George Lester is the author of YA novels BOY QUEEN and DON’T DIE ALONE, LUCAS COOK!, an actor and a drag queen based in London. When he’s not living in a world of words, he’s living his best life in the biggest wig imaginable as drag queen That Girl. In 2023, following protests at a Drag Storytime event, That Girl was named Pink News Drag Artist of the Year 2023 for her community work and went on to write and star in multi-award nominated show, THAT GIRL VS THE WORLD, which premiered at The Bridge House Theatre in 2024.

George lives in Twickenham with his partner, is obsessed with romcoms of all kinds (gloriously classic to deliciously trashy), and, if pushed, would probably say that they were on a break but Ross still shouldn’t have done what he did.

That Girl can be found on Instagram and Tik-Tok

Georgie lives in South West London with her husband, her daughter and her two sons. Alongside her writing she works as a primary school teacher, and she particularly enjoys teaching English. She studied Italian and History of Art at the University of Edinburgh and did a PGCE in Primary Education at the University of London.

Deborah Vass is a writer and visual artist whose work uncovers the overlooked histories of women artists and the imprint of landscape on their creative lives. Her current project brings renewed attention to twentieth‑century women artists and illustrators whose contributions have slipped through the cracks of art history and whose voices deserve to be heard again. She approaches these stories through the dual perspectives of writer and practising painter, publishing a fortnightly Substack series, Still Sketching, which brings together research, reflection and a deep love of landscape.

Before returning full‑time to her own creative practice, Deborah taught English in secondary and adult education, sharing her love of reading and storytelling – an experience that continues to shape her work. She now lives and works in the market town of Diss, Norfolk, and when not in her studio or at her desk, can usually be found walking the countryside with a sketchbook in hand.

Dr Rosie Gilderthorp is a Clinical Psychologist, coach and military spouse. Since founding Know Your Mind Consulting and Psychology Business School, she has moved house four times, solo-parented three neurodivergent children, and somehow survived on coffee while juggling her clinical practice and completing an MBA from Warwick Business School. With 16 years of experience in the NHS, HM Prison Service, and private practice, Rosie is passionate about helping parents thrive through adversity. Her research interests are in Hyperemesis Gravidarum, Neurodivergence and transforming health through innovation. She provides practical, free support for parents through her Know Your Mind newsletter on Substack and the Pregnant and Sick podcast. When she’s not seeing clients, teaching, coaching other therapists, recording The Business of Psychology podcast, or running in the rain, she’s in her garden office in Tunbridge Wells, often interrupted by her two oversized cats.

Lesley was born in Ireland, but moved to the UK to do a media degree many years ago. She now lives in Wiltshire with her husband.

Lesley is currently working on a YA novel but has previously written both children’s and adult fiction. Having completed a Granta nature writing course, Lesley is also exploring this wide genre of writing as a way to re-engage with the natural world and bring the natural world to the foreground in fiction writing.

She’s an avid reader of a wide range of fiction and non-fiction, having multiple books on the go at once. She also loves music, gigs, coffee, sustainable fashion, walks in nature and spending time with family in Ireland and the UK.

She was a secondary school English teacher for a little while, having taken the slightly mad decision to train as a teacher later in life. But she is now working freelance as an English tutor and creative practitioner.

Rachel studied history at the University of Manchester, before training as a newspaper journalist. She worked as tabloid hack back in the noughties, then joined the Metropolitan Police, where she worked as an officer for 17 years. She recently completed the flagship Faber Writing Your Novel course. She lives in Hastings with her family.

Sidra Ansari is a teacher, author and freelance writer.

She came to writing after breaking her wrist in 2018, and giving up her children’s taxi service to finally sit down to write. Since then she’s been shortlisted for AsianWriter Short Story Prize, and got into Penguin Write Now Live. Finding Peace Through Prayer and Love was her first book, published by Beacon Books in 2021, which she began as a series of blog posts for young women navigating life in the West as Muslims.

In 2023, she won Audiobook of the Year Award for her Ladybird audiobook, The Natural Wonders of the World. She is currently writing adult novels, after winning the Jericho Writers Self-Edit Bursary 2024.

Sidra currently runs a women’s weekly workshop, and monthly book club via her online creative writing group, Inkspiration. She is also writing regularly on her Substack Publication, Because She Writes. You can get in touch, and find out more at SidraAnsari.com.

Hailing from Brighton, Richard now lives in East Grinstead with his wife, two adult sons,
and a pair of daft dogs. He writes thought-provoking high concept thrillers with relatable characters, intricate plots and unexpected twists.

Outside of writing, Richard’s loves include football, music, movies and TV, and, of course,
reading. He also owns and runs a PR company specialising in the food industry.

Simi Sidhu spent her childhood in the small town of Walsall, near Birmingham, travelling the world through the pages of novels and dreaming of the day she would write her own. She studied English Literature and Philosophy at the University of Manchester, followed by a Master’s in Ethics, before setting out to put the world to rights at a small London-based charity.

After training as a teacher and developing her educational consultancy, Simi spent the next 20 years working in the world of philosophy, wellbeing, and diversity education, helping young people navigate the complexities of the world. Along the way, she’s been a relentless questioner, a fierce advocate, and an unrepentant book hoarder.

Her writing lives at the crossroads of identity, culture, expectation, and dreams, leaning into the tensions and contradictions that make us human. When she isn’t writing, she’s wrangling teenagers (both at school and at home), escaping into the forest with her husband or chatting away on bookstagram.

Terri was born in Plymouth in 1965. At the age of 9 she moved with her family to North Hill, Cornwall, a small village on the edge of Bodmin Moor, where she discovered a love of writing that has stayed with her ever since. She also discovered apple-scrumping, and how to jump out of a hayloft without breaking any bones, but no-one’s ever offered to pay her for doing those.

Terri writes community-focused stories, usually with strong female leads, and always with elements of crime that creep in…sometimes when she isn’t looking. She moved back to her home town in 1993, and now works in the Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Business at The University of Plymouth.