Breaking Barriers to Getting Published
with Lisa Blower, Patrick Jones, Emma Smith-Barton and Grace Quantock
The first of a series of online events for writers as part of the Representing Wales writer development programme.
Join us for an honest and creative discussion on ongoing barriers facing writers from low- income backgrounds and under-represented communities in Wales and the wider UK. The session will include discussions and creative readings, and touch upon themes of place, identity, and creative activism.
Live captioning will be available during this session.
Please note: Places must be booked in advance.
Register here.
Meet the speakers
The speakers, all writers themselves, are passionate about encouraging increased diversity and inclusivity in publishing and the arts. They all advocate for change through their own work, writing and outreach efforts.
Lisa Blower
Lisa Blower is an award-winning short story writer and novelist. Her debut short story collection It’s Gone Dark over Bill’s Mother’s’ was longlisted for The Edge Hill Prize 2020, and) her debut novel Sitting Ducks(Fair Acre Press) was shortlisted for the inaugural Arnold Bennett Prize, and long-listed for The Guardian Not the Booker 2016, The Rubery Award 2016 and The People’s Book Prize 2016. Her work of memoir A Pear in a Tin of Peaches on growing up in Stoke on Trent features in the critically acclaimed Common People(ed) Kit De Waal.
She holds a PhD from Bangor University in Creative & Critical Writing and is now a Senior Lecturer in Creative & Professional Writing at Wolverhampton University where she continues to champion working-class fictions and regional voices.
Patrick Jones
Patrick Jones is a poet and playwright based in Blackwood who has worked widely in community and health settings. Currently a Writer-in-Residence with The Royal College of Psychiatrists in Wales, he has worked with the Forget Me Not Chorus, whose members are individuals living with dementia, on a project documenting the members’ most precious songs and the stories behind them. Patrick has worked with Mind Cymru, The Samaritans, the Welsh Refugee Council, Velindre Hospital, The Big Issue and more on various writing projects for health and wellbeing. His latest publication is My Bright Shadow (Rough Trade Books, 2019), a poetry collection exploring grief, life, and love.
Emma Smith-Barton
Emma Smith-Barton was born in south Wales to Pakistani parents. Growing up between cultures has heavily influenced her writing and she is especially interested in exploring themes of identity and belonging. Before writing, she taught in secondary schools for six years and is passionate about increasing awareness of mental health in young people. She studied English and Creative Writing (BA) at The University of Warwick and has an MA in Creative Writing from Bath Spa University. Her short stories have appeared in various publications such as Mslexia and The Bristol Short Story Prize 2016 anthology (under her pseudonym for adult fiction, Amna Khokher). The Million Pieces of Neena Gill (Penguin Random House, 2019), Emma’s first novel for young adults, was shortlisted for the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize 2020; the Branford Boase Award 2020; and the Romantic Novelists’ Association Debut Romantic Novel 2020.
Grace Quantock
Grace Quantock is a writer and counsellor. She writes narrative non-fiction at the intersection of creative arts, social justice, and marginalised bodies. She has been awarded The London Library Emerging Writers Award, A Writing Chance with Michael Sheen and was shortlisted for the Nan Shepherd Prize and Writers’ & Artists’ Working-Class Writers’ Prize 2021. In 2022 Grace won a Curtis Brown Creative Breakthrough award.
Quantock has been published or has essays forthcoming in The Guardian, The Metro and The New Statesman; she has also appeared in The New Yorker Online, The Times and Marie Claire. She lives in Wales and is passionate about journaling and calligraphy. She is currently writing an essay collection titled Madwomen Are My Ancestors.