About

At Spread the Word, Laura manages the organisation’s communications and oversees a variety of projects, including the City of Stories, the London Short Story Prize, Life Writing Prize and Flight 1000.

Laura has worked with a diverse range of audiences within the arts. After studying English Literature at Cardiff University, she gained an MA in Writing for Stage and Broadcast Media at Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. She has produced live art, comedy and theatre shows in London and at the Edinburgh Festival. She has also worked for Arts Award and Artsmark, The National Literacy Trust, as a local authority arts officer, a social care worker working with young asylum seekers and as a youth worker. She is passionate about enabling access to high quality writing opportunities and nurturing writing and creative talent. Laura joined Spread the Word in 2013.

She has judged writing prizes including the UCL Publishers’ Prize and Warwick University young people’s Shakespeare writing competition, written forewords and edited poetry and short story anthologies. In her spare time she pursues her own fiction, script and poetry writing and loves comedy.

Summary of work

Spread the Word is London’s writer development agency, which means we are here to help London’s writers make their mark – on the page, the screen and in the world. We do this by kick starting the careers of London’s best new writers, and energetically campaigning to ensure that publishing truly reflects the diversity of the city. We support the creative and professional development of writing talent, by engaging those already interested in literature and those who will be, and by advocating on behalf of both. Spread the Word is committed, collaborative and adventurous.

Operating in one of the most diverse and creative cities in the world, our work is focused on:

• Writers having the time, space and money to produce quality work and live as a writer;
• Readers and audiences experiencing a greater range of writing produced by London’s writers;
• More diverse writers being published by publishing houses and other media.

Summary of work to develop

Spread the Word is keen to nurture new and existing partnerships with organisations and individuals with a keen interest in collaboration around the areas of work we are focused on developing; encouraging and nurturing representation in literature and developing opportunities for writers to work and collaborate internationally. I am interested in developing literature projects that examine and interrogate empathy, kindness and generosity in a post Brexit, Trump society.

Contact

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