Lewisham, Borough of Literature

Serena deCordova is an aspiring children’s author, primary school teacher and consultant who loves writing and walking. A parent of two, Serena draws inspiration for her characters and storylines from the humorous and entertaining encounters she regularly has with the children she meets. Although London is now the place she calls home, Serena was born and raised in Bristol and will forever be a Bristolian at heart. Having worked with and advocated on behalf of vulnerable children and young people for over 20 years in the charity and education sectors, Serena’s dream is to become a successful author whose stories will contribute to increasing the breadth of representation in children’s books. 

Dr Michael Eades is Head of Civic Engagement at Goldsmiths, University of London. He leads on a range of initiatives aimed at activating the university as a force for the public good and as an anchor institution for Lewisham and Southeast London. Over the years he has led many projects focused on cities, community arts, co-production and engaging non-specialists in research – working with cultural and educational institutions across the UK and internationally. He 2014 he helped to found the multi-city Being Human festival of the humanities, acting as Manger & Curator of this festival until 2021.

Karla is a primary teacher with ten years of experience, predominantly working in Lewisham schools. You can often find her devouring middle-grade and young-adult fiction! She has gained diverse experience, including working as a children’s group leader for a domestic abuse charity and supporting students in alternative provisions. In 2021, she took on a two-year contractual role as the Executive English Lead for a Lewisham primary federation, redesigning their English curriculum to reflect the school community’s rich diversity. Karla recently completed an MA in Children’s Literature at Goldsmiths, focusing on the powerful impact that occurs when underrepresented voices engage with representative literature. 

Aimée Felone is Managing Director of Knights Of, winner of Children’s Publisher of the Year at the British Book Awards 2022. She founded and runs the multi award-winning inclusive publisher, and is focused on bringing underrepresented voices to the forefront of commercial children’s publishing. With a team led by women of colour, and an unwavering focus on their intended readership for each book, Knights Of works to engage with gatekeepers across the industry, including booksellers, teachers and librarians, and supports non-traditional community spaces with events, outreach, marketing and partnerships.

Nadine is legally trained, having undertaken an LLB at the University of Warwick, an LLM at LSE, and a postgraduate diploma in legal practice (LPC) at BPP Law School. 

Nadine is an alumnus of the HarperCollins Author Academy and Faber Academy. She is currently working on the first book in her dark/epic fantasy series based on the angelic Watchers. 

With a national role representing BAME members in the Labour Party, she champions transformative change. She played a pivotal role in getting the first BAME MP elected to represent her constituency in 2018. 

Jamie Hale is an award-winning poet and facilitator, founder of CRIPtic Arts, and one of the 10 most influential disabled people in the arts (Shaw Trust, 2022-24). Their work explores themes of nature, body and mortality through a ‘crip’ lens, embedding disability in form and content. They were a Jerwood Poetry Fellow 2021-22, their pamphlet, Shield, was published by Verve Press, and their award-winning show, NOT DYING / Quality of Life is Not a Measurable Outcome has been performed and screened worldwide.

Edison Huynh is a lifelong resident of Lewisham who grew up on the Pepys Estate, the son of refugees and part of the large local Vietnamese community in Deptford. He trained as a teacher and taught science at Knight’s Academy in Downham before taking numerous roles in education policy and research, including serving as Teach First President. Edison was elected as a councillor for Lewisham Central ward in 2022 and is Cabinet Member for Culture and Communities – a brief which includes libraries, the arts, and cultural events across the borough. He loves sci-fi and fantasy books and is a fan of slam poetry. 

Lucy co-leads Forward Arts Foundation, advancing poetry audiences and talent in the UK. She is also an arts consultant specializing in strategy, fundraising, and human-centred design. Formerly, she was Senior Manager for Children and Young People at Arts Council England, developing strategy and programmes to support children’s creative lives. Lucy co-founded the Ministry of Stories in 2010, growing it into an award-winning charity for creative writing. With a background in participation, writer development, and education, Lucy is dedicated to arts and community growth. 

Jacob Sam-La Rose is a celebrated poet, editor and educator. Among other appointments, he has served as poet-in-residence at Raffles Institution in Singapore, artistic director for the Spoken Word Education Programme at Goldsmiths UoL, and poetry professor at Guildhall School of Music & Drama. He founded and continues to lead the Barbican Young Poets programme. His current projects include work with Solis Ensemble, exploring possibilities for collaboration between poetry and contemporary classical music.

Ellie is a poet and member of the Spread the Word Young Writer’s collective. She writes about disability, ableism, friendship and the loneliness epidemic. Ellie is the self-advocacy coordinator at Lewisham Speaking Up, an organisation that supports people with learning disabilities to campaign for their rights.  

Becka White lives in Lewisham and grew up down the road, in Sidcup and Eltham. She works as a researcher and campaigner at Amnesty International. In 2021 she won a place on New Writing North’s inaugural ‘A Writing Chance’ programme, for writers from working-class backgrounds. Her writing has been performed by actor Michael Sheen live at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama. She has been published in TES magazine and the New Statesman, and has featured in the 2022 BBC Sounds podcast Margins to Mainstream. Becka won a Spread The Word London Writer’s Award in 2022 and is working on her first book. 

Tutku is a writer and workshop creator of Turkish Cypriot heritage, born, raised and living in Lewisham. Her debut book “All The Women She Knows – Stories Of Growth, Change & Sisterhood” was published in February. Darling Zine called it “the perfect women’s history month read”. She’s an alumna of the Royal Court Writers Programme – her debut play “LAYLA & YOUSSEF”, has been longlisted for the Bruntwood and Paines Plough Women’s Prize.  

Her workshops embrace the joy of writing and are designed to help adults playfully and mindfully explore their imaginations in safe settings. She also teaches creative writing at Bell House, Dulwich. 

Amii is a Lewisham-born multidisciplinary writer who has been working across stage and screen for over a decade. Amii won the Lewisham, Borough of Culture 2022 Your Words Your Lyrics Your Story spoken word competition and was recently published in Middleground Magazine for poets of mixed heritage. They have performed at the Actors’ Church for a celebration of Noël Coward works, the Blue Plaque unveiling of Richard Price and Catford Pride. Amii is a Soho Theatre Writers’ Lab alumni and Film London short film fund recipient. They recently graduated from Goldsmiths with a masters in Script Writing and are currently on the BFI funded Trans+ on Screen script writers’ development lab. 

Erica Hesketh is a poet and editor, originally from Japan and Denmark, now based in Forest Hill, south-east London. Widely published in magazines and journals, she placed second in the 2022 Winchester Poetry Prize, and was commended in the 2023 Magma Poetry Competition and the 2023 Stanza Competition. She was longlisted for the 2024 National Poetry Competition. From 2016 to 2024 she was Director of the Poetry Translation Centre. Her debut collection, In the Lily Room, will be published by Nine Arches Press in May 2025. 

Fathima Zahra is an Indian poet, performer and facilitator based in London.  

She is an alum of the Roundhouse Poetry Collective, Barbican Young Poets and BBC 1Xtra Words First. Her poems have won the Bridport Prize, Asia House Poetry Slam and Wells Fest Young Poets Prize. She has performed her work at venues across the UK including Hay Festival, Latitude and Last Word festival.  

Her debut pamphlet ‘sargam / swargam’ (ignitionpress, 2021) was selected as Poetry Book Society’s pamphlet choice. She completed her MA in Creative Writing and Education at Goldsmiths University of London, with distinction.