The Laureate Squad

Andrew McGuinness

Andrew has lectured at five universities: Northumbria, Glasgow, Manchester, Kent and Canterbury Christ Church. He has been teaching Creative Writing at the University of Kent for the past four years. In 2009-10, he will be teaching the subject at all levels, including an MA in Prose Fiction. He has an MA in History, MA in Creative Writing, and a PGCE. He has taught at many primary and secondary schools. In 2008-9, he was writer-in-residence at Dover Grammar School for Boys.

Andrew has published fiction, non-fiction, poetry and literary criticism. His first book, A Guide to British Medieval Seals (British Library and University of Toronto) remains a key text. His debut novel, A Portrait of the Arsonist as a Young Man (bluechrome) was published in February 2009, and will be followed by a collection of short stories, Kafka's Chair and Other Stories (bluechrome) later this year. He won first prize in The New Writer international short story competition in 2005, which led to his judging the competition in 2007. He has won several other regional and national competitions and appeared on the final shortlist for the International Fish Short Story Prize three times He won the Freeman of England and Wales Prize for an extended essay on late medieval Canterbury. His short stories, poems and essays have appeared in literary magazines and on-line. Andrew was Fiction Editor for Night Train 5 in 2007 and sat on the editorial board of Connections literary magazine for two years. He has organised and taken part in literary events, including Whitstable WordFest and Canterbury Festival's series in association with The Man Booker Prize in 2008.

Danny Rhodes

Danny's debut novel Asboville (Maia Press) was selected as a Waterstones Paperback of the Year 2006 and subsequently long-listed for the Waverton Good Read Award. It is currently being adapted for BBC Films by the dramatist Nick Leather. Soldier Boy (Maia Press), his second novel, was published in 2009. His short stories have been published in the UK and the US. He is represented by the Curtis Brown Literary Agency.

Danny has worked with a number of Literary Festivals across the UK, including Canterbury Festival's series in association with The Man Booker Prize in 2008. He teaches English at secondary level and is an Associate Lecturer in Creative Writing for the Open University.

Gary Studley

Gary writes poetry, plays and prose pieces. He won the University of Kent's T.S. Eliot prize in 2007. He is a committee member and active participant in Save As writers' group (www.saveaswriters.co.uk) and The Deal Writers, (www.dealwriters.co.uk). Gary helped edit the University of Kent's Logos magazine, the Night Train collections, Statement for the Prosecution (for Amnesty International), and others. He is one of the trio of poets behind the collection Stubborn Mule Orchestra, published by their independent publishing house, Stubborn Mule Books, which also published Save As' inaugural anthology, Between the Lines. Holding a BA Hons in Fine Art and MA in Printmaking, Gary also designed the cover artwork for both publications.

At the Earthworks Conference 2008, Gary showcased CornerStone Writers, an initiative designed to publicise and connect writers across Kent. In addition Gary helps organise the monthly Poetry Evenings at Orange Street Music Club in Canterbury and leads workshops at the venue and libraries across the area. Gary has performed at Write Now in Canterbury city centre; Lark in the Park; Broadstairs and Herne Bay Festivals and Covent Garden's Poetry Café. He organised Words and Beats at Alberry's as part of Canterbury Festival Fringe 2008.

Gary is also a Primary teacher and is currently involved in two cross-educational and community based projects.

Vicky Wilson

Vicky was Canterbury Festival Poet of the Year 2007-2008. She began writing poetry on a creative writing course at the University of Kent and her poems have been published in Acumen, Brittle Star, Equinox, The Interpreter's House, Logos, Orbis and South magazines and in the anthologies Canterbury Poet of the Year 2007 (Canterbury Festival, 2007), My Mother Threw Knives (Second Light Publications, 2006) and Night Train 2 (Night Train Press, 2004). She was runner-up in the University of Kent's T.S. Eliot Memorial Competition in 2004 and in the Split the Lark competition in 2006. She has performed her poems and has been a guest reader in several venues in Kent and London.

Vicky has worked in book and magazine publishing for 30 years, as an editor and writer specializing in art, architecture and film. In the early 1990s she co-founded and ran Scarlet Press, a publisher of cutting-edge feminist non-fiction. She is a regular film reviewer for the BFI's Sight and Sound magazine and the author of Kids London (Ellipsis, 2000) and London Houses: a handbook for visitors (Batsford, 2002).

Vicky is currently training to become a teacher, specialising in modern foreign languages.

The Laureate Squad are artists in residence at the Little Blue Hut to find out more and read their blog visit http://www.creativecanterbury.com/buildpage.php?id=97