Q: What do a moving and musical debut collection of poetry exploring grief, love and the power of community, an unputdownable eco-feminist debut that examines the climate crisis and a compelling original novel that explores the philosophical issue of the mind-body problem have in common?
A: All of their authors live, work and are inspired by our region!
 
Join Lisa Brennan from Suffolk Libraries as she sits down and chats to authors Ashley Hickson-Lovence, Emily Buchanan and Katie Ward about their brilliant books and what being a writer in East Anglia means as far a networks, opportunities and inspiration are concerned.
 
Ashley Hickson-Lovence is the author of The 392, Your Show, Wild East—overall winner of the East Anglian Book Awards 2024, and a poetry collection Why I am Not a Bus Driver. He has a PhD in Creative and Critical Writing from the University of East Anglia. His nominations include the Black Excellence Award for Outstanding Contribution to Literature 2023 and the Carnegie Medal for Writing 2025. His forthcoming novel About to Fall Apart will be released with Faber in April 2026.
 
Emily Buchanan is an author and environmental activist from Thanet. She studied English Literature at the University of East Anglia, graduating with a first-class Creative Writing dissertation. She worked for Greenpeace as a Creative Campaigner before freelancing as a graphic designer and illustrator for non-profits. Notable campaign wins include the UK fracking ban, Shell abandoning its search for oil in the Arctic and most recently, the UN agreeing to protect 30% of the world's oceans by 2030. Emily wrote her first novel at twelve - a bedtime story for her little sister - and has been telling stories in one way or another ever since. She lives in Norwich with
her pianist spouse and a brood of four-legged friends. Send Flowers is her debut novel.
 
Katie Ward is an award-winning author from Suffolk. Her new contemporary novel, Pathways, is out now in paperback (Little, Brown 2025). 
Katie’s debut novel, Girl Reading, was published in the UK, US and South Korea. It was a Cactus TV Book Club selection on Channel 4, and a book of the week on the Oprah Blog. She received the Clarissa Luard Award in 2013.
Katie leads Wolsey Writers, a creative writing group that meets on the first Saturday of the month at New Wolsey Theatre, Ipswich. Her recent feature in the Guardian, ‘Hilary Mantel was my mentor. Here are seven things she taught me about writing – and life,’ went viral. Previous roles have included: lecturer in creative writing at University of Suffolk on the BA and MA courses; co-leader of INK Festival Scriptwriting Forum, Ipswich Waterfront; and in 2022, she was commissioned to write an episode of The Easts, a radio drama for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.
Web katieward.co.uk Socials @katiewardwriter & @WolseyWriters