The 60 minute writer

Farhana Khalique is a writer, voice over artist, teacher, and PhD student from south-west London. She’s a co-editor of Flash Fusion (2024), and her writing has appeared in Flash Fiction Festival Six, Tales from the City, Best Small Fictions, and more. Farhana has judged the Oxford Flash Fiction Prize and she’s a submissions editor at SmokeLong Quarterly. She’s been teaching English for over 15 years, and she’s taught writing workshops with Writers & Artists, SmokeLong, Flash Fiction Festival, and more. She’s currently doing her PhD at Queen Mary, University of London.

Claire Allen is a published author of fiction and poetry and teaches literature and creative writing at City Lit. Her first two novels, The Mountain of Light and Protection, were published by Headline Review in 2004 and 2006. Her most recent novel, The Blackbird, was published by small independent publisher Henningham Family Press in 2020.

Tasha Kavanagh has an MA in Creative Writing from UEA where she studied under Malcolm Bradbury and Rose Tremain. She has worked as a film editor on features including 'Twelve Monkeys', 'Seven Years in Tibet' and 'The Talented Mr Ripley' and has had 10 children's books published. Her debut novel 'Things We Have in Common' was published by Canongate in 2015 to critical acclaim and was shortlisted for major prizes including the Costa 1st Novel and Desmond Elliott Prize. She is currently writing her second novel.

An ex-secondary school teacher, Head of Department and senior manager, Terry Freedman has been blogging and freelance writing since the 1990s. He has authored a number of books, both published and self-published, and is a member of the Society of Authors, where he was a member of the Educational Writers Group committee for several years. He has written articles for many publications, including The Guardian, TES and Teach Secondary, and blog posts for companies in the education sphere. He holds a BA, MA and Post-Graduate Certificate in Education, and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and a member of the British Computer Society.

Laura is an experienced theatre director, teacher and writer and has taught at City Lit since 2011. Laura has worked at a wide range of venues including the National Theatre, the Open Air Theatre Regent’s Park, Birmingham Rep, the Cambridge Arts Theatre, and Southwark Playhouse. She loves all types of plays, from new writing and devised theatre to Shakespeare and works in translation, and enjoys bringing scenes and characters to life with students in her classes. Laura studied English Literature as an undergraduate at Oxford University and went on to take an MA in Text and Performance Studies at King’s College London and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. She now splits her time between teaching and writing novels for young adults.

Sarah Leipciger’s most recent novel, Moon Road, was published with Doubleday UK and Penguin Canada in 2024 and has been optioned for film. Her debut novel, The Mountain Can Wait, was published in 2015, and her second novel, Coming Up for Air, followed in 2020; it was longlisted for the Historical Writers Association Crown Award and has been adapted for stage with the Leipzig Opera House, to be premiered in spring 2026. She has had short stories shortlisted for the Bridport Prize, the Fish Prize and the Asham Award, and is a past winner of THIS Magazine’s Great Canadian Literary Hunt. She has also written non-fiction for The Guardian and The Toronto Star. Sarah has facilitated writing workshops across the country, including at literature festivals and men's prisons in London. She is an Associate Lecturer with the Creative Writing Department at Birbeck University, and Guest Tutor at Goldsmiths University.

Rosie Fiore has had eight novels published to critical acclaim by Struik, Quercus and Allen & Unwin. Her speculative fiction title, The After Wife, published by Orion, was sold in translation in nine countries and received a film option in China. She is also a copywriter, journalist and playwright. Rosie is a tutor and mentor on Jericho Writers' Ultimate Novel Writing Course. She holds an MA in Creative Writing and a Postgraduate Certificate in Higher Education. She is the incumbent Royal Literary Fund Fellow at Middlesex University.