Hilary Taylor is a graduate of Edinburgh University and lives in Suffolk, where she taught for almost twenty years. Her short fiction has been published in magazines and anthologies and she was the winner of the Bridport Prize for Flash Fiction in 2022. Her debut novel 'Sea Defences' Books 2023) began life as a prize-winning short story and was placed third in the Bath Short Story Award. She is working on a second novel.

Jyoti Patel is a graduate of the University of East Anglia’s Creative Writing MA and winner of the 2021 #Merky Books New Writers’ Prize. Her writing has previously been published as part of We Present ‘Literally’ series and in the anthology for the 2022 Bristol Short Story Prize, for which she was shortlisted. Jyoti was named one of The Observer’s 10 best new novelists for 2023. 'The Things That We Lost', is her debut novel.

Rebecca is a poet, tutor and mentor and the author of four full-length collections. Her second, 'Her Birth', was shortlisted for the 2013 Forward Prize for Best Collections. She was the winner of the Sylvia Plath Prize 2022. Her latest collection, 'Latch', is about reconnecting to a place and understanding what it held once, and does now for a woman and her family.

Patrick Barkham is an award-winning author and Natural History Writer for The Guardian. His books include 'The Butterfly Isles', 'Badgerlands', 'Islander' and 'Wild Child'. He has edited an anthology of British and Irish nature writing, 'The Wild Isles', and his latest book, 'The Swimmer', is a biography of the writer Roger Deakin. He is President of Norfolk Wildlife Trust and lives in Norfolk with his family.

Emily Hasler is the author of two full collections of poetry and a pamphlet. 'The Built Environment', her critically-acclaimed first collection, was published by Pavilion in 2018. 'Local Interest' was published in April 2023. A pamphlet, 'Natural Histories', was published by Salt in 2011.

She has been an Early Career Resident at Cove Park, a Hawthornden Fellow and in 2014 received an Eric Gregory Award.

Joanna writes poetry and fiction. On graduating from Birkbeck, she won the Michael Donaghy Prize for Poetry. Her pamphlet 'Ovarium' was shortlisted for the East Anglian Book Awards and her work has appeared in the Sunday Times and been published widely in journals, anthologies and online.

Louis de Bernières is best known as the author of the best-selling 'Captain Corelli’s Mandolin'.

He has also written short stories, poetry, non-fiction and twelve novels including his latest, 'Light over Liskeard'. Music is also a constant enthusiasm. He plays the flute, clarinet, guitar and appropriately – the mandolin.

Bill Alexander is a British theatre director best known for his work with the Royal Shakespeare Company and Birmingham Repertory Company. His landmark productions are 'Richard III' with Antony Sher and 'The Merry Wives of Windsor', both of which won Olivier Awards, and 'King Lear' with Corin Redgrave.

Have you read a news item which you think would make a good short story? Have you had an experience which you’re inspired to turn into fiction? Tom Henry is returning to run another of his very popular one-day Writers’ Workshops at The Swan Hotel.

The theme is 'Fact into Fiction', turning your life experiences into short stories, and is open to both beginners and more experienced writers.

The workshop will introduce you to techniques from fiction and non-fiction and by the end of the day you will have a framework which gives you clarity, direction and inspiration to write a short story.

Dr Annie Gray is an academic and historian, broadcaster & writer specialising in the history of food & dining in Britain from 1600 to present day. Her books include 'Victory in the Kitchen' & 'The Greedy Queen'. She has presented various TV historical documentaries such as 'Victorian Bakers' & 'The Sweetmakers', & appears regularly on BBC 4 radio's 'The Kitchen Cabinet'. Her new book 'The Bookshop, the Draper, the Candlestick Maker', is a vibrant cultural history on how we shopped & lived in the past.

Annie introduces us to her book 'The Bookshop, The Draper, and The Candlestick Maker: A History of the British High Street'.

Ashley is a poet and novelist with a PhD in Creative Writing from the University of East Anglia. His book 'Your Show' was shortlisted for the East Anglian Book Awards and long-listed for the Gordon Burn prize. It’s a fictionalised biography of Uriah Rennie, Premier League’s first black match official. It was described by The Guardian as "Stirring, bold and powerful." Ashley writes from personal experience as a referee himself. His first book 'The 392' is set entirely on a bus travelling from Hoxton to Highbury, and takes place in just 26 minutes. His third book, a young adult novel-in-verse called 'Wild East' was released in May 2024 and his debut poetry collection will be published in 2025.

Alan Johnson is a former Labour MP & Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer. He has become a best-selling author as well as Chancellor of the University of Hull. His childhood memoir ‘This Boy’ won the Royal Society of Literature prize and the Orwell prize. Alan also writes fiction and his third fictional novel 'Death on the Thames' and his political biography 'Harold Wilson Twentieth Century Man' were both published in 2024.

The distinguished actor and director Dame Janet Suzman joined the newly formed Royal Shakespeare company in 1963. She has played most Shakespeare heroines and acted in numerous classic and modern plays, as well as television drama productions. She is the author of 'Acting with Shakespeare', which is based on a series of acting master classes. She is also an Honorary Fellow of the Shakespeare Institute.

Dr Tracy Borman OBE is a best selling author, historian and broadcaster, specialising in the Tudor period. Her books include 'Elizabeth’s Women', 'Thomas Cromwell', 'The Private Lives of the Tudors' and 'Crown & Sceptre: A New History of the British Monarchy from William the Conqueror to Charles III'. She has also written a fiction trilogy, 'The King’s Witch', based in the court of James I. Her latest non fiction book is 'Anne Boleyn & Elizabeth I: The Mother and Daughter Who Changed History’.

Tracy is also Chief Curator of Historic Royal Palaces having unparalleled access to some of the world’s most iconic sites, including The Tower of London, Hampton Court and Kensington Palace.

Tracy will take us behind closed doors to explore the hidden history of the palaces, including secret rooms where Elizabeth I dabbled in the dark arts, and recently unearthed skeletons at the Tower of London.