Dr. Barbara Henderson is a published writer for adults and children. She is a former journalist with a PhD in Creative Writing, and has extensive teaching experience. She has previously taught creative writing and journalism at Newcastle and Northumbria Universities, and is programme leader in creative writing for the Open College of the Arts. As a former Open University student, she is a passionate believer in access to learning and the notion that creative writing techniques can be taught.

Read our interview with Barbara on the Writers’ Academy blog, or hear her in action in our series of webinars.

Dr. Guy Mankowski is the author of four novels; Letters from Yelena (Legend Press) was awarded an Arts Council Literature grant, used in GCSE training material by Osiris in 2015, and adapted for the stage. How I Left The National Grid (Zer0 Books) was written as part of a PhD in Creative Writing and published in the UK, US and Canada.

A script version, entitled ‘Antennae: Manchester’s Darkest Band’ was awarded a Northern Film and Media development grant. His fourth novel, An Honest Deceit (Urbane Publications) was awarded an Arts Council Literature grant and is due for release on Audible in 2017. He has had short stories published in magazines such as Litro and The View From Here and his journalism has been published by Pop Matters, 3:am Magazine, New Trespass and others.

He was head of Writing Prose at Sunderland University, and has taught Studies in Short Fiction at Northumbria University, as well as Creative Writing at York University and for Edinburgh Universities SUISS Summer School, and currently teaches Writing Skills / Scriptwriting for the Open College of the Arts.