SARA MAITLAND’s first novel Daughter of Jerusalem won the Somerset Maugham Award in 1978; since then she has written five more novels – one of them Arky Types co-written with Michelene Wandor. Home Truths was the Scottish Novel of the Year in 1993. She has also published five single-author collections of short stories (her favourite genre.) Her story “Moss Witch” was runner-up in the BBC National Short Story Award 2009. She has written extensively for Radio and also writes non-fiction, most recently A Book of Silence.  She tutors via Distance Learning for the graduate programmes in Creative Writing at Lancaster University; worked as mentor-co-ordinator on Crossing Borders – one of Graham’s African projects, and set up and co-ordinated the first year of The Literary Consultancy’s mentoring scheme. www.saramaitland.com

GRAHAM MORT is winner of many literary prizes including a major Eric Gregory award for his first book of poems and the Bridport Prize for short fiction. After the publication of ‘Touch: New & Selected Poems’, Sarah Crown described him in The Guardian as, ‘One of contemporary verse’s most accomplished practitioners…a master craftsman.’ ‘Touch’, a collection of short stories, will appear from Seren in 2010. Graham is a senior lecturer in Creative Writer at Lancaster University with experience of developing and convening both the campus and distance learning MA programmes; he is currently director of the PhD programme. Since 2001 he has worked extensively in Africa developing creative writing projects for the British Council. www.grahammort.com