OUR STAFF
Lesley Wood – Chief Executive
Lesley has worked in the arts for over 35 years in a variety of roles including sound engineer, theatre producer, artistic director and company CEO. She has worked with creative writers of all kinds – fiction writers, life writers, poets, song-writers and playwrights. She, herself, writes grant applications and too-long emails, and is in awe of the storytellers she meets every day at New Writing South.
Sharon Duggal – Programme Manager
Sharon Duggal has worked in the arts for over 25 years for festivals, venues and organisations including the Hackney Empire, Diorama Arts Centre, Centerprise Literature Development and South East Dance. She is a programmer and producer, with expertise in artist and audience development. She has an MA in Arts Management and an MPhil in Creative Writing.
Sharon is a published author working on her third novel. Her second novel, Should We Fall Behind published in 2020, was selected for BBC TV’s Between the Covers and shortlisted for the Royal Society of Literature’s 2021 Encore Award. She is also one half of Radio Reverb’s The Ruben and Sharon Show, the UK’s only regular radio show with a mum and son presenter team.
sharon@newwritingsouth.com
Ed Cottrell – Digital & Marketing Manager
Ed is a short fiction writer. He was the 2018 Winner of the Desperate Literature Prize, and his work has been chosen for Best Small Fictions (Sonder Press), listed for the London Short Story Prize and Short Fiction/University of Essex International Short Story Prize, and appears in journals including 3:AM, Structo, and Short Fiction Journal. He is also Digital Content Editor for Modern Poetry in Translation Magazine.
Liam Offord – Literary Producer
Liam is a fiction writer and playwright. His stories and scripts have appeared in the University of East Anglia’s undergraduate and postgraduate anthologies, and his plays have toured around Norwich and the South Coast. He is passionate about feminist and anti-colonial stories, and reflects this in his writing and other work.
Steve Poulton – Finance Manager
Steve Poulton joined New Writing South in 2014 as Finance manager. He is also director of Purple Squirrel and has over 20 years experience helping Small and Medium sized Enterprises.