Jury

It is with great pleasure that we present the jury for the Aesthetica Creative Writing Award. Our judges are successful literary professionals who have previously judged numerous writing awards. They are passionate about new and inspiring works that demonstrate creativity and excellence.

Fiction

Darran McLaughlin
Manager, bookhaus

Darran McLaughlin is the manager of bookhaus, an independent bookshop in the heart of  Bristol that aligns with the reputation of the city as a centre for radicalism. Previously he was a buyer for The Royal Academy of Arts, Borders UK and Lasgo Chrysalis, and also worked at Books Etc and Ottakar’s.

Aliya Gulamani
Commissioning Editor & Editorial Lead, Unbound

Aliya Gulamani is an award-winning Editor at crowdfunding publisher Unbound.  She is also the Editorial Lead for Unbound Firsts, an imprint for debut writers of colour. In 2022, Aliya won The Bookseller’s Rising Stars and The Ola Gotkowska Young Independent Publisher of the Year Award.

Ansa Khan Khattak
Senior Commissioning Editor, Cornerstone

Ansa Khan Khattak currently works at Hutchinson Heinemann, known for its bestsellers, prize winners, ground-breaking voices and original stories. She has published Pulitzer Prize-winning author Paul Harding and acquired books by Rebecca K Reilly, Akutagawa Prize-winner Junko Takase.

Dr Marl’ene Edwin
Caribbean and Diaspora Studies, Goldsmiths

Dr Marl’ene Edwin is Deputy Director at the Centre for Caribbean and Diaspora Studies.  Senior Fellow of the HEA and Churchill Fellow, her research interests are Caribbean Creole Languages and Oral Literature. She is the convenor for the postgraduate module Literature of the Caribbean and its Diasporas.

Naomi Booth
Author

Naomi Booth is a writer and academic. Her first work of fiction The Lost Art of Sinking was published in 2015 and it won the Saboteur Award for Best Novella. Her novel Exit Management was named a Guardian Best Fiction Book of 2020, whilst the story Sour Hall was adapted into an Audible drama series in 2021.

Richard Price
Poetry and Fiction Writer

Richard Price’s poetry comprises Lucky Day, Moon for Sale, and Late Gifts (all Carcanet). Writing as R. J. Price, his fiction includes The Island (Two Ravens Press) and A Boy in Summer (11:9). He has a PhD on Neil M. Gunn’s novels and is Head of Contemporary British Collections at the British Library.

Maxine Davies
Production Editor, Mslexia

Maxine Davies is the production editor at Mslexia magazine, and is also involved with the running of the Mslexia Fiction and Poetry competitions. She’s got a degree in History and an MA in Modern and Contemporary Literature. In 2021 she was named as one of the Printing Charity’s Rising Stars.

Brodie Crellin
Assistant Editor, Granta

Brodie Crellin is an editor at literary magazine and publisher Granta, where she commissions and publishes fiction, essays and memoir for both the print magazine and granta.com. Prior to joining Granta in 2022, Brodie worked as a copywriter, a reader and a scout at a literary agency.

Dean Gessie
Author, Poet, Educator

Multi-award winning Dean Gessie won the Creators of Justice Literary Award in New York, and was twice selected for The Best 64 Poets by Black Mountain Press. His award winning publications include Anthropocene and goat song, short story and poetry collections from UnCollected Press, Maryland.

Poetry

Chris McCabe
Writer and Librarian

Chris McCabe works across poetry, fiction, non-fiction, drama and visual art, that have been shortlisted for the Ted Hughes Award and Republic of Consciousness Prize. His collection, The Triumph of Cancer, is a Poetry Book Society Recommendation. He is Librarian at the National Poetry Library.

Astra Papachristodoulou
Poet and Associate Tutor,  University of Surrey

Astra Papachristodoulou works at The Poetry Society’s Poetry Review and she’s an Associate Tutor in Creative Writing at the University of Surrey. She won the Pebeo Mixed Media Art Prize in 2016, and her visual poetry has been showcased across the UK, including the National Poetry Library, London.

Tim Tim Cheng
Poet

Tim Tim Cheng is a poet from Hong Kong, currently based between Glasgow and London. Her pamphlet Tapping At Glass (VERVE, 2023) was one of Poetry Society Books of the Year. Her collection The Tattoo Collector (Nine Arches Press, 2024) is forthcoming. She translates between Chinese and English.

Oluwaseun S. Olayiwola
Poet and Critic

Oluwaseun (Seun) Olayiwola is a poet, critic, choreographer and performer based in London. He has been published by The Guardian, The Poetry Review, the Telegraph, the Times Literary Supplement and elsewhere. His debut collection is forthcoming from Fitzcarraldo Editions and Soft Skull Press.

Joelle Taylor
Author, Poet and Performer

Joelle Taylor FRSL is the author of poetry collections and a novel. Her most recent collection C+NTO & Othered Poems won the 2021 T.S Eliot Prize, the 2022 Polari Book Prize and a Saboteur Award. Her novel of interconnecting stories The Night Alphabet was published this year. (Photo: Roman Manfredi)