AUTHORS: F-M
Anita Faulkner
Anita Faulkner writes warm and fuzzy romcoms from her upcycled bureau near the glorious Cotswolds.
Described by her agent Kate Nash as ‘a sparkling new voice,’ Anita is still pinching herself that her second novel, The Gingerbread Cafe, was published by Sphere in October 2022.
Most days you’ll find Anita surrounded by shiny objects, big dreams and an abundance of chocolate wrappers which can’t possibly all be hers. When she’s not being bossed around by a small human or running her copywriting empire, Anita loves sharing her journey and cheering you on with yours.
https://www.anitafaulkner.co.uk https://www.facebook.com/groups/chicklitandprosecco/
Sheila Forsey
Sheila Forsey began writing when she took a course in creative writing in Maynooth University and wrote her first novel – Mending lace. Since then she has written three historical fiction novels Kilbride House, The Secret of Eveline House and The Lake House at Lenashee, all published by Poolbeg Press.
With a love for the stage she has written some short plays and was a finalist for Scripts Festival, Ireland’s playwriting festival. She has one leg firmly set in a different era and is passionate about bringing the stories of the past especially Ireland’s past into the light. When she is not writing she facilities workshops in creative writing in adult education and in schools. She has recently completed a postgraduate course in Trinity College Dublin exploring culture and creativity.
She loves rambling through woods, abandoned houses, old graveyards and ruins searching for stories like a magpie. She lives in the sunny south east of Ireland near the sea with her family and is constantly talking about becoming a sea swimmer, getting to grips with decluttering and giving up
coffee.
Felicity George
Felicity George is the historical romance pen name of author Elizabeth Welke.
When not writing happily-ever-afters in the persona of Felicity, Elizabeth is a Georgian-era social historian and former teacher in Toronto, where she lives with her husband, her two teenage children, and a mischievous squirrel-chaser named Scout.
Maggie Grant
Maggie Grant is a neurodiverse writer based in Manchester. She writes romances with neurodiverse characters at the heart of the story. When she’s not writing, Maggie enjoys eating and drinking in the best restaurants in Manchester, walking her lab Paddy and rewatching Gilmore Girls for the hundredth time.
Nell Griffin
Growing up, Nell spent a lot of her time reading, which didn’t exactly help her social skills and, in part, led to many embarrassing situations in her teenage years. Never one to miss an opportunity, Nell draws on her (extensive) experience of being an awkward teenager in her writing. Growing up in a rural community also heavily influences her work, as it provides a never-ending well of unintentionally-comedic inspiration. Nell has a penchant for horror as well as comedy, and constantly consumes spooky content including horror movies, ghost stories, and paranormal podcasts. Although she enjoys living in the middle of nowhere, Nell does occasionally like to leave her house – mainly to visit bookshops.
Chris Griffiths
Chris Griffiths has spent most of his working life in the NHS, both as a paramedic and in operating theatres, and loves exploring medicine and the darker side of medical ethics in his writing. He was shortlisted for Penguin WriteNow 2020, and is proud to have been the recipient of the 2021 Writers’ and Artists’ Working-Class Writers’ Prize. More recently, Chris has worked on a shadow scheme with BBC Casualty. His current work-in-progress was highly commended in the 2023 CWA Debut Daggers and is the first in a planned series of medical thrillers set in and around a fictional West Midlands teaching hospital.
Alis Hawkins
Alis Hawkins grew up in Ceredigion and currently lives on the Welsh-English border with her partner. Her Teifi Valley Coroner historical crime series – featuring partially-sighted ex-barrister Harry Probert-Lloyd and his chippy assistant, John Davies – is set in the area where she grew up and has twice been shortlisted for the CWA Historical Dagger. The first book in her new Oxford Mysteries series, A Bitter Remedy, featuring young Welsh polymath Rhiannon Vaughan and college lecturer Basil Rice, was published in March 2023.
Alis is a founder member of the Welsh crime writers’ collective Crime Cymru and founding chair of Wales’s international crime fiction festival, Gwyl Crime Cymru Festival.
Helen Hawkins
Helen is a writer, editor and English teacher who loves all things Christmas and romance. Her first attempt at novel writing was shortlisted for the Penguin Michael Joseph Christmas Love Story Competition and highly commended in I AM In Print’s Romance Competition. Her Cranswell romances are published by Allison & Busby.
When she’s not writing, Helen can be found editing, singing and dancing with her local operatic society, or running around with her toddler and partner at their home in Oxfordshire.
Hannah Hendy
Hannah Hendy lives in a small town in South Wales with her long suffering wife and two spoilt cats. A professional chef by trade, she started writing to fill the time between shifts. She is the author of the cosy crime series, The Dinner Lady Detectives, published by Canelo Crime.
Mads Hope
Mads is a romance author from Sussex, England, who writes heartfelt and witty love stories with sharp banter and emotional depth. Passionate about storytelling and the romance genre, Mads was shortlisted for Book Creator of the Year 2024 at the bCreator Awards. With a TikTok following of over 70,000, she loves connecting with fellow book lovers and sharing her passion for the romance genre. When not writing, you can find her tucked up under a blanket with a hot chocolate in hand, binge watching Dance Moms for the hundredth time!
Michelle Houghton
Born and raised in the US, Michelle Houghton has worked as a biomedical research scientist, a Russian linguist, owned a restaurant, and lived in Germany and Turkey. She now lives in England. Some might say Michelle never knew what she wanted to be when she grew up. Having at last grown up, she knows she loves writing for young people.
When Michelle isn’t writing middle grade or YA historical novels, she’s researching Anglo Saxon England and visiting historical sites. She is a member of Leicester Writers’ Club and the Historical Novel Society.
Suzie Hull
Award-winning author Suzie Hull lives in Northern Ireland with her family and numerous rescue cats. In 2022, her debut novel, In This Foreign Land, won the RNA’s Joan Hessayon Award.
As a child she dreamt of being a ballet dancer but instead trained as a Montessori Nursery teacher and has spent the last thirty years working with children in a variety of settings. Suzie has always had an enduring passion for reading and history.
Janet Hunter
Janet Hunter is a writer of historical fiction and is drawn to mysteries left behind in the past. Her debut novel, set in 19th Century Devon, is inspired by her own family history.
Originally from Essex, Janet has had a varied career which has taken her to Ibiza, Lanzarote, Disney World, Yosemite National Park, Heffer’s Bookshop and the House of Commons. She now lives in Buckinghamshire and works for The Open University. She has four degrees including Masters of Arts in History and Creative Writing.
Gemma Jackson
Gemma Jackson describes herself as a crazy Irish nomad. She is the author of the Ivy Rose series, factually-based fiction about the Dublin Tenements in the 1920s, and is published by Poolbeg.
Tess James-Mackey
After growing up in rural Shropshire, Tess set out to explore the world and find her place in it. She quickly rushed straight back to Shrewsbury when she realised she’d been where she belonged from the start. She now lives in a quiet suburb with a noisy partner and daughter, two extremely noisy cats, and a less noisy tortoise.
She spent years mucking out and getting trampled on by horses, before finally deciding she might prefer a less precarious office job. Between analysing insurance risk, she writes characters into terrifying situations inspired by her lived experiences.
When she’s not allowing her mind to wander to dark and twisty places, she pursues more wholesome activities, like growing mediocre vegetables in her garden, camping, and even riding the odd horse.
K.T. Jayne
As an indie filmmaker, K.T. Jayne wrote and directed several short films that screened in European art houses and festivals. Influenced by her lifelong love of stories that explore the dark recesses of the mind, she wrote and self-published her first psychological thriller SERIAL DATER.
K.T.’s current thriller was longlisted for the Page Turner Award and the Launchpad Prose Competition, before landing her a place on the 2024 Kate Nash BookCamp mentorship programme. Born in Cheshire, she now lives in Surrey with her husband, son, two cats, a fox and a badger! She works as a Creative Consultant and in her spare time enjoys running and drinking craft ales – although not at the same time!
Daisy Jervis
Daisy studied Drama at university before pursuing a career as a primary teacher. She now works in sales for an educational publisher from her home in Kent. When she’s not plotting her next book, she loves nothing more than cocooning herself in blankets and tackling her TBR pile.
Daisy was longlisted for the Times Chicken House Children’s Fiction Competition and the Cheshire Novel Award. Her short story was featured in Searchlight Award’s 2022 Anthology and her writing has also been featured in Write Mentor’s magazine.
Daisy writes speculative fiction and is currently working on her debut novel.
Naomi Joy
Born and brought up in Jersey (Channel Island, not New), Naomi moved to London in 2010 after studying English and Music at Durham University.
Naomi is a thriller writer and can be found running, then giving up and walking, in a park near you, or spending future royalties on ridiculous things like chocolate-covered lingonberries.
Dr Chris Kempshall
Dr Chris Kempshall is a public historian who specialises in transnational experiences of allied warfare and modern media representations of history. He is the author of numerous academic works including The First World War in Computer Games (Palgrave 2015) and British, French, and American Relations on the Western Front 1914-1918 (Palgrave 2018).
His book The History and Politics of Star Wars: Death Stars and Democracy was published by Routledge in August 2022. He co-authored the officially licensed book Star Wars Battles that Changed the Galaxy (2021) and was the sole author of Star Wars: The Rise and Fall of the Galactic Empire (2024), both published by DK.
Margaret Kenna
Margaret Kenna is from the North of England, born in Liverpool and moving to Newcastle as a child. She spent a lot of time reading and writing and dreamed of becoming a published author, studying English Literature at London University in preparation.
Margaret works with two creative writing groups, and is currently focusing on a project with Barbican Young Poets. She has read and performed work for Radio 4, Bloomsbury Radio, the Foundling Museum, Bloomsbury Festival, Friends on the Shelf and Working Lunch.
Margaret works in HR consultancy, and is the author of the nonfiction book Giving Good Feedback, published in 2023. In her spare time she is a keen walker and cyclist, reads incessantly and sings in a choir.
Twitter: @MargaretKenna4
Instagram: @margaretkenna4
Bernardine Kennedy / Marie Maxwell
Bernardine Kennedy is a popular author of contemporary romantic suspense and has had all her novels reprinted by Headline.
As Marie Maxwell she writes romantic novels set in the 1960s.
Hannah Kingsley
Hannah Kingsley is a fully fledged book nerd who writes Romantasy, and is a total sucker for an enemies-to-lovers romance. She is published by HarperCollins and her debut novel, Soul Hate, was a Sunday Times bestseller.
In addition to writing, she has spent time masquerading as an analyst in the corporate world and now runs a special edition book business. She lives with her husband in a house with books on every surface, but the king of their house/library is their three-legged cat, Billy.
Eimear Lawlor
Nasheema Lennon
Nasheema has always been deeply fascinated by all things crime and psychology related. She studied psychology and criminology at university before joining the prison service, where she facilitated cognitive behavioural therapy programmes. She then changed paths to complete her PGCE, becoming a primary school teacher.
Her debut psychological thriller, The Engagement, was shortlisted for the Owned Voices Novel Award 2022.
Jane Lovering
Jane Lovering is an award-winning author of romantic comedies.
In 2012, Please Don’t Stop the Music, published by Choc Lit, won Romantic Novel of the Year and was shortlisted for the Melissa Nathan prize.
Jane’s latest novel, Happily Ever After, came out in February 2025, published by Boldwood.
Leonie Mack
Leonie Mack is an author of romantic comedies with great international locations and big feelings. She loves a happy ending and shares that love in every book she writes! Her titles take readers across Italy and as far as the Caribbean. Leonie is a journalism graduate, a language nut and loves to travel, particularly on foot, by bike and by train. After growing up in Australia and living most of her adult life in London, she now lives in Germany, among the vineyards on the Main river.
Michelle Mackenzie
Michelle Mackenzie is an author of children’s books, including picture books and young adult fiction. From a toddler through to adulthood, books have been a permanent part of her day-to-day life. Her children and faith inspired her writing. Michelle wants to keep books alive in a world that needs escapism and wishes to bring joy to her readers through her books.
As well as writing, she runs a ‘Meet the Author’ programme on Instagram, which has been a great addition to her author career. Michelle is a full-time writer living in Scotland with her husband, two girls and two cats.
Rupa Mahadevan
Rupa Mahadevan grew up on the southern coast of India and has called Scotland her home for over fifteen years. She currently lives in Edinburgh with her husband and two children. When she is not grappling with Excel in her day job, she loves to read and dream up stories of her own. Her passion for becoming a published author is one step closer thanks to Joffe Books and their commitment to promoting underrepresented authors.
David Mark
David spent more than fifteen years as a journalist, including seven years as a crime reporter with the Yorkshire Post, walking the Hull streets that would later become the setting for the Detective Sergeant Aector McAvoy novels.
His books are critically acclaimed including a Sunday Times Book of the Year, Harrogate New Blood Panel (where he was Reader in Residence) and a Richard & Judy Pick. David is a Sunday Times Bestseller and has been twice long listed for the CWA Gold Dagger.
David is a regular performer at literary festivals and is a sought-after public speaker. He also teaches creative writing and is a Fellow of the Royal Literary Fund. He lives in rural Northumberland with his family.
Lilac Mills
Lilac lives on a Welsh hillside with her very patient husband and incredibly sweet dog, where she grows veggies (if the slugs don’t get them), bakes (badly) and loves making things out of glitter and glue (a mess, usually).
She’s been an avid reader ever since she got her hands on a copy of Noddy Goes to Toytown when she was five, and she once tried to read everything in her local library starting with A and working her way through the alphabet. She loves long, hot summer days in the garden, and cold winter ones snuggled in front of the fire, but whatever the weather she’s usually writing, or thinking about writing, with heartwarming romance and happy-ever-afters always on her mind.
Faith Martin
Faith Martin has been writing for over 25 years. She is the bestselling author of the 21 book DI Hillary Greene series, reissued by Joffe Books, as well as the bestselling Val & Arbie and Ryder & Loveday mystery series for HarperCollins.
Jenny Morris
Jenny lives in Crowborough, the home of Winnie the Pooh and an outrageous number of charity shops. She loves a moral dilemma, and writes high-concept crime novels that explore deep philosophical questions like, ‘How much would I have to pay you to eat a human toe?’
She has a PhD in Cognitive Psychology and works as a Behavioural Scientist. When not reading or writing, she enjoys galloping around the Ashdown Forest on a horse, foraging for mushrooms, and getting way too intense about board games at the pub.
Lorna Morrow
Lorna Morrow is a director and producer of reality and factual TV programs. This work sparked her desire to write suspense fiction that explores the dark side of fame, influence and the media.
She has a BA (Media Studies), a Master of Journalism and has studied fiction writing with Curtis Brown Creative and the Australian Society of Authors. After stints living and working in Canada, London and southern Spain, she’s returned to Melbourne, Australia, where she lives with her husband and two sons.