Faculty

Each year we gather the best teachers to deliver craft and business insights. Writers from across genres who represent all facets of publishing from indie to traditional. Most importantly, we look for people who are kind. Who contribute to the community vibe at the friendliest festival in the world. People who generously share their knowledge and help you on your path to published. Here’s our star faculty of authors, agents and industry professionals.

We are thrilled to welcome Sophie to our SWF25 faculty. She found her agent at SWF19 during a one-on-one session and has since signed a two-book deal with HarperFiction. Her debut novel, The Lamplighter’s Bookshop, will be out and on sale at SWF25. Sophie was born in Kent and she earned her Bachelor’s degree in Philosophy from King’s College London in 2013. Sophie works as a Creative Writer for Minecraft, the best-selling video game of all time. She’ll run sessions including one on editing and another on using setting to build character among other things. Discover more about Sophie by visiting her website.

For writers who purchase agent one-on-one meetings, they can book a 10-minute session with Abi to present their books and receive feedback. She is actively looking for a variety of adult and children’s fiction and non-fiction including: middle grade and YA, under-represented voices, pacy romcoms, dark literary novels and historical stories uncovering forgotten perspectives. Abi is interested in non-fiction, which provokes discussion and broadens minds, literary memoirs, polemic, recovered histories, culture studies and commercial self-help. She is not looking for horror, sci-fi, or fantasy. Learn more about Abi and DHH.

Mirjam Frosth is a poet, photographer, artist, and cultural worker. Her poetry can be found in publications like Harvard Review, Ghost City Press, and B O D Y. She has worked with institutions like Moderna Museet, The English Bookshop, and the Harn Museum of Art. As the leader of the creative community Konstwrite, Mirjam develops cross-disciplinary events and workshops in collaboration with Stockholm galleries, museums, and more. She’ll lead a session on blackout poetry that should prove to be inspiration to all genres. Discover more about Mirjam.

Miriam Mulcahy is a writer, journalist and editor who contributes to the Irish Times. She has a degree in European Studies and French from the University of Limerick, lives in Kildare, and is a single parent to four children and a dog called Juno who takes her out for long walks on the Curragh every day. Miriam landed her first book deal for her best-selling memoir, This is My Sea, (Bonnier Books) without an agent, a story she’ll share during our author panel. The writing book that had the greatest influence on her was Annie Dillard’s The Writing Life. She has read and reread it and will use it as the basis of one of her breakouts on story structure, “Housebuilding: Getting your foundations right so your book will stand tall.” Check out Miriam’s Instagram page.

For writers who purchase agent one-on-one meetings, they can book a 10-minute session with John to present their books and receive feedback. John (he/him) is cultivating a list shaped around his passion for science fiction, fantasy, and horror, though has lately also branched out into action/adventure fiction. John focuses on authors writing in the Adult, New Adult, and YA spaces. He is looking for anything under the broad church of speculative fiction, be it fantasy, science fiction, horror, romantasy, or literary speculative. In short, if he’s never read a story like yours before, he wants to see it. Learn more.

Lisa Ferland has helped over 100 authors raise $1.5M+ on crowdfunding platforms like Kickstarter and IndieGoGo, turning passion projects into successfully funded books. With a sharp mix of strategy and storytelling, she teaches authors how to grow engaged audiences and sell more books—without feeling like a sleazy self-promoter. Lisa will lead breakouts on using crowdfunding to drive pre-sales and how to get readers to actually open, read, and buy from your emails. If you want to launch smarter, market better, and build a fanbase don’t miss her sessions. Here’s more about Lisa.

Mike became a full-time novelist in 1997 following the publication of his Sunday Times top ten bestseller My Legendary Girlfriend, which was hailed by The Independent as “Full of belly laughs and painfully acute observations,” and by The Times as “A funny, frank account of a hopeless romantic.” Mike is the author of sixteen novels including A Song of Me and You and Turning Thirty. His books have been translated into over thirty languages. On Friday, August 29, Mike will lead us through an intensive workshop: “Getting started with your novel.” Read about Mike's books.

Clare joined the Writers’ & Artists’ Yearbook team in 2016 at Bloomsbury Publishing. She is the Content & Partnerships Manager at writersandartists.co.uk and established the Writers' & Artists' Working-Class Writers' Prize, providing writers with author mentoring and publishing opportunities and support. Clare is also a middle grade author. Her debut, The Unexpected Tale of Bastien Bonlivre (2021, Usborne) was selected as a Waterstones Children’s Book of the Month and was a bestseller. She has published two more children’s books since, including her latest eco-adventure,The Wanderdays: Journey to Fantome Island. Learn more about her work.

Amelia Brown (they/them) is the Events Manager at Writers & Artists (Bloomsbury Publishing), and runs Publicity for indie publisher Indie Novella. They are also a Founder & Editor of queer arts and literary collective t’ART Press, as well as a writer themselves. Their work has been published in journals and anthologies including Queer Life, Queer Love 2 (an anthology by Muswell Press), Booth Journal, Annie Journal, Meniscus Journal, The Bombay Review and Snowflake Magazine. Along with Clare Povey, they will be running an intensive on the publishing industry and a breakout on pitching agents.

For writers who purchase agent one-on-one meetings, they can book a 10-minute session with Jemima to present their books and receive feedback. She is actively growing her list of commercial and upmarket fiction. Jemima is currently on the lookout for a number of genres including: book club and accessible literary fiction, crime and thriller, upmarket historical fiction, psychological suspense, non-fiction, women’s fiction, speculative/high-concept novels, novels with a lightly magical or fantastical edge. In both fiction and non-fiction, she looks for diverse voices and feminist angles. Learn more about Jemima and DHA.

Tiffany has spent nearly thirty years as an editor working directly in the publishing industry with major publishers. She is the founder of FoxPrint Editorial, named by Writer’s Digest as a “Best Websites for Writers.” She is the author of two books on writing: Intuitive Editing: A Creative and Practical Guide to Revising Your Writing, and The Intuitive Author: How to Grow and Sustain a Happier Writing Career. She is also the author of six novels. Tiffany will lead classes in everything from reveals to shoring up “the saggy middle” of a manuscript. Discover more about Tiffany

Paul Rapacioli is a journalist, author and founder of The Local, which has five million monthly readers and is Europe’s largest online source for news. He’s also author of Good Sweden, Bad Sweden, (Volante) which analyzes the mechanisms that make Sweden a target for international populism and nationalism. Paul is also the director of the Fojo Media Institute at Linnaeus University. Fojo works closely with local partners to strengthen journalism in countries where press freedom is threatened, working to improve laws, regulations, infrastructure and resources. Paul has been on the board of directors for SWF since year one and serves as our moderator. Visit his author page.