Small Wonder Festival Slam and Good Housekeeping Magazine.Her work has been widely published, and her first collection will be published by Salt Publishing in 2008. She teaches Creative Writing, and particularly enjoys working with marginalised adults. She edits her own ezine, is Assistant Editor of Cadenza Magazine, and somehow finds time to be a wife and mother.
Ruth Cocks is a short-story writer and freelance journalist who has self-published Voices from the Sea, a collection of recorded seafaring stories from Selsey coastguards, divers, fisherman and lifeboat crew members dating from 678 to the modern day, with a foreword from Sir Patrick Moore. ALL proceeds from the book are donated to the RNLI and other seafaring charities.
Angela Brier-Stephenson is a fully qualified Member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel & Development and the British Psychological Society; is an NLP Practitioner and Life Coach as well as a qualified Exercise to Music Teacher. She loves living life to its fullest, is eager to share her passion for having a “healthy mind which links to a healthy body” and can often be seen turning up for meetings on her pride and joy, her motorbike. Her involvement with Lynne Franks’ SEED Women’s Enterprise Training Programme has allowed her values of responsibility, sharing, growth, fun, being outrageous and doing something different to shine. Angela believes life is for living and successful change starts from the inside. Her enthusiasm and energy is infectious and she encourages and supports all her clients to look at problems from another perspective.
Kate Harrison is the author of four comic novels, including Brown Owl's Guide to Life and The Self-Preservation Society. She trained as a journalist and worked as a TV reporter and producer before becoming a full-time writer. She lives in London and is addicted to other writers’ websites, and online shopping. Her blog, ttp://chicklitworkinprogress.blogspot.com/ is also home to the Great Novel Race, where writers of all levels record their progress towards finishing their first draft.
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Victoria Connelly writes magical romantic comedies - currently finding lots of fans in Germany. Her short stories have been published all over the world and she also writes adventures for children, describing herself as "an armchair adventuress".
Maria McCarthy is a freelance journalist for Company and Cosmopolitan and author of The Girls' Guide to Losing Your L Plates - how to pass your driving test published by Simon and Schuster. She also teaches journalism at Bath University.
Amanda Brookfield is a unique and distinctive author who excels at beautifully written and intelligent storytelling. With an innate talent for tapping into the tangled web of emotions, insecurities and passion contained in families, and the individuals within them, Amanda is a writer of contemporary fiction of the highest calibre.
Jacqueline A.Smith is the Chairman of the National Association of Writers' Groups (NAWG). She writes part-time focusing mainly on articles and the occasional short story. The rest of her time is spent hand-making, packaging and selling luxury chocolates for her own small business Nova Chocolates. She believes that it is the perfect combination - chocolates and writing!
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