Story Machine has supported talented writers and artists to access funding and create new work. Find out more about them here.

Usha Rowan is a former English teacher who received National Lottery Project Grant funding from Arts Council England to write her first novel, Milkman’s Son, which is set in Uganda

Adam Sharp was awarded Developing Your Creative Practice funding from Arts Council England to research and write a memoir, provisionally entitled Heroin Baby, which explores the experience of having drug-addicted punk-rocker parents.

Shazia Atlaf received funding through National Lottery Project Grants from Arts Council England to complete her debut novel, Jammed Ascent, the story of a Kashmiri-British family and the gnarly hand of history. Throughout her project she will also offer support to other working-class British Asian writers.

Seema McArdle secured Developing Your Creative Practice funding to write her Key Stage 2 hostory book currently titled ‘Saira Parker & Joe Butler Investigate The Golden Goblet’. It follows a British Asan girl and her friend who travel back to Tudor times and meet John Blanke, the black trmpeter who served in the court of Henry VIII.

Kate Jefford is a writer, journalist, script-writer, and stand-up comedian. She secured Developing Your Creative Practice funding from Arts Council England to complete a short story collection, Picasso’s Face.

James McDermott is a poet, playwrite, and teacher of creative writing. He received Developing Your Creative Practice funding from Arts Council England to write his second poetry collection, Naturally. It explores the nature of queerness, the naturalness of queerness, and the queerness of nature.

Salli Hepworth-Smith was granted funding by Arts Council England throigh their National Lottery Project Grants to complete her debut novel Beautiful Monsters and Forgotten Gods, a novel exploring domestic abuse and post-trauma recovery, and to work with the Sue Lambert Trust to programme and deliver a course of writing therapy workshops for survivors of assault and long-term trauma.

Jenny Knight received Developing Your Creative Practice funding from Arts Council England to write her novel, To Invisibility and Beyond, a bittersweet comedy-drama about women doing the right thing the wrong way and trying to make sense – and the best – of life beyond fifty.

Nichola Ibe was granted Developing Your Creative Practice funding from Arts Council England to complete The Choices We Make, a novel exploring a mother’s struggle to survive once she’s placed on the kidney transplant list.

Cyber-security expert Denease Beardon received funding through Developing Your Creative Practice to complete her second novel, The Feathered Nest, and expand her practice into psychological thrillers.

Sandra Jensen secured funding from Arts Council England through their National Lottery Project Grants to complete her debut novel, Seagull Pie and support other people suffering with disability and ill-health to enjoy and develop their creativity.