About the Women Writers Network
The Women Writers Network is a volunteer organization that seeks to raise awareness of the work of women writers, mainly through our Twitter account and Tweetchats. We originally came together in 2016 through Women Writers School, a business founded by Laurie Garrison, that taught online marketing skills to creative writers. Her mission was to raise awareness of sexism in publishing and encourage women writers to collectively support each other in order to overcome its negative effects.
Our members are creative writers who have been published by Unbound, Mslexia, Comma Press, Dear Damsels, Palgrave Macmillan, The F Word and others. We have given talks at Bridport, Oxford, Cheltenham and Ilkley Literary Festivals, to name a few. Several of us have MAs in creative writing and others have higher degrees in English Literature. We are based in the UK, USA, France and Switzerland. Our career backgrounds include research science, university lecturing, medical publishing and teaching. In short, we are a very diverse group of women writers.
Our Members
Sandy Bennett-Haber is an Edinburgh-based Australian writer. With a husband and two young sons, she writes amongst the hubbub of family life. Editor of You Won’t Remember This—Travel with Babies, Sandy has published short stories and creative nonfiction and is currently writing a speculative fiction novel.
Liz Champion is a writer, teacher, and communications specialist from Yorkshire. She has an MA in creative writing (Sheffield Hallam University) and degrees in English literature, journalism and teaching. Her first book, Cake, Anyone? Scenes from Everyday Life in Extraordinary Times was published in 2020. She loves books, cake, tea and running.
Helen Taylor is the author of the novel The Backstreets of Purgatory (Unbound, 2018). Before becoming a writer, she was a doctor and a research scientist. She has an MA in creative writing (Lancaster University) and lives in France, where she is working on a second novel and a mental health memoir.
Valeria Vescina is an author of literary fiction, creative-writing tutor, book and opera reviewer, and director of the Hampstead Arts Festival’s literary programme. Her debut novel, That Summer in Puglia (Eyewear), is in its third print run; she’s currently writing her second novel. Valeria is a graduate of the Goldsmiths MA in Creative and Life Writing.
Sarah Tinsley is a British writer living in France. Her short fiction and articles have been published widely, including the Huffington Post and Litro. Her forthcoming first novel won won an editorial prize and was long listed for an agency prize.
Rita E. Gould is a blogger, freelance writer and editor with an MA in English from Rutgers. She spent the first ten years of her editing career working in Philadelphia’s medical publishing industry. Her current creative writing project is a collection of short stories exploring family dynamics.
Gail Aldwin’s debut novel The String Games was a finalist in The People’s Book Prize 2020 and shortlisted in the DLF Writing Prize. Her first children’s picture book Pandemonium was published in 2020. Prior to Covid-19, Gail volunteered at Bidibidi in Uganda, the second largest refugee settlement in the world.
Nastasya Parker’s contemporary literary fiction has appeared in two Bristol Short Story Prize anthologies, Perhappened magazine, and The Phare. She’s currently editing her irreverent novel giving Eve’s perspective on the creation myth, and blogging about the random stories we find in daily life.
Laurie Garrison is the founder of Women Writers School, which transformed from a small business into the Women Writers Network volunteer organization. She is the author of an academic monograph titled Science, Sexuality and Sensation Novels as well as a list of original research publications on Victorian literature and history.
Beverley Ward is a writer, facilitator, consultant and writing coach. She was the winner of the Andrea Badenoch Award at the Northern Writers Awards 2013 and has published three books: Archie Nolan: Family Detective, Dear Blacksmith: A Journey of Love and Loss and Writing Revolution: Tips and Ideas for Young Writers.