The Team

Here's the team that puts Words & Pictures together:

Gulfem Wormald (she / her)

Editor

Gulfem has over 20 years experience as a journalist. She worked as a full-time journalist for Cosmopolitan and ELLE magazines in Istanbul, Turkey and as Overseas Correspondent for FHM magazine in the UK alongside a career initially in banking and now, in education.

For the last eight years, she has been working for a leading Examination and Awarding Body. She is currently managing a project looking for ways of teaching GCSE and A-level qualifications with a wider focus on equality, diversity and inclusion. Linked to this project, she is developing a series of teacher training events.

She is writing in all genres including picture books. 

Gulfem is so excited to be volunteering as part of the editorial team for Words & Pictures. She can’t wait to share her experience and learn from others. As her nine-year-old son would say after a playdate, "Thank you for having me!"

You can contact Gulfem at editor@britishscbwi.org or find her on Twitter.

Françoise Price 
Deputy Editor

Françoise was Words & Pictures' Events Editor for four years, and has been Deputy Editor since January 2022.

She began her writing career in contract magazine publishing, handling projects from initial brief through to publication and interviewing all sorts of people — from coastguards in Shetland, to Ruby Wax in London. She later worked as a freelance writer, editor and researcher, mainly for regional and national magazines, as well as a copywriter. More recently she’s been a teaching assistant and literacy volunteer.

Françoise became hooked on writing children’s stories after a year studying Illustration at art college in Carmarthen, then taking an MA in Creative Writing at the University of Wales. Aquila Magazine published her story, Nicole and the Paper Witches, including her illustrations, in three issues, and she later transformed the story into a shadow puppet show for two local schools in Somerset, where she now lives with her family. She also performed her story There’s No Such Thing as Goblins at a local literacy event.

She writes picture books, chapter books and middle grade stories. She's been shortlisted and won second prize in the SCBWI Slushpile Challenge, was shortlisted in WriteMentor magazine short story competition and has had poetry shortlisted in both Mslexia and The Guardian. She feels privileged to ‘give something back’ by volunteering for Words & Pictures. Find her on Twitter. 

You can contact Françoise at deputyeditor@britishscbwi.org.

Tracy Curran 

Production Editor & Celebrations Editor

Tracy is incredibly excited about joining the Words & Pictures team as Production Editor. Words & Pictures has been her favourite Sunday morning read for the past couple of years and she feels privileged to be part of it. She’s also very nervous, though, so she hopes everyone will bear with her as she finds her feet and gets to know everyone.

SCBWI has been instrumental to her writing journey. Living in Cornwall means she is quite remote and it was through SCBWI that she found her online critique group who have become firm friends. It’s also allowed her to access incredible events and it’s challenged her writing too - she loves the Slush Pile Challenges and one day hopes to be successful in one.

When she isn’t caring for her children, including a daughter with SEN, she writes and reviews picture books, chapter books and lower middle grade fiction. She is currently a mentee on the All Stories Mentorship and one of her picture books, Pumpkin’s Fairytale, was published by an indie publisher called Final Chapter at the end of September. Now it’s time for her to give something back to the writing community that has been so wonderfully supportive and welcoming.

Tita Berredo

Art Director

Tita was Words&Pictures' Illustration Features Editor for almost two years, and has been Art Director since becoming the Illustrator Coordinator of SCBWI British Isles in April 2023.

Tita is a Brazilian picture book writer and illustrator. She has a Master's degree in Children's Literature and Illustration from Goldsmiths, University of London, and a background in cinema and marketing.

Tita's wordless picture book, The Dress, was selected by dPICTUS for the Unpublished Picture Book Showcase. It was exhibited this year at the Bologna Children's Books Fair Hall and it is under submission now by Fairbank Literary Representation.

Tita lives in Scotland with her husband and two Maine Coons, Juca and Caju. She writes picture book reviews for My Book Corner and supports local children's writers by coordinating the AOI’s  Glasgow group, and the Scottish CWIG as a committee member of the Society of Authors. 

Follow her on Twitter and Instagram  You can contact Tita at illuscoordinator@britishscbwi.org

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Features Editors

Mario Ambrosi

Debut Journeys Editor

Mario was a journalist for around 10 years before moving to a major older people’s charity where he's worked his way up to communications and marketing director.

He’s always been interested in the interconnections between young and old – and penned a song on that theme that got 300 older people to the top of the Amazon singles chart. More recently, and since becoming a dad, he uses any spare time he can get to hone his writing for children – particularly middle grade.

A literature graduate, he studied writing for children with the Golden Egg Academy and has been long-listed by both The Times/Chicken House and the Bath Children’s Novel Award.

PR Week listed him in their guide to the “brightest and most influential PR professionals in Britain”.

He’d love to hear from SCBWI debut writers happy to feature in the Debut Journeys section of Words & Pictures. Follow him on Twitter.

Ell Rose

Illustration Feature Editor

Ell Rose is a non-binary illustrator & animator based in Edinburgh. Ell is a non-binary illustrator, animator and designer based in Edinburgh. They graduated in illustration at Edinburgh College of Art in 2021. Some of their work is based on their cat, Miles, which has been featured as comics in Words & Pictures. You can find their work at www.fourfooteleven.com

Contact Ell at illustrators@britishscbwi.org

Anne Boyere

After the Whirlwind, Inspiration from the Bookshelves and SCBWI Faces Editor

Anne is a writer, illustrator, breastfeeding counsellor takes a breath and admin officer for scientific journals. In her spare time (haha) she likes to swim in the wild and read, read, read, then read some more! Find her on Twitter or lurking @SCBWI_BI where she hosts #SCBWIchat

Elaine Cline
Writing Competitions Editor  

Elaine is the Writing Competitions Editor and coordinates the quarterly Slush Pile Challenge. She loves to write picture books, middle-grade and teen books. She lives by the sea and has a soft and silly cat and a dog. Follow her on Twitter. 

Chip Colquhoun

Opening Lines Editor

Chip began writing before being taught how to write. The meaning of his three-year-old squiggle is long-forgotten, but there was clear punctuation including paragraphs. He had his first newspaper article published at the age of nine, and wrote numerous scripts – some of which were produced by his school to raise money for charities.

But that was all for fun. Chip became a professional storyteller in 2007, and has since performed in nine countries. He’s the face of the Oxford Reading Tree's Traditional Tales resources, wrote the EU's 2015 guidance on using stories in schools, has been a regular at Glastonbury Festival since 2016, and represented the Roald Dahl Story Company on ITV.

His writing career began with theatre scripts, five of which were nationally touring productions supported by Arts Council England. Then, in 2015, The History Press commissioned him to write Cambridgeshire Folk Tales for Children. This gave him the Middle Grade writing bug, and he's since had a further 18 titles published. Seven of these include illustrations from the award-winning Korky Paul, with whom Chip co-produces the Fables & Fairy Tales series of books for Epic Tales. Last year he was made an Associate Artist for the National Centre for Writing.

He's excited to be joining the Words & Pictures team, and will be bringing you a new Opening Lines opportunity in March, June, and September.

Stephanie Cotela
Network News & Events Editor

Stephanie is a published art historian turned children's writer, who loves to throw creative anecdotes into everything she writes. Originally from New York, she's been living in the UK for the past 16 + years and considers herself a native, though her American accent gives her away. She resides in leafy Surrey with her two sons, orange cat and white hamster, whose hijinks provide plenty of material and inspiration. She writes fiction including everything from picture books about polar bears and middle grade ghost stories to young adult crime thrillers. 

In her spare time she enjoys strolling the Thames riverbank, visiting historic houses (preferably those which are notably haunted), collecting (and reading) classic ghost stories and hanging out with her boys. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram. 

You can contact Stephanie at events@britishscbwi.org.

Creative Secrets and Features Editor

Loretta Flockhart

A member of SCBWI since 2013, Loretta’s excited to be part of the Words and Pictures team. She has a background in publishing, an MA in Creative Writing and is an English language teacher / writing tutor. She loves working with adults and children, whose first language is not English, to write, play and polish their stories.

She keeps busy by also volunteering for the Canals & Rivers Trust doing water safety and conservation projects with schools. From the UK, Loretta regularly travels and loves to work overseas, exploring places, people and books from each country.

Anna Gamble (nee Rymer)

Social Media Editor

Anna lives in Holmfirth, West Yorkshire, with her husband and two primary age children. She writes mostly for fun – working on a mixture of adult short fiction, picture book texts and middle-grade fantasy – although she may take it seriously one day. Her writing has appeared in online journals and anthologies including The Sirens Call, the Same Journal and the National Flash Fiction Day Anthology. She also publishes short fiction and book reviews on her blog. A postgraduate in Performance & Cultural Industries, Anna loves any opportunity to work on a story. Follow her on Twitter.

Alison Padley-Woods

Social Media and Deputy Illustration Features Editor

Alison has been writing for as long as she can remember: for the school magazine, for the student newspaper at Leeds University and for Condé Nast’s Brides magazine where she was the Home Editor, writing and styling features. During a year’s travel, she freelanced for NZ House and Garden and Australian Vogue. She then took a career break to bring up her three children, obtained a Creative Writing MA from Manchester Metropolitan University and had several short stories published in children’s anthologies. Her middle grade novel has been shortlisted for the Times/Chicken Children’s Award and longlisted twice for the Bath Children’s Novel Award.

Julie Sullivan

Writing Features Editor

Julie is an American translator (French and German to English) and copy editor and has lived most of her adult life outside the USA. Her four children all went to school in England but only the youngest can switch from one accent to the other on demand. Julie studies classical Chinese for fun (信而好古!), writes historical fiction, and loves the friends she has met volunteering for SCBWI.
Follow her on Twitter.

Jo. E. Verrill

Knowhow Editor

Jo used to work at a radio station, telling off presenters for swearing on air, but has recently quit to pursue her dream of being the funniest children’s writer in the world. She has finished four books to date, which are too good for publication. Jo does not photograph well. Follow her on Twitter.

You can contact Jo at knowhow@britishscbwi.org.

Eva Wong Nava

Feature Editor of Representation

Eva Wong Nava is a child of the diaspora. She lives between two worlds and is a citizen of multiple universes. Eva is a third-culture adult and she has lived in Singapore, France, Italy and America, but calls London home. Eva has done many things in life, like waitressing, modelling, banking, and teaching, but writing remains her favourite thing to do. Eva writes for children aged 4 to 18 and she works as a freelance editor and writing coach. Her debut YA Historical Fiction, The House of Little Sisters, was long listed for the McKitterick Prize by the Society of Authors in 2022 and it won first prize for Historical Fiction at the Firebird Book Awards in 2023. When not writing or working, she can be found wandering art museums looking for a piece of art that will inspire a story.


Find her on Twitter and Instagram and visit her website. 

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Subeditors

David Barker

 

David has had 3 eco-thrillers published (The Gaia trilogy, Bloodhound Books). His middle-grade debut, a dystopian sci-fi adventure, is called Pax & The Missing Head and comes out in Oct'23 with Tiny Tree. He lives in Berkshire with his picture-book writing wife and daughter.

 

Fran Benson

Fran is a journalist and copywriter, works for a health charity, does the bookkeeping for her husband's business and runs a popular book club at her local primary school. She has three children and a dog. In her spare time she's redrafting a middle grade fantasy which was longlisted for the Bath Children's Novel Award last year.

Cate Haynes

Cate has sold cakes, been a cleaner, managed a farm shop and been an assistant psychologist. These days, when not writing, reading, being a cat-butler, or being Mum to her two children, she’s a Speech & Language Therapist in schools for children with special needs. She writes magical MG and YA thrillers and is thrilled to be a sub-editor for Words & Pictures.

Faye Holt

Joan Longstaff

Joan lives in Cambridgeshire and, after spending 25 years in the publishing arm of RNIB where she turned other people's stories into braille, large print and audio, she decided to turn her hand to writing her own. Picture books are her passion and she finds inspiration comes best when there's a healthy supply of tea and biscuits on tap. Follow her on Twitter.

Rosie Stirret

Rosie has worked in marketing for over ten years since studying English & Creative Writing at Falmouth University. She now works for an education charity that provides courses for disadvantaged children and young people. In her spare time, she enjoys writing contemporary fantasy for middle-grade readers. Find her on Twitter.

Wendy Threader

I love to explore! Whether its new working tools or new areas of learning!

As a keen poet, I love to write too and have been published in a mental health magazine (albeit a while ago!)

I bring a lot of experience to looking at words and pictures as I have worked on putting together exam papers and training materials in my day job!

My real background is in theatre so I employ the confidence that brought me in all I do.

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Writers & Columnists

Natascha Biebow

Natascha Biebow is an experienced children's book editor, mentor and coach. She is the founder of Blue Elephant Story Shaping, a coaching and mentoring service aimed at helping children's authors and illustrators to shape their picture books, young fiction and novels pre-submission.  Passionate about picture books, she writes the bi-monthly Picture Book Storyshaper column for W & P, and blogs at Picture Book Den. She is the author of  The Crayon Man: The True Story of the Invention of Crayola Crayons, winner of the Irma Black Award and a best STEM book. She has been the co-RA (Chair) of SCBWI British Isles since 1998, and in 2018 was awarded SCBWI Stephen Mooser Member of the Year and an MBE for services to children's authors and illustrators.

Sarah Broadley

Sarah Broadley lives in Edinburgh with her family and two cats. She is a member of SCBWI Scotland. Follow her on Twitter.

Caroline Deacon

Caroline lives in Edinburgh and is the author of several childcare books. She now writes MG and YA and is agented by Lindsay Fraser of Fraser Ross Associates, Edinburgh. Find her on Twitter and visit her website. 

Kate Walker

Kate  mainly writes MG fantasy as well as dabbling in picture books whenever a character grabs her imagination. Kate lives in Kent with her two children who are addicted to stories just as much as she is. Follow her on Twitter.

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