Contributing Authors

Jeff Achampong has been writing his novel ever since he joined the Willesden Green Writers’ Group. Born to West African parents, his writing is based heavily on his upbringing, especially his experiences of living with sickle cell anaemia. He is not sure whether to describe himself as the chairman of the writers’ group or the chairperson. He is torn between being mistaken for a woman and showing that he is sensitive.

Lane Ashfeldt”s short fiction has been published in anthologies, literary journals and online literary spaces. More here: http://ashfeldt.com

Jude Brown writes a lot of stuff that is neither good nor memorable. However she has had some stuff published in several small presses, including the world famous Willesden Green Writers award winning anthology The Monkey’s Typewriter. She is working on more stuff as part of her MA in Writing, hopefully this will be such stuff dreams are made on, or something like that.

Bilal Ghafoor is from London, where he has lived all his life except a few years in the late 90’s when he ran away to Pakistan. He has been shortlisted for the Willesden Herald Short Story Competition, for which he became a shortlisting judge a few years later; came second in the New Writing Ventures Non-Fiction Competition and has been the recipient of a Grant for the Arts award from the Arts Council. He is working on an account of his travels in Pakistan and was fortunate enough to be asked to edit the present anthology. www.betelquid.com

SJ Griffin became a woman after successfully completing many years as a girl. She works as a freelance writer and editor, which means that most of the time she goes to ‘the office’ in her pyjamas. She can also be found at www.typecat.wordpress.com, avoiding any quality time with her new novel which will probably be called Take me home. Or it might not.

Marek Kazmierski Following stints as a teacher, stripper, philanthropist, librarian and door-to-door perfume salesman, Marek is currently nine-to-five in prison, coordinating cultural and diversity affairs. Joint winner of 2007 Penguin Decibel prize for non-fiction and sole recipient of the 2005 Bike Magazine Philosopher of the Year Award. Founding member of Apart Arts and OFF_ Magazine. www.mjkazmierski.org

Elle Ludkin, born in the North-East of England, migrated south six years ago. She lives in NW London and thrives in this wonderful, scary city. Her fiction, inspired by the everyday taken to the extreme, focuses on the ‘doorstep’ horror in all our lives. She is currently juggling writing with full-time mum duties to two boys, teaching gardening and cookery in local schools and then, if she has time, ‘sleeping’.

Andrew Mayne hired the Goldstein-Saatchi media group to compose his biography for this illustrious publication. But due to the economic downturn, this is all they came up with.

Jarred McGinnis has lived in New Mexico, Florida, Texas, Scotland and now London. Makes you wonder exactly what he”s running from. He is currently seeking representation for his first novel, Pissing on Dolphins. He is http://wickedtomocktheafflicted.com.

Stephen Moran grew up in Dublin. He was given into bonded labour in London when he was a small child of just twenty-four. In his spare time he dabbles in poetry, stories and dreams of escape. He is not working on several novels. www.stephenmoran.net

Anne Mullane ‘Send us a biography,’ he said. ‘Shall I start with my time at Ealing Art School?’ I said. ‘Ancient history,’ he said. ‘What about the time I was Reader Development Manager for Brent Libraries?’ ‘Too boring,’ he said. ‘Well, I did start the Willesden Green Writers’ Workshop.’ ‘You sure you want to admit to that?’ he said. ‘Well, yes, I”m kind of proud of it,’ I said. ‘Takes all sorts,’ he said.

Lynsey Rose is a Morrissey-obsessed feminist who lives on a diet of salt, fat and sugar. She writes funny/bleak life-unaffirming stories full of people you’ll despise. She also knocks out the odd poem. Lynsey currently writes a blog called Exitainment about highbrow cultural stuff (oh alright, it’s mainly about trashy TV)…Exitainment She also writes something a bit more cultured, a poetry blog called Extol. Visit lynseyrose.com to see a showcase of Lynsey’s work all in one place, including her novel, blog, podcast, poetry and short stories. You can buy Lynsey’s book First Aid Kit Girl for the Kindle at Amazon: Click here. Or buy the paperback version here.

Clare Sandling has been a one-fifth writer since she stopped working on Fridays. Her one-woman rebellion against the standard working week has led to a flurry of short stories and a nascent novel, as well as several yards of knitting. How to Win at Scrabble and Life was performed by the Liars” League troupe and is available as a podcast at http://liarsleague.typepad.com/liars_league/2008/08/when-scrabble-g.html.

Samuel Taradash Raised in the American southwest, Samuel currently lives in London, where he divides his time between writing, ‘real’ work and an irrational nostalgia for Japan. His short story To the Ocean and Back was selected as highly commended by London Writers Inc in their 2008 competition, and he’s currently sub-editing the Brunel literary magazine Metropolitan Lines. www.samueltaradash.com

Peter Webb is getting over the excitement of his first publication. He now aspires to write a story his kids want to read, though to date they have shown far more interest in jumbo jets (“lalos”), pink hats and ladybird wellies. So instead Peter devotes his time to household checklists and making paper aeroplanes from old copy.

Lee Webber lives through others, and is currently a middle-aged father-of-three, plagued by alopecia and perspiration problems. His psychiatrist has yet to convince him that he’s really just a 25-year old from Cambridge with ‘issues’. http://stretch-out-and-wait.blogspot.com/

Antony Wootten lives and teaches in London. Despite his best efforts, his longed-for career in writing has continually eluded him. However, he is entirely content with his life, and is not at all bitter about his failure. Thankfully, his latest story has found its way into this book, so whenever possible, he will now be referring to himself as a published writer. He’ll probably also use the words ‘famous’ and ‘successful’.