Annual Review 2017/18

Tony is a graduate of Queens’ College, Cambridge and went into journalism after university. He published his first book in 1984, went freelance in 1987, and since then has produced more than 200 children’s books of different kinds across a wide age range – from babies to teenagers.

One of his notable successes are the Dilly the Dinosaur books that were made into a popular BBC animation. Tony has also written for the educational sector, taught creative writing, appeared at all the major literary festivals and visited hundreds of schools to meet his readers. He has been a reviewer of children’s books throughout his career – for The Daily Telegraph, Times Educational Supplement, The Guardian, The Guardian Children’s Books website and several specialist journals.

Tony is married with three grown-up children, four grandchildren and a dog (‘Betty, The World’s Cutest Border Terrier’).

James McConnachie is the author of numerous Rough Guides, from Paris and Nepal to conspiracy theories and sex. He wrote a critically acclaimed study of the Kamasutra, The Book of Love, for which he was nominated for Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year in 2008.

He has reviewed non-fiction for Sunday Times ever since, on roughly a fortnightly basis, mostly covering esoteric history and popular science. He is currently editor of The Author (the quarterly journal of the Society of Authors), a fellow of the Royal Literary Fund (he teaches writing at Southampton University) and, much to his surprise, an agony uncle for the Metro newspaper. He has written for most UK broadsheets, presented TV programmes for the BBC and Channel 4, and has given talks and lectures at the V&A and Cambridge Wordfest, among others.

James was nominated to the board of the Copyright Licensing Agency in 2011, and re-elected as a Director of ALCS in 2015. He is a member of the National Union of Journalists and the Society of Authors, and a passionate advocate of authors’ rights. He lives in Winchester with his wife and three children.

Faye is the author of two Young Adult novels – My Second Life and What I Couldn’t Tell You. She worked in television for over 10 years as a literary agent at The Agency (London) Limited and Talkback Management representing scriptwriters in drama, children’s and comedy before becoming a writer herself.

She regularly visits schools giving talks and running workshops on creative writing for young people, and has been part of the Schools Outreach Programmes for both the Edinburgh International Book Festival and the Bath Children’s Literature Festival. She has also presented workshops for Booktrust and the National Literacy Trust on inspiring reluctant readers.

Both of her books were well received and shortlisted for several children’s book awards, including the NE Teen Book Award 2014 and Lancashire Book of the Year 2017.

Faye joined the ALCS board as Non-Executive Director in 2017.

Dr Tom Chatfield is a British writer, broadcaster and tech philosopher.

The author of six books exploring digital culture, most recently Live This Book!, How to Thrive in the Digital Age and Netymology – his work is published in over two dozen languages. Tom is interested in improving our experiences of digital technology and in better understanding its use in policy, education and engagement.

Most recently, he was a Visiting Associate at the Oxford Internet Institute, researching a new book on critical thinking. Past collaborators include Google, the BBC, Channel 4 Education, Mind Candy, Shift, Flamingo London, Six to Start, Preloaded, Firefish, Future Lab, Sense Worldwide, SAGE Publications, Sugru and Allianz.

Tom joined the ALCS Board in 2017.

Jonathan is a freelance writer, lecturer and broadcaster working mainly for the BBC and Middle Eastern television channels.

He is the author of 15 non-fiction books and contributes to a wide range of publications including The Guardian, Turkish Review and The Oldie. Since 1993 he has taught a course in Cultural Expression at School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London (SOAS).

Though based in London since 1981, for seven years he was a journalist in Brussels covering the European Institutions. He is a longstanding member of the governing Council of the Alliance of European Liberals and Democrats (ALDE) and sits on the Federal Executive and parliamentary International Affairs Team of the UK Liberal Democrats.

He is a member of the Advisory Boards of both the Centre for Turkey Studies (CEFTUS) and Research Turkey and previously served as an executive of English PEN.

Maggie Gee is a novelist and Professor of Creative Writing at Bath Spa University, and was elected to the Board of ALCS in 2015.

She has lobbied for writers, on the Society of Authors’ management committee, the PLR committee, the British Library’s Authors’ Lives committee, the London Arts Committee and the Royal Society of Literature, where she was the first female Chair of Council and is now a Vice-President.

She has written 12 novels, including The Ice People, My Cleaner, My Driver and The White Family, a collection of short stories, The Blue, and a writer’s memoir, My Animal Life. Her most recent novel is Virginia Woolf in Manhattan, a comedy which brings Virginia Woolf back to life in New York and Istanbul. Her next novel will feature Neanderthals in Gibraltar and the ‘black’ Goyas.

Maggie ‘s books have been translated into 14 languages; in 2012 an international conference about her writing was held at St Andrew’s University, and in the same year she was awarded the OBE for services to literature. She is often to be found tramping the beautiful beaches of Thanet.

Before becoming a full-time author, Michael Ridpath worked for a bank and a venture capital company in the City of London. He has written 15 novels: eight financial thrillers, four Icelandic crime novels, two spy novels and a stand-alone thriller, Amnesia.

He has been a member of the Management Committee and the Finance Committee of the Society of Authors; he was Vice Chair of the Crime Writers’ Association and he is currently a Treasurer of the Royal Literary Fund. He joined the Board of ALCS in 2017.

Joan Smith is a novelist, columnist and campaigner for human rights. She has published six novels, including the Loretta Lawson series of crime novels and a thriller, What Will Survive.

Her non-fiction books include Misogynies, Moralities, Hungry for You and The Public Woman. She has written for many national newspapers, including The Times, The Guardian and The Daily Telegraph.

Since June 2013, she has been Co-Chair of the Mayor of London’s Violence Against Women and Girls Panel (now the VAWG Board). She is a former Chair of the English PEN Writers in Prison Committee, where she worked on behalf of imprisoned writers and their families. She is currently Chair of Labour Humanists.