I Am A Writer: Meet the Writers

Jack Burrows has been writing, acting and directing theatre for 20 years.  His first play Four Uncertain Kings (2004) launched his theatre company Behind Bars Theatre. Since then, he has gone on to write numerous plays for Mansfield Palace Theatre, and for the last 12 years he has written and directed the community pantomime for Sutton Centre Stage Group and Academy Transformation Trust. Jack was a 2022-23 associate artist with New Perspectives and is very passionate about delivering co-created work, giving others the opportunity to share their voice and tell their story to identify the heritage of local communities.  

Lucy Grace is a writer, tutor, editor and workshop leader in a variety of community settings. Her short stories and flash are published in over twenty print and online anthologies. Her 2021 debut novel was longlisted in the Bath Novel Award and the Mslexia 2020 Novel Award. Currently she is working on a novel set in a Midlands colliery village after the pits closed down. In 2022 Lucy was awarded a funded PhD scholarship from the Arts and Humanities Research Council and is studying at NTU as part of the Midlands4Cities Doctoral Training Partnership.

Andrew Graves is a poet, performer and cinephile. He has been featured on Radio 6 Music’s Cerys Matthews Show and BBC Radio 4. His latest titles include Not Dancing with Ingrid Pitt published by Burning Eye Books (2020), and Welcome to the Cheap Seats (2019) a history of working class cinema. Andrew runs film courses and pre-screen introductions at arthouse independent cinemas like Broadway in Nottingham and Phoenix in Leicester.

Clare Harvey is an award winning fiction author, published by Simon & Schuster. She has a background in journalism, charity PR, and teaching English learners, and an MA in Creative Writing from the University of Nottingham. Clare is currently working towards a PhD entitled ‘Co-Authoring With Forgotten Voices’, which looks at the implications (legal, ethical and creative) of remixing memoirs into new fiction. Alongside her postgraduate research Clare also runs writing workshops and mentors emerging authors.

Pippa Hennessy is a Nottingham-based writer. Her poetry, graphic fiction, short fiction and creative non-fiction have been published in a range of anthologies and magazines and she is now writing digital poetry – experimenting with what words can do when they’re not tied to the printed page. She has been facilitating writing workshops in a range of settings – schools, prisons, universities, libraries, museums and art galleries – for over ten years. Since January 2021 she has been a lead writer on Writing East Midlands’ Beyond the Spectrum project, which provides free online writing workshops and a range of other activities for autistic adults and young people. She is autistic (diagnosed aged 54), and awaiting ADHD assessment. 

Anna Mansell is the bestselling author of seven novels, a playwright and emerging screenwriter. A BBC Writersroom Alumnus, and a New Associate with New Perspectives Theatre Company, Anna has a short film in development and her latest theatre piece is currently touring Cornwall. 

Annie Warren is a midlands-based writer, editor, translator, photographer, workshop facilitator, creator and occasional stand-up comedian. Her fiction has been shortlisted for the Aesthetica Creative Writing Award, the Evesham Festival of Words, and the UCL Publishers’ Prize. As an editor, Annie created and produced the Rough Guide to LGBTQ+ Friendly Places in Europe (2023), the first queer travel guide of its kind. She has hosted workshops and panels for Leeds Lit Fest, Leeds Arts University, Leeds Big Bookend, and Nonsuch Studios. She is also the founder, editor, and producer of 'Liminal', a trilogy of zines focussing on nuance, complexity and uncertainty.