Authors 2022

Carmela Sophia Sereno is an accomplished
Italian pasta specialist and successful
cookery author. She recently released her latest
book ‘Pasta Fresca’ adding to her collection of 4 other popular cookery books. Currently Carmela
is writing an Italian vegetarian cookery book to
add to the admired collection. Carmela teaches across the UK and runs sell-out supper clubs at
‘The Italian Shop’ in Northampton.

Lesley Thomson grew up in west London. Her first novel, A Kind of Vanishing, won the People’s Book Prize in 2010. Her second novel, The Detective’s Daughter, was a #1 bestseller and the resulting series has sold over 750,000 copies. Lesley divides her time between Sussex and Gloucestershire. She lives with her partner and her dog. Visit her website at lesleythomson.co.uk

Writing as G. W. Shaw, Dead Rich is William Shaw’s first adventure thriller. The Sun calls him ‘a modern crime master’. Peter May has praised him as ‘a superb storyteller’, and Peter James has hailed him as ‘one of the great rising talents of UK crime fiction.’ The Times critic Marcel Berlins said: ‘William Shaw is a superb, flowing writer, both of police procedure and personal relations, and perhaps England’s most adept at using dialogue to propel his always intelligent stories.’

His detective series set in Dungeness features DI Alex Cupidi, who originally appeared as one of the characters in his 2016 novel The Birdwatcher.

Before becoming a crime writer, he was the author of several non-fiction books including Westsiders, about a year spent with the young men of South Central Los Angeles, Spying In Guru Land, about time spent investigating religious cults, and A Superhero For Hire, a compilation of columns in the Observer Magazine.

Author Adrian Perkins lives in Northampton and has been writing since the early nineties. From an early age, his own personal experiences, and tales of ghosts and spirits fascinated him. Adrian has always collected books on true ghost stories, but there was a problem. His collection of books highlighted the persistent repetition of well-known ghost stories. These stories began showing up in book after book. This repetition became such an annoyance Adrian decided to do something about it.

In the early 2000’s he decided to contact the local BBC radio station and they invited him in. After explaining on-air his quest to find new stories to write about and publish, the radio station opened the phone lines for people to talk to him live, or leave their contact details off-air. This move proved so successful, two years later Adrian’s first book of 32 eyewitness accounts, Ghost Detective 1, was on sale in high-street shops and available across the UK. After this success Adrian wanted to take things further than simply collecting eyewitness stories, he wanted to investigate locations for himself.

In each of the Ghost Detective books, from number two onward, Adrian details several investigations separated by eyewitness accounts. Now working on book nine, Adrian has no intention of stopping or slowing down on the investigation front.

All his stories are unique to his books and the investigations he undertakes can last up to three years, so you know the stories are full of detail.

Whether you believe in ghosts or not, the Ghost Detective series of books are a fascinating read, a glimpse into the life of a real-life Ghost Detective.

Bestselling author / cartoonist James Parsons has inspired and entertained thousands of young people across the UK since 2005 - boosting storytelling and drawing skills, unlocking creativity, and sharing secret illustration tricks used by the professionals! Comic Club has become the UK's leading provider of comic art workshops in schools, libraries, festivals, charities and events... and is now heading to Moulton Literary Festival to creatively inspire you with some super awesome manga and anime Japanese style cartooning skills!

Sue Moorcroft is a Sunday Times bestselling author and has reached #1 in the Amazon Kindle UK chart as well as top 100 in the US. She’s won the Goldsboro Books Contemporary Romantic Novel Award, Readers’ Best Romantic Novel award and the Katie Fforde Bursary. 

Sue’s emotionally compelling, feel-good novels are released by publishing giant HarperCollins in the UK, US and Canada and by various publishers around the world. She’s also written short stories, serials, columns, writing ‘how to’ and courses and is represented by Juliet Pickering of the wonderful Blake Friedmann Literary Agency.

Born in Germany into an army family, Sue then lived in Cyprus, Malta, Hampshire and London but settled in Northamptonshire aged ten. Currently, she lives in Kettering. She loves reading, Formula 1, travel, time spent with friends, dance exercise and yoga.
 

Philip S Davies is the author of the Destiny's Rebel trilogy of fantasy adventure novels, suitable for ages ten plus. Enter a world of castles, kingdoms, gods, swords and sailing ships as Kat struggles with her destiny to become Queen. Philip is working on a new series, Cave of Immortality.

Kate Mallinder is the author of two feel-good teen novels, her debut Summer of No Regrets and the latest, Asking for a Friend. She will be part of the Young Adult Panel. She recently completed an MA in Writing for Young People and enjoys chatting to secondary school groups about stories. She helps run a local youth group and loves reading when she gets the chance. She lives with her family near Ashby in Leicestershire and is skivvy to two cats.

Mark and Jules are creators of the multi-award-winning Future Toolbox.

The Future Toolbox is loaded with life skills tools to help teens, young adults and families to get ahead in life.

As speakers and authors, Mark and Jules have worked with many schools, colleges and community groups, both locally and nationally, and show individuals how to make personal development fun.

Their books include the popular Don’t Get Your Neck Tattooed, which is the Z to A of life skills that you don’t get from sitting exams. It tells a story of a lovable character, Milo, who goes on a journey of personal development. Each letter is a chapter and includes interactive exercises for the reader to engage with too.

When they’re not training and writing, Mark and Jules also love travel, fitness and they’re keen artists.

Elise is a writer, runner and all-round outdoors lover best known for being the first woman to run self-supported around the coast of the UK, a journey of 5000 miles. She is the best-selling author of travel book Coasting (listed as one of The Times best books of 2021), an honest and humorous account of her adventure that aims to show that if Elise could run around a country, then anybody can. It's impossible to overstate quite how unprepared she was! Elise is currently working on her next project, a guidebook of Car-Free Adventures to be published next year.

Lucy Noguera is an ex-primary school teacher and Teacher of The Deaf. Her first children’s book Swop The Satsuma-Sized Secret is a 7+ chapter book and features sign language. Her new picture book,  Herman Needs A Home, is a story with underlying themes of conservation and the effects of plastic pollution. 

Angela is chairman of Northamptonshire Family History Society, a countywide society that holds monthly meetings locally and online via Zoom.  Her talk is aimed at those new to family history research and will give tips on how to get started, resources available, where to find them and how to get the best from them.

After a career in commercial print, David Barrow earned his MA in Children's Book Illustration at CSA in 2015. Upon graduation, he won the Sebastian Walker Award for most promising new children's illustrator. His first book, Have You Seen Elephant?, was published whilst attending the course and was shortlisted for the Waterstones Children's Book Prize and won the Zilveren Penseel. Since then, he has produced books for several publishers, has been published internationally, and has been nominated and shortlisted for various awards. David lectures in illustration at the Cambridge School of Art and at the University of Northampton.

GR Dix is both a scientist-for-hire and a writer of children's books, specialising in fun chapter books to encourage children to take up and enjoy reading for pleasure.
GR has created the world of Brian Brackbrick and George Bum, the stars of the 6-book ‘Brian Brackbrick’ series of thrilling adventures revolving around the search for the mysterious ‘Mr Sparker’. With other works at various stages of development, GR is enthusiastic about sharing his stories with as many children as possible. He believes that chapter books are a vital, and often underestimated, part of the reading journey.
Influences on GR’s writing include Roald Dahl, Terry Pratchett and the comics writer Simon Furman.
GR is a member of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) and attends events and conferences as much as possible. He enjoys meeting other authors and artists and is pleased to count many such individuals as friends.

Darren Simpson writes vivid, unruly fiction for older children and teens. He will be running a workshop based on his book Scavengers.

His debut novel, Scavengers, was a Guardian Best Book of the Year, and was selected for the Summer Reading Challenge and shortlisted for the Northern Ireland Book Award. The Memory Thieves was nominated for the Carnegie Medal and was a World Book Day Summer Read. His latest book, Furthermoor, was Blackwell’s Children’s Book of the Month and a Waterstones best book for teens and young adults.

Darren lives in Nottingham, where he works with the Literacy Trust to promote reading for pleasure. He loves using otherworldly settings and unconventional characters to explore bravery, self-discovery, and the endless quirks that make up our real lives.
 

Matt Oldfield is the author of the Unbelievable Football series (winner of the 2020 Children's Sports Book of the Year) and the Johnny Ball: Football Genius series, as well as the co-author of the bestselling Ultimate Football Heroes series. To date, his books have sold over a million copies worldwide. In association with his writing, Matt works with schools and organisations such as The National Literacy Trust and The National Football Museum to deliver football-based literacy workshops.

Shelly’s love of music started as a child when she used to listen to her dad singing his favourite pop songs whilst cleaning his car!

Whilst she always sang (and loved singing), she had never sung in public until she was 45. Since then she has taught herself how to play the guitar and played in various gigs, open mic nights and has her own album. 

Shelly would love to welcome you to the Artichoke Inn in Moulton on Saturday 8th October at 10.30am for an evening discussing songwriting, singing, musical influences and live music. 
 

David Hale is a children’s author who has lived in Moulton for over 30 years.
He created stories for his daughter Jenny when she was young and over the last two years started publishing these.
The first book, Dai and The Missing Baby Crocodile, is available from Pegasus Books.
His second book Dai and the Arrival of Diego from Patagonia will be read to the children at the Festival.

Artist and author Jenni Robson's colourful, rhyming picture books and stories for young readers, ages 5-8 are fresh, funny and heartfelt. Her handmade gifts and stationery feature many of the quirky characters. Living in Market Harborough, Jenni is currently working on her next book of mysterious tales and silliness. www.jennirobson.com

JM Cobley was born in Devon of Welsh parents and now lives in Warwickshire with his wife, daughter and two intrepid rabbits intent on escaping. He works as a Head Teacher at an SEMH school but also writes. The central character of his new novel A Hundred Years to Arras is based on his relative Robert Gooding Henson, who fought in Arras in 1917. 

Fitness Coach (owner of Queens Park Fitness, in Northampton), Author of "Losing my Addiction", Public Speaker, and Project Manager (by day), helping those who want to get in the best shape of their lives ... and I love it 🎉 www.drunkdadtodrydad.com

UK epic fantasy author Ross C. Hughes is the writer of the Convent series and The Night Comes Alive, a gothic fantasy novel, as well as a collection of short stories set in the same world, available for free to anyone who signs up to his mailing list at www.rosshughes.biz.

Steve Batchelor is a 73 year old local businessman with a fondness for literature and football.

After a bout of depression in 2017 he discovered the many physical and social benefits of playing walking football and found he wasn't alone as several others were in similar situations and had also found salvation through the friendship and exercise benefits of playing this wonderful new sport.

Walking back to happiness tells some of their stories and is a tribute to them and especially their Chairman, Phil Andrews, who provided the inspiration for this book.

Steve has also written one other book, published in 2006 entitled 'I was there in '66' which tells his story as a spectator at all of England's 1966 world cup campaign, including the epic final..

Co-Author / Editor / Contributor: Walking Back to Happiness

Phil grew up in the Westone / Booth Lane South / Abington areas of Northampton. Aged 50, he was very fit until a severe car crash meant he had to give up playing football and eventually retired from work on medical grounds. Six years ago, on a grass car-park in Moulton he started a 6-a-side walking football team with 5 guys and a dog but now there are 130 players (aged 50-78) – which Phil always says ‘it’s a good idea which got slightly out of hand’! Now aged 65, Phil co-wrote and edited the book ‘Walking Back to Happiness’ with Steve Batchelor who he only met when Steve joined the club four years ago. This book is the story of twenty of those players and what the sport has done to help improve their social life and also benefited their mental, as well as physical, health. There is a now great bond between the players and it’s given these guys a new lease in life. Who would have thought they’d still be 'banging in the goals', and talking about it for hours afterwards over a cuppa, and even playing for trophies, at their age!?

Northants Authors was started by five writers, all of whom had self-published books. Although each was very different, they shared the same problem: how to promote and sell their work. Without the backing of a traditional publisher, books could not be distributed to the wider audience they sought. They decided to try to do it together. So Northants Authors, a co-operative of authors living in Northamptonshire, was born.

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www.authorsnorthants.co.uk

Rugby Café Writers: a lively gathering of  writers, poets and playwrights; 
 
Around fourteen of us meet in the Thirteen Bells Café, Rugby,  to talk about our work, for encouragement, advice, and to enjoy sharing our journey along that hazardous road into print.
 
We discuss anything from tackling writer’s block to promoting sales of our books.
 

For more information, go to www.rugbycafewriters.com