About the Webinar

Got any questions about starting your novel off strong? Our Ultimate Start tutors will be hosting a dedicated Q&A session to address any questions or ideas.

Please note: Due to the UK solar eclipse, this event will now start at 7:30 PM UK time.​​​​​​​

Philip Womack​​​​​​​
After graduating with a degree in Classics and English, he worked at Literary Review for four years, before becoming freelance in 2008 on publication of his first novel, The Other Book. Six novels for children followed, including The Liberators, The Double Axe and The Arrow of Apollo, and his first non-fiction work for adults, How to Teach Classics to Your Dog, was published in October 2020.

He teaches Creative Writing to BA and MA students at London University, and has been a literary critic for nearly twenty years, as well as a freelance journalist for a variety of national newspapers and magazines, writing on topics such as education and literature, and even an article on pyjamas for Tatler magazine. He is currently on the Management Committee of the   Society of Authors  and a Contributing Editor to   Literary Review.

Awais Khan
Awais Khan is the author of critically acclaimed bestseller, In the Company of Strangers  (Simon & Schuster), and Woman and Home Best Book of 2021,  No Honour  (Orenda Books). Awais lectures on creative writing at Durham University, American University in Dubai, Canadian University in Dubai, and the United States Educational Foundation of Pakistan. He has had work in The Aleph Review, The Hindu, Missing Slate, MODE, The News International, and  Daily Times. He's represented by Annette Crossland at A for Authors Agency Ltd London.

Sam Jordison​​​​​​​
​​​​​​​Sam Jordison is an author and co-director at   Galley Beggar Press, the award-winning indie press.

He has extensive editorial experience and knowledge of the book world – and has also been on the other side of the fence, having written several best-selling works of non-fiction, including the notorious Crap Towns series (Boxtree, Pan Macmillan), the best-selling I Spy for adults series, a book about Literary London (co-authored with Eloise Millar), political books like Enemies Of The People and The 10 Worst Of Everything.

As a journalist, he mainly writes for The Guardian, and mainly about books. He runs the   Not The Booker Prize, and the Guardian’s online book club,   The Reading Group. He has also taught about publishing on several Creative Writing university courses, as well as teaching a course on publishing at Greenwich University and journalism at UEA.