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Alex C

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 core editor.

Interests: All YA and MG genres.

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Naomi J

Naomi has over eight years’ experience working in children’s publishing. She began her career at Puffin (Penguin Random House) before moving to Orion, and then Hachette Children’s Group. Her previous experience as a Rights Manager brings invaluable insight into maximising a book’s sales potential and she has worked closely with both UK and international editors to develop a good knowledge of global publishing markets and trends. Naomi has a BA (Hons) in English Studies from the University of Nottingham and is a keen reader and writer. Naomi’s own books are published by HarperCollins, Penguin Random House, Oxford Children’s Books and Hachette Children’s Group in the UK and have been translated into 19 languages. In 2025 Naomi was shortlisted for the Ruth Rendell Award and in 2024 her picture book Thunderboots won the Reader’s Choice Award for Picture Books at the Diversity Awards, the Derby Picture Book Award and was also shortlisted for The Week Junior Awards. She has been the children’s book reviewer for award winning family travel blog Mini Travellers and a long-listing judge and mentor for the Jericho Prize. Naomi has been working as a freelance editor and mentor helping other children’s writers to develop their manuscripts and craft for over seven years. She is a Cornerstones Industry editor.

Interests: picture books, children’s fiction, YA.

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Clem F

Clem (she/her) is a Bonnier Books UK editor based in Scotland. 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 worked as a freelance developmental editor, copy-editor and proofreader in genre fiction for nearly a decade, and now edits and commissions fiction for Black & White Publishing and Ink Road within BBUK. Her favourite genres are YA, fantasy, commercial fiction and (cosy) crime. When she’s not at work or writing her own novels, she spends her time wild swimming or renovating her cottage with her husband. Clem is a core editor.

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

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Isobel L

Isobel is a freelance reader and editor with a broad range of experience in the publishing industry. As a reader for literary agencies for over five years, she specialises in in-depth, market-focused and approachable feedback that aims to help writers strengthen their manuscripts and bring out their full potential. After graduating and working as a bookseller, Isobel worked in International Sales at Canongate and Translation Rights at Curtis Brown. She now reads for leading UK literary agencies across everything from commercial to literary, romantasy to historical (working on multiple Sunday Times bestselling manuscripts), as well as for literary scouts, where she specialises in SFF, MG and YA.

Interests: upmarket/book club and literary fiction, fantasy and speculative fiction, adult commercial (women’s, historical), MG, YA and crossover.

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Nicky L

Nicky has worked in (and run) the editorial departments of big and small publishers for a decade. She has also worked solidly as a freelance editor for over twenty years. Over the years she has enjoyed working with a huge range of authors – from household names to indies. Nicky’s passion is making your story as good as it can be – and for you to enjoy the editorial process. She has an enduring love of reading. Nicky is a Cornerstones copy-editor and proofreader.

Interests: Adult fiction and non-fiction including commercial women’s, crime (including cosy) and thrillers.

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Nick T

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 core editor.

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

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Vanessa N

Vanessa N is an experienced editor of fiction and memoir. She started out her editorial career at Virago/Little, Brown, working with high-profile literary authors, before moving to become a Commissioning Editor at Random House, buying in and editing fiction and memoir. She’s the author of eleven novels under pseudonyms, published by Sphere, Quercus and Simon & Schuster, and has been published in thirteen countries. She is a dedicated editor and writing mentor, with a passion for helping writers find and develop their voices. Vanessa is a Cornerstones market editor.

Interests: literary fiction, commercial women’s fiction, historical, suspense, book club fiction, and memoir

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Dionne M

Dionne is an American author living in England, who began as a Cornerstones UK editor before managing Cornerstones’s launch into the US. She writes YA, MG and adult fiction, and is represented by Writers House in NYC. She has been a long- and short-list judge for the Bath and Caledonia novel awards since their inception, and a PitchWars mentor since 2014. She previously wrote and edited scripts for TV, and copyedited speeches for President Bill Clinton during his first term. Dionne also currently writes and edits for the Paper Nations project run by Bath Spa University’s English Department. Dionne is a Cornerstones core editor.

Interests: YA and Middle Grade, all adult fiction less Sci-Fi and fantasy

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Will M

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 core editor.

Interests: contemporary adult fiction, literary fiction

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Sangu M

Sangu is the author of YA novel The Lost Girl. (HarperCollins US and Random House UK, 2012) and a forthcoming YA space opera trilogy. She’s currently also working on a new middle grade novel, several picture book projects and a new YA fantasy. She is an experienced editor of children’s fiction and has written a play that was performed by schools in India. She has been an editor and mentor with Cornerstones since 2014. Sangu is a Cornerstones core editor.

Interests: all picture book genres, YA and MG science fiction, fantasy, contemporary and historical

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Ayisha M

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

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Em M

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 core 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.

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Antonia M

Antonia is an experienced editor, writer and tutor and an Advanced Professional Member of CIEP. With 30 years in book publishing, she provides a range of editorial services for both non-fiction and fiction. She is an industry development editor and copy-editor/proofreader, specialising in children’s fiction, memoir, commercial fiction and narrative non-fiction. She writes for children and her debut middle-grade novel Terra Electrica: The Guardians of the North (Book 1) publishes in 2024 with Neem Tree Press. As well as teaching editorial skills, she offers mentoring and manuscript development services to indie authors, and leads creative writing workshops and guest lectures on editing and writing. She is a Cornerstones Industry editor, as well as a Copy-Editor and Proofreader.

Interests: commercial non-fiction, memoir, children’s (MG and YA fiction and non-fiction), literary and commercial fiction

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Frances M

Frances Moloney has worked in children's publishing for over ten years. Starting out as a bookseller at Waterstones, she has worked for some of the world's largest publishing houses, Simon and Schuster and Hachette, and with independents Nosy Crow, Flying Eye and Knights Of, amongst others. She has worked with a range of bestselling and award-winning children's authors such as Holly Webb, Jonathan Meres, Pippa Goodhart and Berlie Doherty. Her debut novel for middle grade readers, The Mystery of the Missing Mum, is published by Pushkin Children's in August 2022. Frances is an industry editor.

Interests: Books with heart. Children's, middle grade, series fiction, young adult, teen, tween and picture books.

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Mark L

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 core editor.

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

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Kate L

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

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Titania K

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 has practised yoga for years and has attended workshops and read widely in the mindfulness/well-being area.

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

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

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Shabnom K

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

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Nick H

Nick has a wealth of editorial experience in trade publishing. He worked for over nine years at Bloomsbury Publishing on books by such authors as Kate Summerscale, David Kynaston, Magnus Mills, and Will Self, and more recently commissioned and published a range of non-fiction at Penguin Random House. An energetic and creative editor, he has a strong commercial instinct and a passion for a wide variety of fiction and non-fiction. Nick is a Cornerstones industry editor.

Interests: nonfiction, literary fiction, historical fiction, thriller/psychological

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Rowena H

Rowena is a journalist and a prize-winning short story writer, published by Andersen Press, with her debut novel out with Walker Children’s Books in 2018. She has a MA in Writing for Young People from Bath Spa University (passed with distinction). She’s appeared at the Bath Children’s Literature Festival, runs creative writing sessions on adult and young people’s fiction, and judges a south Devon short story competition. Rowena blogs about writing techniques and developments in the publishing industry on the Scattered Authors’ Society’s Awfully Big Blog Adventure. Rowena is a Cornerstones core editor.

Interests: Teen & YA, historical including military & wars, literary & commercial fiction including teen romance

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