FROM BEDPAN TO PEN

Joy Wood’s presentation is about her transition from nurse to author – ‘From Bedpan to Pen!’ It’s an overview of her successful career in the NHS and why she gave it up to write novels.

 

The journey is a humorous one, outlining the challenges she met trying to get noticed as an independent author. She believes her personal success is down to determination, enthusiasm, belief, sheer hard work . . . and an insightful editor!

Joy first attended Swanwick in 2018 and as she sat in the audience watching a prolific best-selling author deliver their presentation, she vowed that one day, she’d be doing that. And eleven books later . . . here she is!

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ABOUT JOY

Joy Wood’s nursing career culminated in managing Children’s Services and Safeguarding in Lincolnshire, and she wrote her first novel to see if she could.
An independent author, Joy has published eleven books. She writes crime thrillers, always with a touch of romance. She believes that each sale of one of her books matters, and therefore, her strategies to market her books have to be creative and innovative.
As a registered public speaker, Joy delivers after-dinner presentations in and around Lincolnshire and speaks at ladies’ luncheon clubs and WI’s. She delivers a range of topics from the transition she made from nurse to writer (From Bedpan to Pen!) to motivation (Can you do it? – Yes, you can!), emotional health and wellbeing (Mental Magic), and stress and relaxation (Creative Resilience).
Joy has a degree in public health and qualifications in teaching and assessing. She has lectured at Sheffield Hallam University on health modules and supports local writing groups as a ‘guest teacher’.
During her long career in the NHS, she worked in schools and colleges delivering sessions to students on puberty, keeping safe, emotional health & well-being and sexual health.
A passionate advocate of the NHS – Joy states she now runs the service from her armchair!
In 2025, Joy was the proud recipient of an RNA award in the thriller category for her crime novel
Whatever It Takes.

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AA Dhand is the creator of the hit BBC One drama Virdee, adapted from his five critically acclaimed Harry Virdee novels. His latest thriller, The Chemist, became an instant Sunday Times bestseller in May 2025 and is now being adapted by Dhand for screen.

 

Born and raised in Bradford, Dhand draws on the city’s energy and grit to craft stories charged with tension, identity, and moral conflict. In July 2025, he received an Honorary Doctorate (D.Litt) from the University of Bradford and has a new BBC drama in development.

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THE FULL ENGLISH

Ever wondered where the word “hoo-ha” comes from? Why there ain’t no party like a double negative party?  And why “bead” doesn’t rhyme with “bread”, “machine” doesn’t rhyme with “nine”, and don’t get me started on “yearly” and “early”?

 

From gangs of gung-ho Anglo-Saxons and smelly Vikings to Covidiots and Instagram influencers, from enormous vowel movements to katsu curries self-isolating in the Twitterverse, this one-woman show by poet, spoken word artist, former ‘A’ level English lecturer and all-round linguistics nerd, Melanie Branton, charts the fascinating history of the English language from 425-2025, through the media of performance poetry, silly hats and dad jokes.

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ABOUT MELANIE

​Melanie Branton has performed at festivals including Womad, Shindig and Valleyfest, as well as at spoken word nights the length and breadth of the country. She has also represented Bristol at three national slam finals and was longlisted in the 2022 National Poetry Competition. Her published collections are The Full English (2023), Can You See Where I’m Coming From? (Burning Eye, 2018) and My Cloth-Eared Heart (Oversteps, 2017).

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