Authors at the Edge

Dave Cousins
Dave Cousins completed his first novel in the back of a van, while touring with his band (who were almost famous!) His short story 'The Floodlight Man' was broadcast on BBC Radio Five Live, read by Dave himself. He went on to be a winner of the SCBWI Undiscovered Voices Anthology 2010 and his debut novel for teenagers, 15 Days Without a Head will be published by Oxford University Press in January 2012. Originally from Birmingham, Dave now lives in Hertfordshire with his wife and family, in a house full of books and records, and writes in a corner of the attic with an anarchic ginger cat for company. www.davecousins.net

Katie Dale
Katie Dale is a writer and an actress. She had her first poem 'The Fate of The School Hamster' published in The Cadbury's Book of Children's Poetry, aged 8. She studied English Literature at Sheffield and spent a year in North Carolina, where she attended her first SCBWI conference - winning the Bill Hooks Jnr Prize for both the Young Adult Category and Best Picture Book. Back in England she went to drama school then spent the next few years acting and touring. She was a winner of the SCBWI 2008 Undiscovered Voices with Someone Else's Life, (pub. Simon& Schuster Spring 2012). Katie is working on YA novels, picture books and young readers - whilst still acting.

Keren David
Keren David has worked as a reporter, a political correspondent, a news editor, a comment editor, feature writer and in Amsterdam she was editor in chief for a photographic agency. Keren worked for The Independent for many years, and has written for many other national newspapers and magazines. In 2007 she signed up for a course in Writing for Children at City University where she started to write When I Was Joe. The sequel Almost True was published in September 2010. Lia's Guide to Winning the Lottery will be published in August 2011. www.wheniwasjoe.blogspot.com

Sara Grant
Sara Grant works as a senior commissioning editor for Working Partners, a company creating series fiction for children. Dark Parties was a winner of SCBWI Undiscovered Voices Competition 2008. It will be published in Germany (as Neva) in March, in August in the US and in October in the UK. Sara has signed a deal for a second novel due to be published 2012. Sara volunteers for SCBWI-British Isles. She has served as editor on two anthologies: Goldfish, an anthology of Goldsmiths College’s creative and life writing programme, and Undiscovered Voices, a collection of writing from SCBWI members in the UK.
www.sara-grant.com

Miriam Halahmy
Miriam Halahmy has published fiction and poetry. Her work has been included in anthologies, read on the radio and performed on stage. She taught in London schools for twenty five years and now runs creative writing workshops and mentors developing writers. She is a frequent guest at writers' conferences and literary festivals, leading workshops. Hidden is Miriam’s debut Y.A. novel and it is the first in a cycle of three novels. The second and third books will be published in 2012. She is a member of English PEN, SCWBI, the Scattered Authors' Society, the Society of Authors and the Highgate Poets. www.miriamhalahmy.com

Savita Kalhan
Savita Kalhan was born in India, but has lived in the UK most of her life. She was a Batik artist before going to live in the Middle East where she taught English for several years. Then she turned to writing. Now living in North London, she continued to write. Her debut novel, The Long Weekend, published by Andersen Press, is a tense thriller about two boys who are abducted after school. It was short-listed for the Fabulous Book Award 2010.

Bryony Pearce
Bryony Pearce lives with her husband and two children in a village on the edge of the Peak District. She completed an English Literature degree at Corpus Christi College Cambridge in 1998 and afterward worked in the research sector. She went freelance in 2004 so she could devote more time to writing. Her debut YA novel, Angel's Fury, will be published by Egmont on July 4th, 2011. If you’d like to know more about Bryony, please visit her website www.bryonypearce.co.uk

Paula Rawsthorne
Paula Rawsthorne was a winner of the Undiscovered Voices 2010 with her first novel, The Truth About Celia Frost (pub. by Usborne Aug. 2011). In 2004 she was a winner of the BBC’s ‘Get Writing’ competition. Her comedy 'The Sermon on the Mount' was read by Bill Nighy on BBC Radio 4 and chosen for Pick of the Week. Her story 'In Attendence'  was published by Route in the anthology IDEAS ABOVE OUR STATION (reviewed in The Guardian). In 2008 Route also published her story 'The Accessory' in the anthology BONNE ROUTE. She lives in Nottingham with her husband and children. www.celiafrost.co.uk