David Belbin is the author of more than thirty novels, most of them for young adults. His work has been translated into twenty- five languages. Since 2004, he has run Nottingham Trent University’s MA in Creative Writing, one of the UK’s oldest such courses.

Kerry Featherstone studied English and European Literature at Essex University, and then completed a PhD on Bruce Chatwin at Nottingham Trent. His book on Chatwin will be out later this year. He is now Lecturer in Creative Writing at Loughborough University where he runs the MA in Creative Writing.

Paul Munden is Director of the National Association of Writers in Education. As a poet, he is an Eric Gregory Award winner whose work appears in many anthologies. He has worked in schools, universities and as ‘conference poet’ covering a variety of subjects for the British Council.

Val Moore began teaching creative writing about 20 years ago. She has taught in and led Writing School Leicester for about 14 years, initially as part of Leicester Adult Education College and since 2006 as an independent not-for- profit company. Val served on the management committee of the National Association of Writers in Education from 2004-2006.

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John Berlyne is a partner at the Zeno Literary Agency with John Richard Parker. Zeno represents both fiction and non-fiction, with particular expertise in handling genre, their list leans towards science fiction and fantasy, boasting best-sellers, household names and prize winners.

Oliver Munson joined Blake Friedmann in 2003, after completing an English Literature degree from the University of EdinburghandanMAinPublishing Studies from City University. He has a particular interest in popular non-fiction, commercial fiction and sports writing.

James Wills is a Director at Watson, Little Ltd and looks after a dynamic and wide-ranging list of writers. He has an MA in 20th Century Literature from the University of Leeds. He looks for striking, quirky, character-driven commercial and literary fiction that is thrilling, bold and beautifully written.

Bernie Corbett is a British trade unionist and former journalist. In his role as General Secretary of the Writers’ Guild of Great Britain he covers TV, film, radio, new media and print publishing. In his newspaper career Bernie Corbett was chief sub-editor of The Guardian (London) and chief features sub-editor of The Independent (London).

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Alison Dunne is a poet, short storyist & noveller. She teaches writing in prisons & universities & all things between. She is currently Leicester Libraries Bookdoctor. She is interested in the way words can be used to make people better and advocates bibliotherapy & creative writing in communities.

Cathy Grindrod, former Derbyshire Poet Laureate, has published five poetry collections, most recently The Sky, Head On. She also writes for theatre, and in 2008, wrote the libretto to More Glass Than Wall, a full-length oratorio with composer James Redwood. She compiles contemporarywriters.org for the British Council.

Paul Munden is Director of the National Association of Writers in Education. As a poet, he is an Eric Gregory Award winner whose work appears in many anthologies. He has worked in schools, universities and as ‘conference poet’ covering a variety of subjects for the British Council.

River Wolton is a freelance writer & facilitator, specialising in tailor-made projects for schools, museums, libraries and community groups including older people in residential care, refugees, and people with learning difficulties. She was Derbyshire Poet Laureate 2007-9. Her publications include The Purpose of Your Visit, Some Girls’ Mothers and You Are Here.

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Farhana Shaikh is the founding editor of The Asian Writer, an online magazine which supports and encourages writing from the British Asian community. She is currently working on a project which explores family life in Leicester through stories. She is working on her first novel, set in twentieth century India.

Jonathan Davidson is Chief Executive of Writing West Midlands. He has worked for over twenty five years in arts management and literature development, including working as a literature officer for local authorities and organising book festivals. He is also a writer and poet and his radio plays are regularly broadcast on BBC Radio.

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Lynne Connolly has been writing paranormal romance for the past five years. She also writes historical romance. Her books are published by Ellora’s Cave, Samhain Publishing and Loose- Id, the three biggest ebook specialist companies in the USA.

Mary Nichols wrote short stories and articles for magazines before she turned to writing novels. Ten were published before she moved on to writing historical romance for Mills & Boon. She has been writing for them ever since. Her latest, The Fountain, is to be published by Alison and Busby in April 2010.

Sue Moorcroft is a working writer. Starting Over, her third novel, is out now and All That Mullarkey will be published in June. She also writes short stories, serials and articles for magazines. Love Writing – How to Make Money Writing Romantic or Erotic Fiction, her first ‘how to’ book, was published in January.

The Carrot Nappers follows the adventures of out of work bouncer Vinnie Hollis as he attempts to recover his prize carrot from the oddball Onionhead. If you have ever wanted to take a journey inside the Love Shed, now is your chance!

The Carrot Nappers – a play by Keith Large

The Carrot Nappers was written by Keith Large and directed by Francessca Brown.

With

Garry Mooney as Vinnie Hollis
Steve Kantor as Onion Head
Tim Waterfield as Albert Jackson

And

Genevieve Cleghorn as Lisa

Recorded and podcast by the Literature Network

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Al Needham is one of the UK’s foremost male sex writers, having written about sex and relationships for Cosmopolitan, Scarlet and Marie Claire. Al is also a founder member of todgertalk. com. He is an editor of LeftLion, Nottingham’s award-winning free alternative magazine.

James Walker is an award- winning writer who has written for a wide variety of publications. He has just finished his debut novel ‘This Is All I Know’, the story of a father who teaches himself origami to get closer to his son. He is the Literature Editor at LeftLion magazine and a member of the Nottingham Writers’ Studio.

John Coster is the editor of the Citizen’s Eye Community News Agency, which leads the Community Media Hub covering a wide range of subjects and run entirely by volunteers including John. Through You Tube, Flickr, Facebook and Twitter they engage a wide audience. He edits the Soar Community magazine and is lead project worker on the Leicester Wave young people’s newspaper.

Susi O’Neill is a digital strategy consultant within the music and media industries. Her consultancy, Digital Consultant, delivers training, research and consultancy for online business and e-marketing. She is the founder of CreativeNottingham.com

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Graham Joyce is the author of seventeen novels, which have won five British Fantasy Awards, the World Fantasy Award and the prestigious O Henry prize. He has also diversified into new media with the announcement last year that he will be writing for Doom 4.

Richard Birkin likes to make things. In the daytime he makes things for Mudlark and Pixel-Lab, and in the evenings he makes things for his imprint Time Travel Opps. He’s been exploring online publishing for this entire century, and would like it if England were more like Iceland.

Steve Ince is an award- nominated Writer-Designer with 17 years of game development experience. He has played an important part in the success of a number of critically acclaimed games, including Beneath a Steel Sky, Broken Sword and In Cold Blood. He was nominated for Excellence in Writing at the Game Developers Choice Awards 2004, following on from three BAFTA nominations for Broken Sword.

Alex Pryce is Director of PoetCasting, the UK’s foremost poetry podcasting enterprise. Her poetry has been published in various magazines and websites, including Mslexia, Staple and Snakeskin. Alex is also a full time postgraduate student in modern and contemporary literature at the University of Leicester.

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Lydia Towsey is a poet and performer. She has performed with John Hegley, Jean Binta Breeze and Keorapetse Kgositsile, the South African Poet Laureate. She comperes and coordinates, WORD! the longest running poetry night in the East Midlands and in 2009 was the Artistic Director of ‘The Lyric Lounge’

Mark Gwynne Jones is well known for mind altering poetry with a music-hall edge. He has performed alongside The Levellers, Alan Bates, Mark Radcliffe and John Peel favourites Half Man Half Biscuit. He has sold poetry to the CIA and written poetry with disenfranchised kids in some of the most deprived areas of Britain.

Sarah Ellis is the programme manager for Apples & Snakes. She is currently exploring new and pioneering ways of touring work through live and online experiences and is executive producer for the national online critical framework, My Place Or Yours. She produced Apples & Snakes’ national tour, Exposed in 2006.

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Amanda Whittington has been described as Britain’s ‘most consistently popular female dramatist’ (The Guardian). Her plays include Be My Baby, Ladies Day and Bollywood Jane. Amanda writes regularly for BBC Radio 4 writing career as a journalist.

Bea Udeh is a theatre producer at Nottingham Playhouse, where she uses grass roots people and stories to embody the experiences that we all have daily. Her current productions include ‘Fakebook’ and ‘The Gospel According to Roger Dank’.

Kate Chapman joined Theatre Writing Partnership as Artistic Director and Chief Executive in March 2009. From 2004 to 2008 she was a Producer for BBC Radio Drama. She was artistic director of Bradford’s Theatre in the Mill from 1995 – 1998 and programme director of SCRIPT from 2001 – 2004.

Peter Leslie Wild is Senior Producer for BBC Radio Drama. His work includes the recent Radio 4 Classic serial version of Robinson Crusoe (adapted by Andy Barrett), the sci-fi serial Project Raphael by Jenny Stephens (Radio 7) and five serials featuring Lindsey Davis’s Roman detective Falco adapted by Mary Cutler (Radio 4).