"I've had the most wonderful time. I've learned a great deal and have lots of inspiration to take home with me. Next year's dates are already in my diary."
2021 Committee
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Cathy Grimmer
Chairman Cathy writes to escape the excitement of being a specialist tax consultant in her day job. She lives in Ripon in North Yorkshire, having started life much further South. She enjoys walking in the beautiful Yorkshire countryside, performing with a local AmDram group and cooking. Having started out writing short stories and humorous poetry, she has developed a taste for play-writing after taking part in Swanwick’s Page To Stage. Cathy has been coming to Swanwick since 2008. Email: chairman@swanwickwritersschool.org.uk |
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Maria Hennings Hunt
Vice Chairman Maria is both a successful published writer and a fully qualified dance teacher. She worked in publishing for more than 20 years, spending 13 years with Travel Trade Gazette – the leading travel trade weekly newspaper in the UK. She also did a three month stint on the travel team at the Daily Express and wrote short stories for the women’s fiction market in her spare time. Maria went freelance in 1999, specialising in writing brochures and copy for the travel market whilst at the same time qualifying as a dance teacher. Maria now runs her own SE London based Dance school called Dance Generation and still writes shorts stories in her spare time. Maria first came to Swanwick in 1992. Email: vicechair@swanwickwritersschool.org.uk |
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Ingrid Jendrzejewski
Secretary Ingrid Jendrzejewski grew up in Vincennes, Indiana, studied creative writing at the University of Evansville, then physics at the University of Cambridge. She started submitting work for publication in 2014 and has since found homes for around 100 of her pieces, been nominated for a Pushcart Prize, Vestal Review’s VERA Award, and twice for Best Small Fictions, and won her first trip to Swanwick through Writing Magazine's short story competition. In 2017, she gave her first Swanwick workshop on writing for competitions. Ingrid currently lives in Cambridge where she writes, freelances, and occasionally runs writing workshops. Email: secretary@swanwickwritersschool.org.uk |
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Lesley Deschner
Treasurer Lesley has been a keen writer for many years and is part of the group, LiterEight (eight wonderful and mature women from Ayrshire) with whom she has produced three anthologies of poems and short stories. She has written several short plays, sometimes working in tandem with Helena Sheridan, another member of LiterEight and has acted with two local theatre companies showcasing new plays. Lesley is a previous Secretary of the Summer School (2013/2014) and has recently gained a Postgraduate Diploma in Person-Centred Counselling at the University of Strathclyde. Email: treasurer@swanwickwritersschool.org.uk |
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Lance Greenfield Mitchell
Committee member Lance was born in the St Pancras borough of London in December, 1955. His father is from Yorkshire and his mother is from Scotland. He has spent most of his life trying to work out if he's a Londoner, a Yorkshireman or a Scotsman. He's come to the conclusion that he's half Yorkshire and half Scots. The place of your birth doesn’t really count. He is married to Joy and currently lives in North West Hampshire. His home city is probably Perth, although it could be Sheffield. Lance loves to travel. He has visited about 80 countries in his life and loves to immerse himself in different cultures, languages and cuisines. |
The greatest passion in his life is the way that people treat people. Witnessing a great act of kindness brings as many tears to his eyes as witnessing horrible cruelty. Hence his personal motto: One World, one people – Care for them all
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Check out Lance's blog: Write to Inspire
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Jonathan Higgs
Committee member Jonathan first visited Swanwick in 2013, having heard about it during a fantasy writing weekend. Finding that the Writers’ Summer School is at least as surreal and compelling an alternative world as most of those found in speculative fiction, he’s been back each year since. He can usually be found moving at speed between conference rooms, clutching cables and frowning. On the rare and special occasions on which Jonathan completes his jobs list sufficiently fully to reach ‘Writing!’ (triple circled and underlined) he tends to generate either play scripts or the next syllable or two of a novel draft which, at this point, may be slightly older than he is. He also enjoys acting and directing, when he gets the chance. In what we commonly agree to be the real world, Jonathan is a teacher. |
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This is Jonathan’s fourth year co-ordinating TopWrite and he hopes to see many more aspiring writers leap at the opportunity this year. See the TopWrite page for more details…
Alexandra McDermott
Committee member
Committee member
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Alexandra was born in Oklahoma City and never tires of patiently explaining to people that the reason she doesn’t say she comes from there is because she left before her third birthday, retains no memory of the place and has never been back since. As the daughter of a US Air Force officer, she spent her childhood travelling widely across the US, Canada and Europe, a mode of life that undoubtedly encouraged the high curiosity level which led to her interest in creative writing.
It also left her without any particular place to call home, so when the time came to settle down, her family simply picked their favourite place they had ever lived: England. They moved to Buckinghamshire in 2014, and a few years later, in 2017, Alexandra discovered Swanwick. This alone is reason enough to justify remaining in the UK for the rest of her life. |
She has returned each year since then as an ambassador for TopWrite and is quite evangelical about the life-changing qualities of Swanwick.
Alexandra is known to own three typewriters (all manual and in perfect working order) and too many notebooks to count. She is thrilled to have been accepted onto City University’s Novel Studio Course and is currently working on a series of historical crime novels set in the 1950s.
Alexandra is known to own three typewriters (all manual and in perfect working order) and too many notebooks to count. She is thrilled to have been accepted onto City University’s Novel Studio Course and is currently working on a series of historical crime novels set in the 1950s.
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Sharon Payne
Committee member Sharon was born in the crater of a volcano in Yemen the same year as comedian Izzy Izzard. She travelled throughout her childhood with her R.A.F. family. The result was a shy child who listened to records and read Enid Blyton. Thirteen schools in fifteen years wasn’t funny. She loved drama and dreamed of being cast as George in The Famous Five (Enid Blyton) on T.V. At nineteen Sharon enlisted in the R.A.F as a cook, which included a tour behind the Iron Curtain in Berlin. Following a lengthy career in catering she retrained in food technical management. This involved technical writing and control of the quality management systems (food safety). She was responsible for staff training and designed pictorial procedures to help Polish staff grasp the instructions more easily. A colleague commented she should be a creative writer and it sowed the seeds. |
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Swanwick beckoned in 2013. Since then it has been an addictive experience, nourishing her mind, body and soul. Sharon has many hobbies and interests and loves to engage with others. She dabbles in short stories and poetry, and dreams of being a psychological thriller author.
Email the whole 2020 Committee: committee@swanwickwritersschool.org.uk
