The Writers

Jenny Stallard is a writer and editor who worked her way from cub reporter at a local newspaper to magazine features and is now Commissioning Editor on the features team at commuter paper Metro. It was at Metro she wrote her own column, ‘Boyfriend By Christmas’, which, while it ended with her ‘single and happy’, generated the idea for her first novel: Boyfriend by Christmas.

Find out more about Jenny on Twitter @SaintAllard 

Eleanore Etienne is working on a short story collection, since completing the manuscript of her novel The Exclusions of Love. Her stories have been read at Liars’ League, Vanguard Readings and StorySLAM:Live. She is a graduate of the Certificate in Novel Writing at City University.

Find out more about Eleanore at eleanoreetienne.com and on Twitter @EleanoreEtienne 

Jacqueline Crooks is a Jamaican-born writer. She writes about Caribbean migration and sub-cultures in the UK. She has been published in anthologies by Peepal Tree Press, Granta and Virago.

Find out more about Jacqueline on Twitter @Luidas 

Richard Skinner is the author of three novels published by Faber & Faber, three books of non-fiction and two poetry collections. His most recent books are a poetry pamphlet, Terrace, (Smokestack) and a collection of essays, reviews and interviews, Vade Mecum (Zero). His work has been nominated for prizes and is published in seven languages.

Find out more about Richard at richardskinner.weebly.com and on Twitter @RichardNSkinner 
As the lead writer for BBC America’s Anglophenia website, Fraser McAlpine (a man assembled from almost every region of the UK) spends his life explaining Brits to foreigners. Now he lifts the lid on our Marmite pot of nations and takes you on a journey from the Isle of Wight to Inverness, Belfast to Bangor, exploring the joyful enthusiasms (and pet hates) of an endlessly multifarious Britain.

Find out more about Richard on Twitter @csi_popmusic 

Inventor of monsters, hugger of bears, shameless prevaricator (i.e. fiction writer) Tom Pollock may be spotted on a dancefloor above a blur that is believed to be his legs (although no evidence has been found to confirm this). Tom once unwittingly blinded a US Government satellite with the gleam from his head on a summer’s day, he’s still working his way out from under that one. He lives in London and writes YA fantasy about strange creatures and unlikely friendships in the hidden corners of the city.

Find out more about Tom on Twitter @tomhpollock

Yolanda Zappaterra is a London-based author, editor and researcher and has been writing and editing articles about architecture, design and travel for over 20 years. She contributes regularly to a range of magazines including Time Out, Blueprint and Communication Arts.

Find out more about Yolanda at yolandazappaterra.wordpress.com and on Twitter @YZappaterra

Jan Fuscoe is a freelance feature writer and editor living in London. She has written on architectural walks for Fodor’s London guide and edited a number of Time Out publications including Italy: Perfect Places. She has also written features for food, travel, crossbow hunting, and luxury magazines including Sainsbury’s, Upward Curve, Cuisine and Bologna for Connoisseurs.

Find out more about Jan at janfuscoe.com and on Twitter @janfuscoe 

Kevin MacNeil was born and raised in the Outer Hebrides. He has won numerous literary awards, performed internationally, and taught creative writing at prestigious universities, such as Edinburgh and Uppsala. His new book is a novel entitled The Brilliant & Forever and features a talking alpaca as one of its main characters. MacNeil is also a poet, screenwriter, editor and lyricist.

Find out more about Kevin at kevinmacneil.com and on Twitter @Kevin_MacNeil 

Kit Fraser will read from the third book of his happiness trilogy: 1) The Joy of Talk, 2) Old Age: My Three Best Friends – Alcohol, Television and God and 3) How To Be Happy (Not Easy). Kit founded three single issue parties and fought three elections: The Publican Party fighting the smoking ban, The Joy of Talk Party fighting urban loneliness and the self-explanatory Ban Bankers’ Bonus Party.

Find out more about Kit at oldmaninabath.co.uk and on Twitter @oldmaninabath 

Nikesh Shukla is the author of the critically acclaimed novel Meatspace, the Costa shortlisted novel Coconut Unlimited and the award-winning novella The Time Machine. He wrote the short film Two Dosas and the Channel 4 sitcom Kabadasses.

Find out more about Nikesh at nikesh-shukla.com and on Twitter @nikeshshukla 

Matthew Redford was born in 1980 and grew up on a council estate in Bermondsey, south-east London. He lives in Longfield, Kent. To counterbalance the quirkiness of his crime fiction, Redford is an accountant. His debut novel Addicted to Death: A Food Related Crime Investigation was published by Clink Street Publishing.

Find out more about Mathew on Twitter @matthew_redford 

Shazea Quraishi is a Pakistani-born Canadian poet, playwright and translator who lives in Brixton. Her poems have been featured in The Financial Times, Ploughshares, Modern Poetry in Translation, Poetry Review and TEN: New British poets, and she has performed her work at Royal Festival Hall, Aldeburgh Poetry Festival, Ledbury Festival and Keats House. The Art of Scratching was published by Bloodaxe Books in May 2015.

Find out more about Shazea at shazea.wordpress.com

Our venue is Hootananny Brixton (95 Effra Road, London SW2 1DF) – a large pub with a performance space that can hold 600 people. It also provides cooked food. The closest tube station is Brixton (Victoria line) and buses 2, 3, 415, 432 and 196 will transport you very near to the venue.