Hélène is a writer and editor of illustrated books for children of all ages, from babies to YA. While teaching Primary and Early Years, she gained her MEd in Children’s Literature at Cambridge University, specialising in picture books. She began her publishing career in 2015 at DK, writing and editing fiction and non-fiction books for children and teens about everything from wildlife to myths, history to engineering. Her first book, Look I’m a Scientist, won the School Library Association's Information Book Award in 2018. In 2019, she moved to Penguin Random House, where she edited dozens of books for the legendary Ladybird imprint. While at PRH, she mentored new authors as part of the WriteNow scheme. She now works as a freelance editor alongside writing her own books. Hélène is a Cornerstones market editor.

Interests: picture books, illustrated non-fiction, myths and legends, nerd culture, anything offbeat, odd, and quirky, books that make growing up feel a little bit magical

Richard is a prizewinning writer of fiction and poetry. In 2020, his YA novel ‘The Wolf Road’ was a book of the year in the Sunday Times, Guardian and Financial Times, longlisted for the Carnegie Award and won the Mal Peet Award. He has since published two MG novels, ‘Shadow Town’ and ‘The Republic of Dreams’, books of the year in the Times and Guardian respectively. His novels were published by Everything with Words. Richard also writes contemporary and literary fiction; his stories have been shortlisted for the Sunday Times Short Story award and won the Fish Short Story prize. He has published two poetry collections. His second, ‘The Nameless Places’, came out with Arc. From 2022-2024 he was a Royal Literary Fund Fellow at the University of East Anglia, working one-to-one with students on their writing. He has an MA in Creative Writing from UEA, and has delivered more than 40 creative-writing workshops across the UK. Richard is a Cornerstones Market editor.

Interests: MG, YA, Contemporary and Literary Fiction, Poetry.

Laura Marshall is the Sunday Times top ten and Kindle No. 1 bestselling author of five psychological thrillers. Her debut novel, FRIEND REQUEST, was published by Sphere (Little, Brown) in 2017 and sold over half a million copies in the UK alone. It was translated into twenty-five languages and optioned for TV. She went on to have a further three bestselling novels (THREE LITTLE LIES, THE ANNIVERSARY and MY HUSBAND’S KILLER) published by Sphere. Her fifth novel A GOOD PLACE TO HIDE A BODY was optioned for TV prior to its publication by Hodder & Stoughton in July 2024, and a sixth novel is coming from the same publisher in 2025. Laura also works as a freelance editor and mentor and has a strong instinct for commercial fiction and what makes a story spring off the page. She is a Cornerstones Market editor.

Interests: commercial fiction/crime/suspense/psychological thriller.

Clare is a middle grade author. Her debut, The Unexpected Tale of Bastien Bonlivre (2021, Usborne) was selected as a Waterstones Children’s Book of the Month. The historical mystery, influenced by Clare’s passion for languages and her time studying French at university, went onto be a bestseller and its sequel, and The Bad Brothers, was published the following summer. Clare’s latest middle grade eco-adventure The Wanderdays: Journey to Fantome Island published in summer 2024 (Usborne) and she is currently working on another Wanderdays adventure due to be published next year.

She has visited hundreds of schools for creative writing workshops and has an in-depth, commercial knowledge of the middle grade market and the children's publishing landscape. She has a real passion for working with middle grade writers to create the best possible characters and stories for children. 

In addition, Clare has worked in publishing for over eight years and created the W&A Working-Class Writers’ Prize in 2018 where she reads and offers feedback on every submission. She was also a judge for the 2023 and 2024 Sadie Massey Portico Prize and, most recently, wrote her first mystery play, The Book of Eternity, for the Northern Opera Group which toured venues across Yorkshire. Clare is a Cornerstones Market editor.

Interests: All middle grade genres, with a particular love for adventure, mystery, historical, horror.

Alex writes under both Alex Campbell and Alex Cotter and has published YA and middle grade (MG) novels. Her MG titles, ‘The Mermaid Call’ and ‘The House on the Edge’, have recently been published with Nosy Crow. ‘The House on the Edge’ was chosen as a WHSmith Travel Book of the Month and she has a third MG story coming out in October 2023. Alex is also the author of YA novels with Hot Key Books, ‘Land’ and ‘Cloud 9’, with ‘Land’ being nominated for the CLIP Carnegie Award 2016.

In addition to her fiction writing, Alex is an experienced copywriter and mentor for writers across all genres. Plus, she works as an Associate Lecturer in Creative Writing for Young People at Bath Spa University. Alex is a Cornerstones Market editor.

Interests: All YA and MG genres.

Clem Flanagan (she/her) is an editor with a decade of experience in publishing, including four years at Bonnier Books UK. She has an MLitt in Publishing Studies from the University of Stirling and a BA in Creative Writing and English Literature from the London Metropolitan University, and was longlisted for the 2019 Mslexia Novel Competition. She has completed the CIEP's Copy-Editing 1 and 2 courses. She specialises in romance, commercial fiction, fantasy and YA. Clem is a Market editor.

Interests: commercial fiction, YA, fantasy, crime and romance.

Ericka was born in Hertfordshire, and has lived in Brighton for over half her life. Her debut novel, Dog Days, was published by Doubleday in 2021. Her second novel, Goodbye Birdie Greenwing, was published in 2024. Ericka is an award-winning blogger, and her weekly ‘Fresh voice’ column for the Argus Newspaper won Columnist of the year in the Regional Press Awards 2015. She completed the Faber Academy 2018-2019, and runs writing classes for secondary school children as well as mentoring services. Ericka is a very keen fiction reader and dog lover, and is a Cornerstones Market editor.

Interests: commercial and literary fiction – anything character led!

Lou has helped countless numbers of writers with written and one-on-one feedback and has over 25 years’ experience as a tutor. She studied Drama at the University of East Anglia, taught Drama, then returned to UEA to do their MA in Creative Writing, publishing two novels with Headline Review, The Water’s Edge and The Haven Home for Delinquent Girls. Lou then did a PhD, went travelling, and started a family while working full-time as a university lecturer. She left her job in 2017 to find more time to write. Poetry credits include Perverse, Rialto, Under the Radar and Shearsman, and her short story collection, Unusual Places, came out in 2018. She has since self-published several guides to the writing process. Lou currently teaches Creative Writing part-time for the Open University and has worked with New Writing South and Creative Future as well as several other community organisations. She is a Cornerstones Market editor.

Interests: Quirky or weird fiction, coming of age stories, literary fiction, murder mysteries, self-help, short stories, neurodivergent or LGBTQ+ writing.

Nick is a fiction writer and freelance editor. His first novel, comic coming-of-age story Saint Valentine, was published by Transworld in 2003; former Children’s Laureate Jacqueline Wilson said of its protagonist: ‘I wish I’d invented him.’ His creepy middle-grade Molly Thompson series, published by Walker Books, has been optioned for television by Netflix. He was a regular columnist for a national magazine for over a decade, and has been an English teacher and Academic Learning Mentor. Nick is a Cornerstones Market editor.

Interests: middle grade and YA fiction, mystery, horror, humour, fantasy, coming-of-age stories, memoir, self-help and personal development.

Annabel is an Oxford University English graduate and a multi-award winning children’s author whose work is published in over twenty countries. Her first novel, My Sister Lives on the Mantelpiece, won the Branford Boase Award for most outstanding debut in 2011, and was shortlisted for several major literary awards including the Carnegie Medal. Her second book, Ketchup Clouds, was named the Waterstones Children’s Book of the Year in 2013 and won an Edgar Award in the USA for best young adult fiction. Her third novel, Silence is Goldfish, was published in 2015 to great critical acclaim and her fourth novel, The Last Days of Archie Maxwell, was published in November 2017. She has also recently signed a three-book picture book deal with Hachette. Annabel has tutored on Arvon courses and has been a guest lecturer at Bath Spa and Sheffield Hallam Universities on their creative writing courses, and is a regular reviewer of children and young adult fiction for The Guardian. Annabel is a Cornerstones Market editor.

Interests: children's fiction, young adult fiction, picture books.

Susannah worked for seven years at Rogers, Coleridge and White literary agency with a UK agent and in Foreign Rights with clients such as Francesca Segal and Owen Sheers. She was Managing Editor of the Jewish Quarterly for five years publishing work by writers including Naomi Alderman, Cynthia Ozick and Adam Foulds. Susannah is a Cornerstones market editor.

Interests: Literary fiction, commercial fiction, women's fiction

Will’s writing on travel, culture, politics and other subjects has appeared on sites including BBC Travel, Slate, OpenDemocracy, the Calvert Journal and Roads and Kingdoms, among others. He is also the founder and editor of the culture and travel site Deep Baltic. He has completed a large number of reports and successfully mentored a range of authors for Cornerstones over the last few years, including guiding Daniel Godfrey’s New Pompeii (Titan Books) to publication. Will is a Cornerstones Market editor.

Interests: contemporary adult fiction, literary fiction.

Terri is the award-winning author of The Oaklands Manor trilogy, the Penhaligon Saga, and the Fox Bay Saga. She currently writes family sagas for Little, Brown, and crime thrillers for Hobeck Books. Terri has also self-published The Lynher Mill Chronicles, a series of Mythic Fantasy books, and as a hybrid author she is keen to help writers at all stages of their careers find the perfect path for their work. Terri is a Cornerstones Market editor.

Interests: crime/thriller, historical fiction, family sagas, women's fiction, fantasy, commercial fiction.

Ayisha began her publishing career at Penguin Random House, joining Cornerstones Literary Consultancy as editorial assistant in 2010 where she became managing editor within her first year. She holds an MA in Creative Writing and her debut novel, Sofia Khan is Not Obliged, Bonnier, was published in January 2016, a WH Smith’s Fresh Talent pick. This Green and Pleasant Land was published by Zaffre Books in 2019. She now writes full-time and also works as a ghostwriter. Ayisha is a Cornerstones market editor.

Interests: General Fiction, Commercial Fiction

Em is a novelist and prose fiction author with an MA in Creative Writing from Bath Spa University. Their debut novel, And This is True, was published by Sceptre in 2010 and shortlisted for The Dylan Thomas Prize, The Saltire Scottish First Book Award and the Readers’ First Book Award at Edinburgh’s International Literary Festival. Their second novel, In Search of Solace, was published in 2014 (Sceptre) and longlisted for the Green Canation Prize and the Folio Prize. Em has coordinated and facilitated creative writing workshops, mentoring sessions, writing retreats and gives talks to schools, universities and extracurricular groups about the writing and publishing process. They have been a freelance literary consultant since 2009. Em is a Cornerstones Market editor.

Interests: adult commercial or literary fiction (any genre), experimental writing, character-based novels, themes on identity, familial conflict, nature writing and memoir, landscape and the environment, spirituality, mindfulness.

Mark is the author of three thrillers and a former specialist in Technology Disaster Recovery for oil companies and global banks. He is member of the author touring group ‘Four Blokes In Search of a Plot’, a show which performs in theatres and arts venues around Scotland, which writes a very short crime novel live on stage, while discussing all the aspects of being a writer. He has appeared at festivals across Scotland and was invited to Thrillerfest in New York for three years running. He is represented by a leading London literary agency. Mark is a Cornerstones Market editor.

Interests: Crime, thriller, techo-thriller, speculative, psychological, commercial fiction, fantasy and science fiction.

Kate is the author of six picture books including the best-selling Santa’s Suit (Campbell Books). Kate reviews picture books for IBBY and is passionate about the picture book as a vibrant, inclusive art form. Her MG work-in-progress was shortlisted in the 2020 Wells Festival of Literature Children’s Novel Competition. Kate is also a prize-winning writer of short stories, flash fiction and poetry, with work placed at the Winchester Festival, the WRITE Festival, Bath Flash Fiction Award and Shoreham Wordfest and published in three anthologies. Kate has a PhD in Creative Writing specialising in maps in children’s books and has been an editor and mentor for Cornerstones since 2008. Kate is a Cornerstones market editor.

Interests: Picture books, chapter books for young readers and middle grade fiction up to age 12

Titania is a writer/director/dramaturge with a background in theatre. She has had several plays produced and has published shorts with Scholastic. She holds an MA in Writing for Young People from Bath Spa, and was a reader for The Times Chickenhouse Prize. For eight years she read and critiqued playscripts for Paines Plough New Writing Theatre Company. She won an Off West End Theatre Award for her dramaturgy on ‘As Long as we are Breathing’, by Diane Samuels. Titania is currently writing consultant on a story-based well-being app and VR Game, Embody XR, with Mercurial Theatre. She has practised yoga for years and has attended workshops and read widely in the mindfulness/well-being area.

Titania has also edited an anthology of children’s poems and stories aged 0-18, ‘Northern Dreaming’ published by Leeds 2023 & British Library. In 2023 she was granted Arts Council funding to develop her creative practice as a writer/director for audio. She has been an editor and mentor with Cornerstones for over ten years, and Titania is a Market editor.

Interests: women’s fiction, literary, commercial, thrillers, under-represented voices, well-being, children’s/YA.

Shabnom is based in London and has a BA in English Literature from Oxford. She is an experienced editor who has edited novels across the commercial, literary and YA fiction genres with a warm, knowledgeable and detailed approach to manuscripts. She is particularly experienced with literary agent submissions with several years of experience as a submissions reader for agents and literary scouts. Shabnom reviews fiction for the Sunday Times, and she is a market editor.

Interests: adult commercial and literary fiction, historical fiction, women’s fiction, older YA, science fiction, fantasy, crime/thriller/mystery, genre fiction

Anna writes fiction, stage, screen, opera and journalism. She has won Writers Guild, Time Out and Yeovil Fiction awards and has been shortlisted for the Bridport Prize and others. She has over 30 years’ experience in dramaturgy, creative writing teaching, coaching and mentoring, and has been a Royal Literary Fund Fellow since 2005, working across the UCLH Trust as a writer-on-call, and has been an editor and mentor at Cornerstones since 2010.

She is passionate about helping writers at all stages gain confidence to tell their stories and find their voice. Anna is a Cornerstones Market editor.

Interests: short story, contemporary literary fiction, women’s fiction, historical, commercial, and anything quirky, unique, experimental.