A queer writer, translator and community literacy teacher, Han Smith was a recipient of a London Writers Award for Literary Fiction from Spread the Word in 2019/2020. Her work has been published/commissioned by Cipher Press, Five Dials, Versopolis, Litro, The Interpreter’s House and the European Poetry Festival, and shortlisted for prizes including the Mslexia Novella Award, the Bridport Prize and the Brick Lane Bookshop Prize. Han's debut novel: Portraits at the Palace of Creativity and Wrecking was published by John Murray in June 2024.

Iqbal Hussain is a writer from Blackburn, Lancashire and he lives in London. His work appears in various anthologies and on websites including The Willowherb Review, The Hopper and caughtbytheriver. He is a recipient of the inaugural London Writers’ Awards 2018 and he won Gold in the Creative Future Writers’ Awards 2019. In 2022, he won first prize in Writing Magazine’s Grand Flash competition and was joint runner-up in the Evening Standard Short Story Competition. In 2023, his story ‘I’ll Never Be Young Again’ won first prize in the Fowey Festival of Arts and Literature short story competition. He was also Highly Commended in the Emerging Writer Award from The Bridge Award. Northern Boy is his first novel.

Nilesha Chauvet is a British Indian novelist and short story writer. Her debut novel, The Revenge of Rita Marsh, was published by Faber as a crime thriller super lead title in July 2024. Nilesha writes zeitgeist psychological suspense, crime, and thriller. She is also the Managing Director of GOOD which advises commercial brands on Purpose, and helps charities raise millions of pounds for good causes. An alumna of London Writers Awards 2021, Nilesha also studied creative writing at City Lit and is a graduate of Faber Academy. She read Philosophy & Theology at Oxford and is an ordained Interfaith Minister. Nilesha is represented by Nelle Andrew at Rachel Mills Literary.

Zahra Barri is a Saudi Arabian raised, Egyptian/Irish writer, stand-up comedian and PhD researcher. She has featured on Channel 4's Only Jokes a Muslim Can Tell, BBC Radio, BBC Asian Network and BBC Period Dramas, as well as appeared in Harpers Bazaar Arabia, The New Arab, Dubai's Mojeh Magazine and DIVA Magazine. Her writing won Runner Up for the Comedy Women in Print Unpublished prize 2020. Her debut novel Daughters of the Nile won the Unbound Firsts Writers of Colour competition, out now and is described as, ‘A bold multi-generational debut, exploring themes of queerness, revolution and Islamic sisterhood.’ Her work is supported by The Society of Authors and the Arts Council.