Authors
Ada Wilson
Adrian Wilson is a writer, journalist and musician. He signed to a major record label at the age of 16 with his band Strangeways. His novels Red Army Faction Blues, Very Acme and The Righteous Brother are published by Route.
Amadou and Mariam
Amadou Bagayoko and Mariam Doumbia met at an institute for young blind people in Bamako, Mali, and fell in love both musically and romantically. Following several years of performing and releasing cassettes in the their native West Africa, they went on to become stars of the international stage with a string of best selling albums.
Michael Nath
Michael Nath was brought up in South Wales and Lincolnshire. He is a lecturer in English at the University of Westminster. His major teaching and research interests are in Modernism, as well as in Shakespearean Drama. He has published widely on Wyndham Lewis, in various book collections and journals.
La Rochelle is his first novel. His stories also feature in Wonderwall, Ideas Above our Station, Bonne Route and The Route Book at Bedtime.
Paul Laverty
Paul Laverty has written the screenplays for several full length feature films directed by Ken Loach: including Sweet Sixteen (2002) – winner of Best Original Screenplay at Cannes, The Wind That Shakes the Barley (2006) – winner of the Palme d’Or at Cannes and It’s A Free World (2007) – winner of Best Original Screenplay at Venice Film Festival.
RamĂłn Chao
RamĂłn Chao (born 1935 in Vilalba, Lugo) is a Galician writer who emigrated to France in 1956. He was chief editor for the Latin American service of Radio France Internationale, and wrote for for Le Monde and Le Monde diplomatique. In 1984 he created the Prix Juan Rulfo award for new Spanish language writers. He is the father of singer Manu Chao and radio maker Antoine Chao.
Haifa Zangana
Haifa Zangana is an author and activist. She has published three novels and four collections of short stories. She is a founding member of International Association of Contemporary Iraqi Studies (IACIS); co-founder of Women Solidarity for an Independent and Unified Iraq and was an advisor for the UNDP report ‘Towards the rise of women in the Arab world’ (2005). She is a weekly columnist for Al Quds Al Arabi, contributes to British and US papers, and lectures regularly on Iraqi literature and women’s issues.
Ian Clayton
Ian Clayton is a jobbing writer, story teller and broadcaster. He loves books, films and music. He is a traveller, a collector, a gatherer and is passionate about finding the voice of the common people. He still lives in the town where he was born and lists his hobbies as tap-room conversation and gentle subversion. Amongst other things he is a recognised authority on the life and works of Billie Holiday, has a fondness for the comedy songs of George Formby and aspires to play blues harmonica like Jimmy Reed.
Ian Daley
Ian Daley was born in Featherstone, West Yorkshire. Destined for a life working underground, he left school during the miners’ strike of 1984 and somehow became a book publisher. He is the founding editor of Route and lives and works in Pontefract with his wife.
IcĂar BollaĂn
IcĂar BollaĂn is an acclaimed film director and actress. She was noiminated for a Goya award for best actress for her role in Leo (2000) and won a Goya for Best Director for her film Te doy mis ojos (Take My Eyes) (2003). She directed her partner Paul Laverty’s script ‘Tambien la Lluvia’ (Even the Rain) (2011) which has received wide acclaim throughout the world.
Ken Loach
Ken Loach was born in 1936 in Nuneaton. He attended King Edward VI Grammar School and went on to study law at St. Peter’s Hall, Oxford. After a brief spell in the theatre, Loach was recruited by the BBC in 1963 as a television director. This launched a long career directing films for television and the cinema, from Cathy Come Home and Kes in the sixties to Land And Freedom, Sweet Sixteen and The Wind That Shakes The Barley, Looking For Eric and Route Irish in recent years.