Our team

Senior management

Peggy Hughes, Chief Executive

Peggy is NCW’s Chief Executive, following roles in the organisation as Executive Director (2022-23) and Head of Programmes (2017-2022). She is on the board of Age UK Norwich and Open Book Reading, and is former Chair of Literature Alliance Scotland, Scotland’s largest network of literary organisations. She is from Northern Ireland, and before moving to Norwich worked in literature in Scotland. Peggy was made an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2023, an honour bestowed on individuals who have made a significant contribution to the advancement of literature in the UK.

Operations & Commercial

Amanda Salmon, Head of Operations & Commercial

Amanda is Head of Operations & Commercial. Amanda re-joined the National Centre for Writing having previously worked for the organisation as General Manager. Prior to this, Amanda was General Manager for Dragon Hall under the Norfolk and Norwich Heritage Trust. She has a background in commercial events management, business development and general management in both the private and charity sectors. She loves to read, spending time outdoors with her family, and has joined a ‘Back to Netball’ team.

Christina Gardener, Events Manager

Christina is a seasoned Events Manager specialising in events in unique heritage venues, she coordinates all weddings and commercial events at Dragon Hall. Christina honed her skills with leading cultural institutions, including the Design Museum, the Science Museum, the National Portrait Gallery, and most recently, the Sainsbury Centre. Christina holds an MA in Arts & Museum Management and is passionate about the sustainability of the arts. She is a massive foodie and mixology enthusiast. Her many interests include swing dancing, travelling, reading, board gaming, and boating on the Norfolk Broads.

Leighton Williams, Operations & Venue Manager

As our Operations & Venue Manager, Leighton ensures that our historic home remains a safe and inspiring space for everyone who works here and visits us.

Outside of keeping the physical site running smoothly, Leighton is a theatre-maker and musician with a passion for history, folklore, and non-linear storytelling. Leighton’s own history with Dragon Hall goes back to 2003, having been involved in 6 theatre productions staged in the Great Hall, and getting married here in 2024.

Programme

Holly Ainley, Head of Programmes & Creative Engagement

Holly leads NCW’s programme team, overseeing the strategic direction and delivery of our artistic and creative engagement programmes in Norwich and beyond. She believes passionately in the transformative capacities of writing and translation and their power to connect and enable individuals and communities. Holly’s career in literature is rooted in the book trade; prior to joining NCW she was Book Buyer/Manager at Jarrolds where she also ran the literary events programme for the store. She is a trained editor, having commissioned literary fiction for The Borough Press at HarperCollins and worked at independent publishers Myriad Editions and Nine Arches Press. She also has experience as a literary scout for multiple overseas publishers and ran BBC Radio Norfolk’s mid-morning book club for five years.

Nashwa Nasreldin, International Programmes Manager

Nashwa Nasreldin oversees the NCW Residency programme for writers and translators, as well as delivering various other international projects, always pursuing opportunities for partnerships and collaborations. She is a writer, editor, journalist and literary translator, working with words in as many different ways as possible. A former current affairs documentary producer, she has reported on stories from the Middle East, North Africa and beyond. She is an Emerging Translator Mentorship alumna and has since led both translation and creative writing workshops at the BCLT Summer School. She holds an MFA in Writing from the Vermont College of Fine Arts and founded the Bury St Edmunds Writers’ Workshop.

Rebecca DeWald, Emerging Translator Mentorships Programme Manager

At NCW, Rebecca looks after emerging literary translators and their mentors from her home in Glasgow. She is a bilingual emerging literary translator herself and an experienced academic, non-fiction and commercial translator (German, French, Spanish) with a PhD in Translation Studies. She is the current co-chair of the Translators Association Committee (Society of Authors), coordinates the monthly Translators’ Stammtisch and Translation Theory Lab at the Goethe-Institut Glasgow and co-runs Kalewater Cottage Creative Retreat in the Scottish Borders. Rebecca enjoys swimming and gardening, and sharing her sewing and knitting projects @sewexpensive.

Elizabeth Lewis Williams, Interim Learning & Participation Project Manager

Ellie Reeves, Programme Officer

Ellie is our Programme Officer, specialising in talent development at NCW. She coordinates a range of programmes which offer support for writers looking to grow their writing craft and creative career. After moving to Norwich to complete her undergrad at the University of East Anglia, Ellie started her career at Norfolk & Norwich Festival. She has since found a great love for live performance, spectacle, and poetry and has worked for Out There Festival and Latitude.

Ellie has pursued her interest in governance through the Norwich Theatre’s Young Cultural Leaders programme and enjoys broadening her network through their Creative Assembly, which brings together various groups to help shape the theatre’s direction. One day, she hopes to run her own festival. Ellie is most proud of having just completed her BSL level one qualification, and is looking forward to getting started with level two.

Katie Cooper, Learning & Participation Producer

Katie Cooper is Learning and Participation Producer, developing and delivering our community engagement programmes and workshops. Katie works with youth groups, school groups, non-English-speakers, refugees, older people and everyone in between. Before she came to NCW, Katie was an academic and university lecturer teaching literature and critical theory at UEA, Newcastle University and Teesside University. She holds a PhD in English Literature from Newcastle University and is still an active researcher and writer. She can usually be found rummaging archives and bookshops, or swimming in the sea.

Lucy May, Programme Assistant

After four years of marketing and commissioning at non-fiction publisher Pen & Sword Books, Lucy’s role at NCW is focussed on supporting our NCW Academy offer. She also provides administrative support for our residencies, live events and talent development programmes. Both her BA and MA in Creative Writing are from the University of East Anglia, where she was the President of the Creative Writing Society. She has been part of Hive Young Writers South Yorkshire, has edited the Society of Young Publisher’s magazine, InPrint, and has worked in bookshops and in schools. In her spare time, Lucy likes live music, clifftop walks and hand-making birthday cards.

Abbie Neale, Interim Learning & Participation Assistant

Communications & Development

Paula Sanchez, Head of Communications & Development

Paula Sanchez has been passionate about levelling up the playing field her whole life and has spent the last 25 years helping different people and organisations make great things happen in communities with artists and other creative practitioners; from community radio and art in public spaces to festivals and young people’s creative development.

Originally from Essex, then growing up in California, Paula is alumni of University of East Anglia with a masters from Norwich University of the Arts. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of the Arts and member of the Institute of Leadership and Management. She focuses her leadership in increasing the demonstrable value of the arts, social change and being a champion for how culture, creativity and art shapes and defines us as individuals, teaches us about ourselves and connects us as communities.

Before joining National Centre for Writing, Paula was Development Director at Norwich Theatre and Norfolk & Norwich Festival, and Head of Partnerships and Development for Out Loud Music and Sound City Ipswich. She spends as much time as she can on the Norfolk coast in an old camper van full of sand, packed with body and paddle boards, wetsuits and a flask of something. Two sons, two Bengal cats and an Instagram fanatic.

Steph McKenna, Senior Communications & Marketing Manager

Steph is the Senior Communications & Marketing Manager, leading on our box office, PR, design and the promotion of our festivals and events. A graduate of the University of East Anglia, she has previously held communications roles in the NHS and local government. She participated in the Collaboration: Place: Change programme as an Emerging Leader.

As well as co-hosting The Writing Life podcast, Steph co-hosts a pop culture podcast in her spare time and guests regularly on film podcasts. She is a writer and editor, currently working on a zine series featuring writing and drawing by women, non-binary folx and trans men.

Dan Scales, Development Manager

Dan works to secure financial support for the organisation’s projects and programmes, helping NCW increase its impact for writers, participants and communities, and fulfil its ambitions for Dragon Hall. Prior to joining NCW, Dan worked in development, fundraising and heritage roles across organisations including the De La Warr Pavilion (a combined arts centre in Sussex), Toynbee Hall, and Prostate Cancer Research. He is a current Trustee of Bexhill Museum. Outside of work, he can be found on the cricket pitch or enjoying live music in Norwich and beyond.

Daisy Walker, Digital Marketing & Content Coordinator

Daisy works on bringing NCW Academy courses, workshops and mentoring to a wider audience, supporting both established and early career writers find their voices and hone their craft. In her spare time, Daisy is an illustrator, sculptor, writer, and house plant parent, and she loves film, TV, and music. Originally from Cambridge, she has worked in marketing for a translation agency, a paving stone company and an accounting firm.

Caitlin Evans, Communications & Marketing Officer

Caitlin is the Communications & Marketing Officer, coordinating our social media, podcast, email communications, and website updates. She worked in customer service roles before joining NCW in 2022 under the Kickstart Scheme. Outside of work, she enjoys live performance, photography, and binge-watching bad television shows.

Meg Roser, Communications & Marketing Assistant

Meg is the Communications & Marketing Assistant. She assists with email communications, social media, website updates, and podcast material. After studying English Literature with Creative Writing at Lancaster University, she moved to Norwich in 2022 to study her MA in Modern and Contemporary Literature (her research interest is literature and food). Since then, she has worked as an English Literature tutor and in Marketing, Communications and Publicity at UEA Publishing Project. Alongside this role at NCW, she works part-time as a bookseller in The Book Hive. She spends her free time cooking, writing, working in her sketchbook and on painting projects, and reading lots of proofs of upcoming novels.

Finance

Karen Watling, Head of Finance

Karen joined the team in January 2026. A CIPFA-qualified accountant with 40 years in local government finance, she has served as Director of Finance at five councils including Norwich City Council. She holds an MA in Archaeology, is passionate about history and heritage, and serves as Treasurer for the Norfolk and Norwich Archaeology Society and Secretary for the Council of British Archaeology (East). She also enjoys reading.

Bethanie Collins, Senior Finance Officer

Bethanie has been our Senior Finance Officer since August 2025.  She has a background in Local Authority finance and for the last 11 years, charity finance. She supports the Head of Finance by supervising the daily financial administration of NCW.  She enjoys traveling, especially by train around Europe.

Laura Hammett, Finance Assistant

Laura Hammett, our Finance Assistant, recently transitioned into the finance field after building a strong background in customer-focused roles across the arts sector. Now studying Accountancy with AAT, she supports NCW with accurate, organised financial administration. Outside of work, Laura enjoys exercising, music, and discovering good food and wine.