Authors
Cally Taylor
Cally Taylor was born in Worcester and currently lives in Brighton. She is the author of Heaven Can Wait, a supernatural romantic-comedy (Orion Paperback). Her short stories have appeared in QWF, Etchings, The Lancet ‘Fact to Fiction’ special, Aesthetica and a variety of women’s magazines. Her story ‘Imagination Avenue’ features in The Route Book at Bedtime.
Char March
Char March is an award-winning poet, playwright and short fiction writer. She grew up in the 1960s and ’70s in Central Scotland. Char now divides her time between her 82-year-old mum’s (in the NW Highlands) and her own home in the Yorkshire Pennines. Her story ‘The Importance of Tea and Rabbits’ features in Some Girls’ Mothers and ‘Muff-Diving Over The Fish Market’ in Naked City. www.charmarch.co.uk
Chris Hill
Chris Hill works in communications and has a background in newspaper journalism as a reporter, news editor and editor. He has won a number of short story prizes including the Bridport Prize and his recent novel The Longing was shortlisted for the Daily Telegraph first novel prize. His story ‘So Which is the Way From Here?’ features in The Route Book at Bedtime.
Clare Shaw
Clare Shaw is described by Carol Ann Duffy as ‘probably the best, most electrifying, new young reader on the circuit’. Clare grew up in Burnley, spent ten years in Liverpool and now lives in West Yorkshire with her partner, her daughter and various geriatric cats. Her first poetry collection, Straight Ahead, was published by Bloodaxe in 2006. She is widely known for her work and publications around women’s mental health, and is co-director in a self-harm training partnership.
Herta Müller
Herta Müller was born in 1953 in the German-speaking town Nitzkydorf in Banat, Romania. Her father had served in the Waffen SS during World War II and her mother spent five years in a work camp in present-day Ukraine. Many years later, in Atemschaukel (2009), Müller was to depict the exile of the German Romanians in the Soviet Union. She was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2009.
Idrissa Keïta
Idrissa Keïta was born in 1960 in Bamako, Mali. He is a writer, illustrator and musician. He has published several children’s books in French and two collections of poetry in German.
James Nash
James Nash is Writer in Residence for Leeds University, Faculty of Education, and for High Schools in Calderdale. Route have published a number of James’ stories, including two in the collection Four Fathers.
Jo Cannon
Jo Cannon is a G.P. in Sheffield. Her stories have appeared in The Reader, Myslexia, Cadenza, Brand and New Writer among others, and in anthologies including Leaf Books. Competition successes include firsts in HISSAC and Writers Inc, and runner up in Fish International. Her story ‘Love on the Rocks’ features in The Route Book at Bedtime.
John Siddique
John Siddique is a travelling poet. His poetry collections include Recital (Salt) and The Prize (Rialto).
His stories about fatherhood appear in Four Fathers.
Katherine Reed
Katherine Reed lives in Cumbria, working for an educational publisher and the National Trust. An evening class addict, she is currently studying ancient history, screenprinting and heritage management. Her story ‘Hunter Gatherers’ features in The Route Book at Bedtime.