Writers’ profiles
A short list of writers on the Grit Lit roster, what they’ve done and where to read their writing..
Your hosts:
Tim Lay. Author of award winning The Sewerside Chronicles. NIBS, a collection of his short stories, was published by Callio press in December 2010. A graphic novel collaboration with Augustine Coll is set to be published by Banter Publishing in 2012. Info and extracts of work on http://www.timlay.com
Amy Riley. Writer of fiction and contributor to Trash Menagerie (USA) and bass-heavy site Knowledge. A Brighton resident she promotes various nights – music and arts based - in the city.
Grit Lit crew members (in order of recent appearance):
DJ Brandon Block’s pioneering residency with Alex P on the Space terrace in Ibiza in the early ’90s took club life in to a whole new dimension. He’s presented for MTV, Channel 4 and Kiss 100 and famously scrapped with Rolling Stone Ronnie Wood on the Brits stage.
Matt Trollope. Brandon Block’s biographer freelanced for dance magazines, DJ Magazine and M8 and ran record shop Izit Dance and a spin-off DJ agency in the Nineties as well as co-owning lovable rave den The Lodge in London.
Nina de la Mer has written several non-fiction books including The Modern Maiden’s Handbook and 500 Essential Cult Books. Her debut novel, 4am was published by Myriad Editions in 2010.
Simon Maginn studied music at the University of Sussex, specialising in percussion and composition. He has lived in Hove ever since. He published his first novel, Sheep, in 1994, and also writes as Simon Nolan.
Brain Bell is a writer and a musician. His pulp fiction novella ‘Die Hard Mod’ was published by Pulp Press under the pen name Charlie McQuaker
Mathilda Gregory is a comedy writer and was one of the winners of the BBC’s Laughing Stock competition in 2011. She also writes for The Guardian, Fringe Guru and The F Word. and is the president of Brighton Belles WI.
Martine McDonagh has worked as an artist manager, to bands such as James, for over 25 years. Her book, ‘I Have Waited’ was published by Myriad in 2006 and re released in 2011,
Chris Callard. Short story writer whose work has appeared in Aesthetica magazine, 3AM magazine and Dogmatika. His writing can also be found in an anthology fromEarlyworks Press. The City & Its Creatures, a short story collection, was published in 2011.
Caroline Rance. Author of eighteenth century hospital lid lifter, Kill Grief, which was published in 2009 by Biscuit. She also blogs about the strange history of quack medicines.
Tara Gould. Award winning short story author and Radio 4 play writer who founded short fiction cabaret nights Short Fuse and Story Studio.
Mark Sheerin writes short stories and writes about art for http://www.culture24.com. He won the 2012 Brighton Digital Festival flash fiction slam.
Femi Hughes is a writer and poet from Brighton. She has worked with Exiled Inc.
Erinna Mettler is a short story writer and novelist. Her short stories have featured in Swampwriting and claimed the runner up spot at the Guildford Book Festival. Her debut novel, Starlings, was published in 2011 by Revenge Ink.
Joe Evans won the Short Fuse Christmas Flash Fiction Slam in Leicester, 2009. One of his short stories appears in the Brighton Nightwriters Anthology 2012.
Rob Paraman is a Brighton based novelist and poet. His stories have been published in literary magazines Northwords, Westcoast Magazine, and Cutting Teeth, and in the Alt History anthology (Queenspark Books, 2005).
James Burt is a computer programmer and a runner who lives in Brighton. He runs the Not for the Faint-Hearted workshops.
Wendy Ann Greenhalgh is a recent recipient of one of New Writing South’s New Buds Awards. Her stories have won prizes and appeared in numerous anthologies. She teaches creative writing and organises Story Scavenger Hunts http://www.storyscavenger.blogspot.com
Dan Holloway, is an Oxford based novelist and founder of the Year Zero Writers’ collective. He is was a winning finalist at Literary Death Match.
Neil Ansell spent five years living on a remote hillside in Wales, and wrote his first book, Deep Country (Hamish Hamilton) about the experience. An award-winning BBC journalist he has written for the Guardian, the New Statesman and the Big Issue. http://fivedials.com/
Ed Siegle’s debut novel, Invisibles, has been published by Myriad Editions. A winner of the V.S. Pritchett Prize, his short stories have been published in The Illustrated Brighton Moment. http://edsiegle.com/
Dan Tsu is a refreshing and versatile wordsmith that is carving his own niche on the Spoken Word circuit, Drawing influences from Hip Hop to Folk, he traverses political, natural and abstract landscapes http://www.lyrixorganix.com.
Steve Cakeis a failed rockstar. However, he has represented his country as the reigning UK Air Guitar Champion. He has worked as a freelance music journalist for Big Issue and The Guardian and had his shorts stories published in anthologies.
Stephanie Lam is a Write Onsite speed-fiction competition winner. Her short stories have been published by Paraxis. http://paraxis.org/ and Spilling Ink.
Louise Halvardsson’s debut novel, Punk Influenced Hard Rocker with Attitude won best Young Adult Fiction newcomer in her native Sweden in 2007. She is also a poet and short story writer .
Akila is a Brighton based writer and poet. Her work appears in Penguin’s Eleven Years anthology and she is a contributor to RED an anthology of Black British poetry.
Jake Kennedy. Music journalist and writer of the acclaimed biography Joy Division And The Making of Unknown Pleasure.
Dave Swann. Bridport prize winning author and poet. The Last Days of Johnny North was released to critical acclaim. The Privilege of Rain, is published by Waterloo Press in April 2010.
Ross Sutherland. Times listed ‘top literary star’ and member of poetry collective Aisle 16 . His debut poetry collection, Things To Do Before You Leave Town, was published in January 2010.
Isabel Ashdown. Award winning author of Glasshopper. Her debut novel, published by Myriad in 2009, was ‘best book’ listed by The Observer.
Emma Gray. Her stories have appeared on espressofiction.com and in Brighton’s Tall Tales and Modern Fables magazine. She is currently working on her first novel.
Tony Diamond. Author of best selling Pebble on the Beach, published by Queenspark Books , an autobiographical work about his troubled childhood in Brighton and Australia.
Creative Future crew. Chris Ellis, Tom Jayston, Martin Curtis. Contributors to Amazement – The Creative Future anthology published by QueenSpark in 2009.
