Jaclyn Booton
Australia
Jaclyn Booton is an experienced collaborator and advocate in the Australian arts and cultural sector, with a background in the performing arts and literature. Jaclyn was most recently the Executive Director of The Stella Prize, a leading Australian literary award for books by women and non-binary authors, where she oversaw innovations in its programming, community engagement, sector development, and fundraising activities.
Prior to this, Jaclyn held roles with Sydney Opera House—producing its two public talks festivals All About Women and ANTIDOTE—and the Wheeler Centre for Books Writing and Ideas, as well as a range of performing arts organisations including Arena Theatre Company, Back to Back Theatre, Circus Oz, and the Australian Performing Arts Market Office.
Jaclyn holds a BA (Hons) in Performance Studies and Gender Studies from the University of Sydney, where she spent several years teaching a range of undergraduate programs and conducting postgraduate research on large-scale LGBTQIA+ community events. She currently serves on the Board of Midsumma, and has previously served on the boards of SYN Media and Express Media.
Paul Bradley
UK (England) – Out on the Page
Paul Bradley is Founder and Director of Out on the Page, a small organisation based in the UK that as a catalyst for change aims to connect, develop and promote LGBTQ+ writers and writing. We operate an online networking platform which includes virtual cafes, we also provide queer specific writing courses and workshops online and collaborate with others on related projects small and large. We work with writers wherever they are in the world. Nearly a half of our subscribers are based outside of the UK. https://www.outonthepage.co.uk
Keira Brown
UK (Scotland) – Edinburgh City of Literature
Keira Brown, having worked in the sector in various capacities at organisations, such as The Bookseller, Booktrust, Paisley Book Festival, the Royal Society of Literature and currently Edinburgh City of Literature, for over 15 years, has a long-standing and committed history to literature. She worked as co-producer on Paisley Book Festival with a transition to digital in the second year before moving to posts at the Royal Society of Literature and Publishing Scotland, assisting with their communications and events. She also has an in-depth knowledge of arts and culture in Scotland from writing freelance for publications around the UK.
Helen Chaloner
UK (England) – Literature Works
Helen studied BA Comparative Literature and French at the University of East Anglia. She worked in London as a PR for publishers, including Penguin Books and Faber, before moving to Devon. She was National Director of Arvon and then Chief Executive of Farms for City Children, two charities offering immersive, life-changing residential experiences on multiple sites around the UK. Helen is a Trustee of SWRLS (Southwestern Regional Library Service CIO) and principal short story reader for the Bridport Prize.
Bernice Chauly
Malaysia/Sweden – Contraband
Bernice Chauly is an award-winning novelist, poet, and educator who has worked in the creative industries as a multimedia artist and practitioner for over 30 years.
She directed the George Town Literary Festival (2011-2018) which won the London Book Fair’s International Excellence Awards 2018, is the co-founder of PEN Malaysia, and has lectured in creative writing for over 15 years. She made the leap to the games industry during the pandemic and is now Senior Writer and Cultural Advisor in the AAA, open world game Contraband, set in 1970s South East Asia, currently in development with Xbox and Avalanche Studios.
The author of seven books of poetry and prose, her work now straddles the intersections of art, narrative, design, and tech, creating diverse characters and their stories in a fictional world, working in one of the most challenging, and demanding industries for women. She lives and works in Stockholm.
Hilary Copeland
UK (Northern Ireland) – Fighting Words
Hilary Copeland is the inaugural Director of Fighting Words Northern Ireland. The arts and education charity supporting creative writing opportunities for children and young people is one of dozens of Fighting Words centres on the island of Ireland, and part of The International Alliance of Youth Writing Centers, which started with 826 Valencia in San Francisco and is now a growing, global community. Hilary Copeland has worked in the arts sector since 2008, for festivals, arts and theatre companies in Edinburgh, Belfast and Dublin. She has worked across business management, strategic planning, creative programming and event delivery, at the Irish Writers Centre, Belfast International Arts Festival, The John Hewitt Society, NI Science Festival, Belfast Book Festival, Young at Art, and the Edinburgh International Book Festival. She is a founding member and former Chair of the Board of Integrated AlumNI, a group of advocates and campaigners for Integrated Education, a movement which tackles religious segregation in schools in Northern Ireland and contributes towards a more peaceful and inclusive society. Hilary lives in Belfast, and sits on the Board of Governors of New-Bridge Integrated College in Co. Down.
Image: George Hooker © IWC
Sasha de Buyl
Republic of Ireland – International Literature Festival Dublin
Sasha de Buyl is a writer and programmer from Cork. They are currently Literature and Ideas Programmer at International Literature Festival Dublin and in 2023 acted as Guest Curator for StAnza, Scotland’s International Poetry Festival. They were the Director of Cúirt International Festival of Literature in Galway from 2019 – 2022 and prior to this managed Scottish Books International, developing projects and partnerships for Scottish literature overseas, as well as working as Literature Officer at Creative Scotland, Scotland’s national arts funding body. Sasha is a board member of GAZE: Dublin’s International LGBTQIA+ Film Festival.
Jo Flynn
UK (England) – Manchester UNESCO City of Literature
As a poet Jo has just won a 2023 Northern Writers’ Award for her current work in progress and been awarded funding from Arts Council England to support her ongoing creative practice. Jo also has several years of Marketing experience on the Manchester arts and culture scene: Currently Partnerships and Communications Manager for Manchester UNESCO City of Literature, connecting her home city with the rest of the literary world through work such as Festival of Libraries and International Mother Language Day. Jo is also Co-Director of For Books’ Sake, a CIC who champion queer writers and those of marginalised genders. For Books’ Sake run a regular non-binary writers group They//Us as well as what is now considered cult-status spoken word night That’s What We Said.
Debby Lukito Goeyardi
Indonesia
Debby Lukito Goeyardi is an author of children’s and young adult literature, a dedicated literacy facilitator, curator of children’s storybooks, accomplished speaker, and a respected national judge. Her literary repertoire includes dozens of published works, ranging from children’s storybooks to documentary film scripts and educational comics. Notably, she has contributed extensively to the Indonesia Ministry of Education, Culture, Research & Technology (MoE) and the Ministry of Women’s Empowerment and Child Protection.
In addition to her literary pursuits, Debby serves as the Chairperson of the Forum TBM Denpasar City (Reading Community) and is a co-founder of the Kanaditya Anjani Dharma Foundation, a venture dedicated to education, literacy, and social initiatives, particularly for marginalized communities. Debby has also taken on the role of a mentor and curator for the National Talent Management program in Language & Literature under the MoE.
Debby has consistently spearheaded literary and writing programs, focusing on enhancing community reading skills, instilling a love for reading from an early age, and fostering character development through engaging reading materials.
Furthermore, Debby is an alumna of Al Gore’s environmental online training program through the 2020 Climate Change Reality Projects, underscoring her commitment to environmental awareness. Presently, she proudly represents Indonesia at the 2023 Nanjing International Writers Residency. Recently, her dedication to the literary world earned her the prestigious ‘2023 Nugra Jasa Dharma Pustaloka’ award from Indonesia’s National Library. Debby passionately believes in the significance of small acts of kindness and their impact on the world.
Luka Grigolia
Georgia – Salakauri Publishing
I started with Sulakauri Publishing back in 2015 with a focus on translated fiction, but initially, I used to work with Georgian authors as well.
Since Soviet publishing was limited and censored, we still have a significant gap in terms of world literature. We are still trying to catch up and also be in sync with contemporary developments. Having quality translations of outstanding authors from different countries and languages is crucial to me. I also believe it will heavily benefit local writers as well.
Polynomial Books was an idea to extend my list at Sulakauri. We only publish authors that have never been translated into Georgian before. The list might seem heavy and fabulous, but these authors are just being introduced to local readers. We already have translations of Virginie Despentes, Joan Didion, Leonard Cohen, Maryse Condé, Fernanda Melchor, César Aira, and we will be publishing James Baldwin, Maggie Nelson, Jon Fosse, Ted Gioia and Anthony Bourdain soon.
Sadia Pineda Hameed
UK (Wales) – Lumin
Sadia Pineda Hameed is an artist and writer based in the Ebbw Valley, Wales. She works in film, installation, text and performance to explore collective and inherited trauma; in particular, the latent ways we speak about this through dreaming, telepathic communion and secrets as an anti-colonial strategy inherent to us. Sadia co-runs LUMIN, a print, radio and curatorial project. LUMIN is at the intersection of curation, collaboration and collectivity, forming an open collective to consider language, print, radio, pedagogy and place. They publish LUMIN Journal, a space for anti-colonial and experimental writing and art, intermittently broadcast as Local 37, and undertake residencies, research and other long-term projects. www.sadiaph.com www.lumin-press.com
Image © Simon Mills
Daniela Ini
Argentina – Filba Foundation
Daniela Ini is Head of Institutional Relations at Filba Foundation. Filba Foundation is a non-profit dedicated to the promotion of literature in all its forms and among all kinds of readers. Created in 2009, it has grown to become a key player in Latin America when it comes to fostering a wider circulation of books and creating new readers in the region. Filba’s main programmes include an International Literary Festival that takes place every Spring (now in its 16th edition), a Children’s Literary Festival that takes place in November, and a National Literary Festival that takes place in April.
Martin Jankowski
Germany – Berliner Literarische Aktion Stadtsprachen
Martin Jankowski, born in 1965, is a Berlin-based writer, poet and curator who started out as a singer-songwriter in the opposition underground of Leipzig in the 1980s. His lyrics were banned by the STASI, but his songs and poems became popular during the “Monday demonstrations” that led to the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of the GDR. After 1989, he published songs, poetry books, short stories, books of essays, literary criticism, non-fiction books on history and culture and a novel about 1989.
His works have been translated into 19 languages and have received various prizes and grants. He also curates numerous international festivals and projects, regularly organizes multilingual literary salons and is a regular guest at international festivals and universities around the world. Martin Jankowski is cofounder of Berliner Literarische Aktion e.V. (of which he has been chairman since 2005) as well as co-founder of the international literature festival berlin (ilb, 2001), the netzwerk freie literaturszene berlin (nflb, 2015) and PEN Berlin (2022) etc. He has been editor-in-chief of the multilingual stadtsprachen magazin (www.stadtsprachen.de) since 2017. www.martin-jankowski.de
Image © Graham Hains
Iaonnis Kalkounos
UK (Scotland) – Edinburgh Futures Institute
Ioannis Kalkounos leads the strategic planning, development, and delivery of comprehensive event programmes that align with the vision and objectives of the Edinburgh Futures Institute. He programmes two event seasons annually, which include panel discussions, commissioned performances and workshops, with participants from across the world. Ioannis heads up the Events team, and engages in establishing and nurturing partnerships with a wide array of local and global partners. Previously, he worked at the Edinburgh International Book Festival.
The Edinburgh Futures Institute is a new futures-focused space at the University of Edinburgh, addressing global challenges and opportunities through interdisciplinary collaboration, research, and education. The institute aims to bring together experts from various fields, including business, science, technology, and the arts, to explore and develop innovative solutions for the future.
Racheal Kizza
Uganda – Goethe-Zentrum Kampala
Racheal Kizza is a cultural coordinator with Goethe-Zentrum Kampala/Ugandan German Cultural Society (GZK/UGCS). GZK/UGCS promotes cultural ties between Germany and Uganda by offering German language lessons and supporting and promoting the artistic and cultural scene in Uganda.
As cultural coordinator, Racheal leads the planning, coordination, management and implementation of GZK/UGCS’s projects including the Christmas book fair and reading culture events that are focused on promoting Ugandan literature. She led the curation of the International Art Exchange Programme that hosted BAFTA-winning filmmaker and director, Adjani Salmon in Uganda in 2023 for screenwriting and acting masterclasses.
She is the founder and host of Meet Your Author, a podcast that celebrates African authors through bookish conversations and interviews.
Racheal is a recipient of the bespoke 2022 Momentum Delegate Programme, which hosts international delegations of producers, cultural leaders, entrepreneurs, government representatives, festival programmers and cultural/funding agencies, in Edinburgh, Scotland.
Racheal has previously worked with African Writers Trust, a literary initiative based in Uganda. Established in 2009, AWT aims to bridge the divide between African writers and publishing professionals living in the Diaspora and on the continent, bringing them together in order to promote synergies between the groups through skills development and training, mentorship and a biennial International Writers’ conference.
Image © Agandy Studios
Claire Mabey
New Zealand / Aotearoa – Verb Wellington
Claire Mabey is founder of literary organisation, Verb Wellington; co-curator of the Aotearoa NZ Festival of the Arts’ writers programme; and books editor at The Spinoff. Her first novel for children is out in July 2024.
Image © Andrew Laking
Will Mackie
UK (England) – New Writing North
Will Mackie is Senior Programme Manager (Talent Development) and Programme Leader (MA in Publishing) at New Writing North. He leads NWN’s work in talent development through the Northern Writers’ Awards and the Northern Talent Network, devising programmes of support for novelists, poets and screenwriters. He works with key partners such as Channel 4, Hachette Children’s Group and Northumbria University. He is Programme Leader on the MA in Publishing, run in partnership with Hachette UK and Northumbria University. Additionally, he manages the David Cohen Prize, awarded for a lifetime’s achievement in literature. He previously worked as an editor for publishers in London and Edinburgh and was Head of Writer Development at the literature charity, Scottish Book Trust.
Image © Rob Irish
M Aan Mansyur
Indonesia – Makassar International Writers Festival
M Aan Mansyuris a published author who also works as the director of the Makassar International Writers Festival. He is the author of several volumes of poetry and prose, including: Melihat Api Bekerja / Seeing the Fire Works (2015), Tidak Ada New York Hari Ini / There Is No New York Today (2016), Why Wounds Don’t Forgive Knives (2020), Waktu yang Tepat untuk Melupakan Waktu / The Right Time to Forget Time (2021), and Memasihkan yang Pernah / Doing the Done (2023).
Nyarinda Maureen
Kenya – Storymojo
Nyarinda Maureen is a creative writer and editor who believes in the transformative power of storytelling. Her work centres African narratives, feminist rhetoric and contemporary art and culture. She has contributed to magazines in Africa such as Brittle Paper, Sisi Afrika Magazine and She Leads Africa. She works as a Publishing Manager at Storymoja Africa, spearheading the development of groundbreaking stories by African authors.
Nyarinda’s work involves author commissioning and training, book development, editing and marketing. At Storymoja, she also facilitates a 6 months Graduates Editorial Trainee Program, shaping the next generation of publishing professionals. She aspires to work with others in the industry to amplify African literary voices through the Storymoja Redhot International Catalogue.
Quyen Nyugen
Vietnam
I am a freelance agent, critic, translator, researcher, and the co-founder and Chief Editor of Zzz Review, an independent non-profit online literary review-turned-ecosystem based in Vietnam.
I hold a PhD in English literature from Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. My research works have been published by Palgrave Macmillan, and my criticism appears on Literature Korean Now, COLORSxSTUDIOS. I write for various Vietnamese journals and magazines.
I am an English-Vietnamese translator with more than 16 years of experience; my published translations include “What we talk about when we talk about love” by Raymond Carver, “Atonement” by Ian McEwan, “Middlesex” by Jeffrey Eugenides.
Collaborating with publishers, I introduce classic and contemporary literary works from around the world to secure rights for them. Additionally, I play a role in acquiring rights for contemporary Vietnamese literary works for two publishers in the UK.
I have been participating as a Host, Speaker and/or Organiser in various literary events, workshops, symposiums, and mini festivals.
Besides experiences in publishing and research, I have also been professionally involved with international cultural institutions and private firms in Germany, the UK, Australia, and Vietnam.
My edited anthology of Contemporary Vietnamese Literature in English translation by Parthian Books (UK) is forthcoming.
Angela Posada-Swafford
Colombia/USA
Angela Posada-Swafford. Colombian-American explorer, science writer and lecturer, graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MIT as a Knight Fellow in Science Journalism. Fellow, The Explorers Club of NY. Member, Colombian Geographic Society. Member of multiple oceanographic, polar, astronomical, and paleontological expeditions, including the First Crewed Expedition to the Atacama Trench, in 2022, and the First and Third Colombian Antarctic Scientific Expeditions in 2014 and 2017. Was the first Colombian explorer at the geographic South Pole.
Co-author of I am your past, an international collaboration of science, literature and art, in the making.
Her articles have appeared in Muy Interesante magazine in the Americas and Spain; National Geographic magazine English print edition; Nature, Scientific American, El Tiempo newspaper in Colombia. Recipient of the Simón Bolívar Award 2017, Colombia’s top journalism prize. Author of 8 science and adventure novels for young people, read in schools throughout several Latin American countries; a travelogue of international Antarctic expeditions, and a bilingual Spanish-English online compilation about recent scientific research on whales.
Teaches scientific journalism at multiple international universities. Collaborates with the Organization of Ibero American States and with the Colombian Foreign Ministry, giving talks on science and exploration diplomacy and its communication at embassies.
Image © Christian Ziegler
Diana Santiago
Uganda – The Kujieleza Wall
Diana Santiago is the Team Lead at the Kujieleza Wall, a non-for-profit initiative she started in 2019 as a safe space for free creative expression in West Nile, Uganda.
As a forward-thinking entity, the Kujieleza Wall researches, documents and archives the past and present of the West Nile culture contributing to creating formative resources for this generation and the next.
The Kujieleza Wall runs The Evolution Academy a 16-week long Fellowship that aims to cultivate a sustainable structure for professional development for young creatives in the literary, film, audio-visual and performing arts industry in West Nile, Uganda.
The academy bridges the gap created by the lack of arts development establishments and market linkages in the region for creatives who by virtue of their geographical location have been placed furthest away from arts spaces and opportunities. The organisation also operates a community library and runs arts festivals.
Before establishing the Kujieleza Wall, Diana worked as the first Managing Director of West Nile Web, a Multi Media Company in West Nile, Uganda. She also worked as the Programmes Officer at African Writers Trust.
She trained as a Cultural Leader with Arterial Network and consequently got elected to its Executive Board of the Uganda Chapter. In 2016, she was part of the team at the Nairobi-based Jalada Pan-African Writers Collective, which translated Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o’s short story, The Upright Revolution, from English into over 100 African languages. She has worked with Bayimba Cultural Foundation and Sundance Institute East Africa as part of the team that curated the 2014, 2015 and 2017 Bayimba Festival of the Arts and Kampala International Theatre Festivals.
Samantha Schnee
UK/USA/UAE
Samantha Schnee is the founding editor and board chair of Words Without Borders, which has published 4,400 writers from 139 countries since the online magazine launched in 2003. As a translator from Spanish, she is the recipient of a 2023 National Endowment of the Arts Literature Fellowship to translate eminent Mexican author Carmen Boullosa’s novel El complot de los románticos as well as a 2024 Berlin Prize from the American Academy in Berlin to translate Irati Elorrieta’s award-winning debut novel, Luces de invierno. From 2017 to 2023 she served as Secretary for the American Literary Translators Association. While she was living in London between 2009 and 2017 she was a co-chair and chair of English PEN’s Writers in Translation committee and served as a trustee from 2014 until 2022. Born in Scotland and raised in Texas, she now lives in the UAE.
Kenza Sefrioui
Morocco – En Toutes Lettres
Kenza Sefrioui wrote her PHD in comparative literature about a very important Moroccan review, Souffles, and rewrote this work in order to share it to a wider audience (La revue Souffles, espoirs de révolution culturelle au Maroc (1966-1973), Casablanca, Sirocco, 2013), for which she won the Grand Atlas Prize. In 2005, she began to work as a book reviewer for Le Journal hebdomadaire, an independent Moroccan magazine that was censured in 2010, and after for several media. In 2012, I cofounded En toutes lettres (https://etlettres.com) with Hicham Houdaïfa in order to promote narrative journalism and to keep publishing investigations about social issues. En toutes lettres is member of the International Alliance of Independent Publishers. In order to promote humanist values and give the young journalists and actors of civil society the basis of investigative journalism, En toutes lettres launched Openchabab (https://openchabab.com), a training program to promote a new generation of authors, with collective books (about 80 students benefited from this program), and clubs in the universities.
Anuradha Sharma
Nepal
I am a children’s author who has been writing, editing and translating children’s books for over a decade. I also conduct writing workshops and storytelling sessions. My books are a part of reading projects in over 300 schools.
My books have been translated into various languages in and outside of Nepal (5 languages of India, 2 of South Africa, Danish, French, Russian, Uzbek and more). Notably, my latest publication, ‘The Story of Babur: Prince, Emperor, Sage’ has earned a spot on ‘The Guardian’s’ esteemed list of outstanding new picture books and novels and has also made it to the long list in the ‘Best Historical Fiction for Young People 2023’ category.
Alongside my literary pursuits, my extensive professional background includes working with organizations such as UNICEF, British Council, WWF, Room to Read, and others on various educational and literary projects that extend beyond the confines of traditional story writing/telling.
I am currently pursuing my PhD in children’s literature. I am also serving as the president of Sarathi Nepal and as an ambassador for Thang Foundation, a Netherlands-based organization.
Lalita Sinha
Malaysia
Lalita is a literary scholar and translator. She has published award-winning academic works with renowned publishers in the UK (Cambridge Scholarly Publications, Routledge), Canada (Sacred Web journal), USA (World Wisdom Books), and Malaysia (Universiti Sains Malaysia Press, Dewan Bahasa & Pustaka, Institute of Translation and Books). Her works cover a range of subjects from poetry and mysticism to translation and children’s literature. Since retirement in 2007, through her academic consultancy, Athena Solutions, she has provided ongoing guidance and training to graduate students. She is a commissioned translator (English-Malay-English). To date, she has translated more than 1 million words for Malaysian Literary Laureates (Sasterawan Negara), GLCs, academic institutions, corporate bodies, and indie publishers. Her English translation of the Malay 19th-century classical work, Syair Siti Zubaidah Perang China was chosen by Muhammad Haji Salleh, Malaysia’s poet laureate, for inclusion in the prestigious An Anthology of Traditional Malay Literature. Her previous projects have been funded by UNESCO Malaysia, local universities, and national literature and language organisations. She is currently Chair of Translation, PEN Malaysia, leading the Melodies of Unity project to translated poems of Rabindranath Tagore into Malay.
Omotoke Solarin-Sodara
Nigeria – Ouida Books
Omotoke Solarin-Sodara is a writer, an experienced communications manager and editor from Nigeria. She is a First Class graduate of English and Literary Studies from KolaDaisi University, Ibadan.
She is also a Terra Academy For The Arts graduate and a former Fellow at SprinNG Writing Fellowship 2023. Her works have appeared in the Kalahari Review. In 2017, she was shortlisted for the Flash Fiction Prize by Farabale Africa. She loves books, and for her, reading is an escape from the chaos of Lagos life.
Ouida Books is inspired by the pin-tailed Whydah, known for its love of freedom, its courage and undeniable elegance. Our vision is to cater to the needs of readers who enjoy high quality fiction by authors like Bisi Adjapon, Ayòbámi Adébáyò, Nnamdi Ehirim, Helon Habila and Hadiza Isma El-Rufai. However, we’re also here for the readers who have a quirky taste in books with authors like Nnedi Okorafor, Blessing Musariri, Celeste Mohammed and Leye Adenle.
Vijay Kumar Tadakamalla
India – Hyderbad Literary Festival
Dr Vijay KUMAR Tadakamalla teaches literatures in English at BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus. Formerly, he was a Professor and Head of the Department of English, and Dean, Faculty of Arts, Osmania University, Hyderabad, India. His publications include critical studies: Indian Languages in the Diaspora (2021), English and Other International Languages (2018), and translations from Telugu: The Liberation of Sita (2016) by Volga and Kanyasulkam (2002) by Gurajada Venkata Appa Rao. He is a TEDx speaker, a Founder Director of the annual Hyderabad Literary Festival, and a Founder Editor of Muse India: the literary e-journal.
Hyderabad Literary Festival (HLF) is a prestigious international event held every year in the month of January. Started in 2010, the multi-genre, multidisciplinary, and multilingual festival features nearly 200 speakers each year. At every edition of the festival, one foreign country is invited to showcase its literature, art, and culture. Each edition of HLF also pays special attention to one Indian language. HLF is organized by the ‘Hyderabad Literary Trust’, a non-profit organization. It does not charge any entry or registration fee and all events—literary sessions, cultural programmes, workshops, and exhibitions—are free and open to all. More at <hydlitfest.org>.
Stefan Tobler
UK (England) – And Other Stories
‘And Other Stories is inspired.’ Ali Smith
‘And Other Stories: publisher of the month, of the year, of the decade!’ Max Porter
And Other Stories is a not-for-profit publisher of literary fiction and non-fiction, not least in translation. It is based in Sheffield, but with further team members in London, Hull and New York.
Its books include Yuri Herrera’s Signs Preceding the End of the World, which was included on The Guardian’s list of the 100 Best Books of the 21st Century, and the Booker Prize-shortlisted Swimming Home by Deborah Levy. The press has published 150 books so far, from writers including Tice Cin, Mona Arshi, Adrian Nathan West, Paulo Scott, Rita Indiana, Gerald Murnane and Fleur Jaeggy. In autumn 2023 it gave its new titles an ‘iconic, impactful and sustainable’ series design, for which it was shortlisted for the 2023 FutureBook Excellence Award.
Stefan Tobler founded And Other Stories out of frustration at the great books not being published in English. Born to an English mother and Swiss father, he lived in northern Brazil, southern England and eastern Germany before making his home in England’s Dark Peak, between Sheffield and Manchester. He also translates, including books by Clarice Lispector, Raduan Nassar and Lutz Seiler.
Naomi Wilds
UK (England) – Adverse Climbers
Naomi is a producer and live literature specialist who founded Adverse Camber, one of the UK’s leading storytelling organisations, based in Derbyshire, working locally, nationally and internationally, especially in England and Wales. Adverse Camber produces and commissions new storytelling performances and tours, provides sector support and develops co-creative socially engaged storytelling projects with young people and partners. From 2018 to 2023, she has also been Artistic Director of Beyond the Border, Wales’ international storytelling festival, developing projects such as the Mycelium Storytelling Hub and Anti-Racism Storytelling Pathway, with national partners, artists and producers, and programming a biennial in-person international storytelling festival, as well as online activities.
Her specialities include developing creative teams, commissioning, artist development, partnership work, cross-artform practice, fundraising, programming, team building, evaluation and research. In 2020, she was one of 25 fellows selected for the inaugural Derby Museums National Arts Strategies Creative and Cultural Fellowship programme, supporting cultural entrepreneurs working to drive transformative change in their communities through arts and culture.
Claire Rosslyn Wilson
Spain
I am a freelance cultural writer, researcher, editor and poet born in Naarm/Melbourne (Australia) and based in Barcelona (Spain) since 2018. I take an intercultural and interdisciplinary approach that explores creative ways to look closely at the world around us. This stems from my personal experience working in a number of cultures (Australia, Spain, Thailand, Singapore).
As a cultural writer and editor, I have worked on editorial projects such as ASEF culture360, Atlas of the Future and Art Radar Asia. I have also been part of the Craft Victoria Writing Programme.
As a researcher, I have a PhD in creative writing and I have worked for clients such as On the Move, IN SITU (European platform for artistic
creation in public space), Committee on Culture of the United Cities and Local Governments, Asia-Europe Foundation, Østfold Internasjonale Teater, European Dancehouse Network, City of Bilbao, and others.
As a poet, my creative works have been published in journals and shown internationally in festivals and exhibitions. I have been a fellow at the Wheeler Centre (2014) and my work has been shortlisted for the Nillumbik Ekphrasis Poetry Award (2018) and has won an award at the Vesuvius International Film Fest, Italy (2022).
Zoe Wenqin Xie 谢文琴
China
Zoe Wenqin Xie is an independent curator. She has coordinated more than ten international literary festivals between China and other countries, including 2017-2022 the 1st to 7th European Union-China International Literary Festival, sponsored by the EU Delegation to China. She is a grantee of the 2022 British Council “Connections through Culture” (CtC) programme and the 2023 esea Contemporary “Reconnecting: Artmaking and Mobility” programme.
Zoe has established strong partnerships with acclaimed authors, publishers, translators, and festival organizers in both Europe and China. In 2023, she collaborated with Alexandra Büchler, Director of Literature Across Frontiers, on a project featuring women professionals in the fields of art and literature from the UK and China.
Her UK partner for the esea contemporary programme is Ivan Wadeson, Executive of Manchester City of Literature. Zoe is also the international cooperation specialist for CITIC Publishing Group·SIGHT and the mainland China coordinator for the Hong Kong Poetry Festival Foundation initiated by poet Bei Dao.
Her academic background is in English literary studies, with a bachelor’s degree from Wuhan University, mainland China, and a master’s degree from the Chinese University of Hong Kong.
