Our Authors
JAN ROTHNEY
author of Breaking free
As a former lecturer in Health and Social Care, a therapist and an experienced practitioner running her own Reset to Thrive Recovery Programme, Jan Rothney shares her expertise and first-hand experience about recovering from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Long Covid. The book shows why there is so much confusion surrounding these conditions and how they impact on recovery, at a time when the after effects of Covid are being felt across all of society.
C. J. CARROL
author of RIPPLES
Cillian is an Irish teacher and writer based in Dublin, Ireland. He spent the first seven years of his teaching career in London, including time in Lambeth, South London. He spent many years working with vulnerable young people and their families on the fringes of society in a pastoral capacity. Cillian returned to Dublin in 2021 and in the same year, 30 teenagers were murdered on the streets of London, including a number of ex-pupils from the school he taught in. Spurred on by this and inspired by the incredible young people he worked with in London, he began working on what would become his debut novel.
AMANDA WALSH
author of A REQUIEM FOR A BISCUIT TOWN
Amanda Walsh is a poet and artist based in Reading, whose work explores grief, class, mental health, and the everyday beauty found in survival. After decades working in nursing and care roles, Amanda returned to education and found her voice through poetry and visual art. Her debut collection, A Requiem for Biscuit Town, draws from lived experience – of working-class life, personal loss, and recovery from trauma – offering raw, compassionate insight into what it means to heal.
sara cullen
author of Blood red sky
Sara Cullen is an Irish writer living in Fife, Scotland. Her passion for social justice began in her teens with Amnesty International, corresponding with a pen pal on death row. Inspired by To Kill a Mockingbird, she studied English Literature at University College Cork and spent 17 years teaching in Scottish high schools, including as a Guidance Teacher. She later worked in the Public Protection Unit and earned a qualification in Child Welfare and Protection from the University of Stirling. Her writing reflects her belief in the power of books to uplift care-experienced children and those impacted by the justice system.
Zara Ahsan Kazkouzeh
author of where do my roots go?
Zara is a therapist and mother dedicated to researching the lasting impact of trauma and mind-body connection. Through her work, she advocates for marginalised and under-represented voices, minority groups and refugees. She combines personal experience with professional insight into mental health to create resources that address the gap in psychoeducation for children.
Katy Fraser
author of Talking to a pie about walking the dog
Having been diagnosed with ADHD in her early fifties, Katy candidly and humorously reflects and re-examines her often messy life. Providing a beacon of hope, Katy dismantles the stigma of the diagnosis, helping ADHDers feel profoundly understood.
Molly O’Dowd
author of The In-BETWEEN
Molly O’Dowd, a Psychology graduate living in Bristol, spends her free time on hobbies like painting, drawing, and poi, while pursuing her dream of becoming an author. Fascinated by interpersonal dynamics, she explores LGBTQ romances in her fantasy worlds. Inspired by anime and fantasy series like RE-Zero and Arcane, as well as books like Shatter Me and Wolfsong, Molly aims to fill the gap in LGBTQ representation in the fantasy genre with her ‘romantasy’ creations.
Since 2013, Tom has been writing and performing across the UK, as well as working closely with community groups and young people. As a writer and artist they have produced work for BBC Arts, UNESCO and The Tate. In 2023 their short film Salt In The Wounds was shortlisted for the national Outspoken Prize for Poetry in Film and their short play All The Things I Said was shortlisted for the Pomegranate Theatre Prize. They have had work previously published in anthologies by Howling Press, Perennial Press, Renard Press and Ample Collective (among others).
t. s. idiot
author of back to the fuchsia
shane johnstone
author of govanhill mythology
Shane Johnstone is a Glaswegian poet, translator, and novelist. His poetry in Gaelic, Scots and English is widely published in Scotland, and his first novel, The Gods of Frequency, was published by Arkbound Publishing in 2020. Shane (whose family speak Gaelic at home) is a practitioner in a Gaelic immersion nursery with a love of French literature. He loves hiking with his two sons, who he lives with in Govanhill.
diana finch
author of value beyond money
Diana has worked mainly in the charity sector since the turn of the century. The experience started to make her question the economic system, which seemed to be creating unintended negative consequences in society and in the environment. She took over the management of the Bristol Pound in 2018 and decided to share the story of the organisation she loved. Diana lives in Bristol, has two adult daughters, and enjoys walking and dancing in her spare time.
Maria lives between Portugal and the United Kingdom. Serendipity is her debut book inspired by the Celtic culture, the landscape and the people of Scotland, where she lived for some years. Her profound interest to photograph the natural world and learn from it has been a seed of inspiration for start writing poetry and children’s stories, aiming to pass on a message of love to protect our mother Earth.
maria de fatima santos
author of serendipty
andre rostant
author of the muffin man
André Rostant was born and raised in London, of Irish West-Indian parentage. Both heritages inform his work. André is a published poet. He writes music including calypso, has performed at the Exile Festival in Derbyshire and sings regularly at the London Calypso Tent in Notting Hill. ‘The Muffin Man’ is his first book, released in June 2024.
angela bettoni
author of cameron’s choice
Angela is a twenty-one-year-old writer and performer with Down Syndrome who lives in Malta, having previously lived in Oxford and Rome. She has a Sri Lankan mum and Italian dad. Angela is just finishing the 2nd year of a BA degree in Creative Arts. She is a passionate advocate for inclusion, and in 2022 received one of ten ‘Outstanding Young Persons Awards’ by the Junior Chamber International Malta for her advocacy work. She spends most of her free time writing and has four self-published books sold in aid of charities, which were published between the ages of nine and sixteen.
donna taylor
author of show me heaven
Never shying from the harrowing truths of living with Bipolar, experiencing psychosis and attempting to take her own life, Donna`s aim is to inspire others in similar circumstances or just purely to educate the many diverse disadvantaged topics covered by her memoir. She currently works at the local psychiatric hospital in Reading, Berkshire where she was previously an inpatient.
kelsie stoker
author of silenda
Kelsie is a young writer with a degree in English Literature and English Language and Linguistics from the University of Glasgow. Inspired by the restrictive nature of identity and society’s apparent need for us to define every aspect of our person, she is passionate about finding the grey area of existence. A passionate feminist, Kelsie believes that embracing our own ignorance is the true path to peace, equality and understanding.
charly white
author of a collection of wildflowers
Charly is a Welsh writer whose writing has been crafted during travelling. She began writing A Collection of Wildflowers whilst living in Paris during the 2020 pandemic, as a response to coping with the challenges of daily life and still wanting to capture the beautiful moments amidst it. With a strong belief in the power of nature and mindfulness as a means to support wellbeing, Charly aims to encourage this connection via her words. Visit Charly’s Instagram here.
c. j. L. thomason
author of Crown & scalpel
Caroline was born in the German-speaking region of Belgium to two Flemish parents. She speaks four languages and holds a PhD in Engineering Technology. After she lost her mother at the age of twelve, she found it hard to blend in with her peers at school and often relied on writing fiction to cope with emotions. She started writing her debut novel Crown and Scalpel when she was only sixteen years old. But it was years later that a YouTube video of Daniel Kish demonstrating human echolocation inspired her to write a blind protagonist.
joao cerqueira
author of perestroika
João Cerqueira was born and lives in Viana do Castelo, Portugal. He holds a PhD in Art History from the University of Porto, he is a professor at ESE and a columnist for the newspaper Sun. He is the author of nine books and is published in eight countries. His novels use satire and humour to address human nature and contemporary problems. He tries to continue the literary tradition that goes from “Cantigas de Escárnio and Maldizer” to Eça de Queiroz and Camilo, without forgetting Gil Vicente, Camões and Bocage.