Happy Here: 10 Stories from Black British Authors

Sharna Jackson is an author and Artistic Director who specialises in developing and delivering socially-engaged digital initiatives for children and young people across culture, publishing and entertainment. Sharna has written five books including Tate Kids British Art Activity Book, Tate Kids Modern Art Activity Book and High Rise Mystery – the first in a middle-grade series featuring the sibling detective duo everyone’s dying to meet. She was named one of The Booksellers Rising Stars in 2013.

Patrice Lawrence was born in Brighton and brought up in an Italian-Trinidadian household in Mid Sussex. Patrice lives in east London and shares a cat called Stormageddon. She has been writing for as long as she has been reading. She loves crime fiction, sci-fi and trying to grow things. Her ideal mixtape includes drum 'n' bass, Bruce Springsteen and Studio Ghibli soundtracks. Music can't help creeping into her books. Her debut novel, Orangeboy, won the Waterstone's Book Prize for Older Readers and the YA Book Prize, and her second novel, Indigo Donut, won the Crime Fest Best Crime Fiction for Young Adults and was shortlisted for the YA Book Prize.

Dean Atta’s poems deal with themes of race, gender, and identity. He regularly performs across the UK and internationally and his work has been shortlisted for the Polari First Book Prize and appeared on MTV and BET. The Black Flamingo is his debut YA novel. You can find him online at www.deanatta.com.

Joseph Coelho, Children's Laureate for 2022–2024, is a performance poet, children’s author, playwright and winner of the Centre for Literacy in Primary Education Poetry Award 2015 for his debut poetry collection Werewolf Club Rules. Joe has written plays for the Polka Theatre, Soho Theatre and the Unicorn Theatre and creates dynamic poetry theatre pieces for young people that he tours nationally. He also performs with the UK's top performance poetry organisation, Apples and Snakes, visiting venues across the UK.

Kereen Getten is the author of the critically acclaimed novel, When Life Gives You Mangos. She grew up in Jamaica but now lives in Birmingham with her family. She has previously written short stories for multiple publications including Notts Review and Adhoc Fiction. She was nominated for Best Short Fiction 2018 and highly commended for the FAB prize.

Theresa Lola is a British Nigerian writer and poet based in London. She has been commissioned by Selfridges, Aesop, National Gallery, and Regent Street. Lola was also a senior judge for The Queen’s Commonwealth Essay Competition 2019. In 2019 she was appointed the 2019/2020 Young People's Laureate for London. She has facilitated writing workshops at St Mary's University and University of Surrey, and schools such as Saint Gabriel's College and St Marylebone School.

Emma Norry is a rising star as a writer with a particular interest in exploring difficult issues and complex characters in a realistic contemporary and accessible style. Emma has a BA (Hons) in Film and an MA in Screenwriting and her short stories for adults have been placed in various competitions (Rhys Davis Award, West Sussex Writers), anthologies (NFFD, Reflex Press), as well as shortlisted for the Fish Short Story Award and longlisted for the S1 Leeds Literary Prize.

Jasmine Richards was born in London, grew up in a library, and was the first in her family to go to university. After graduating from Oxford she had a brief stint at New Scotland Yard, then chose a career in publishing over being the next Sherlock Holmes. Today Jasmine is a senior editor at a leading British publishing house and lives in the Cotswolds with her husband and two children.

Alexandra Sheppard was born in North London to a Jamaican mother and English father. Oh My Gods was her first YA novel and was published by Scholastic. Alex then wrote Fly High Crew in collaboration with the Banjo Brothers, which was published by Scholastic in April 2021.

Yomi Sode is a spoken word artist, poet and MC. He has appeared at Yahoo! Wireless Festival, Latitude, Lovebox, Olympic Village, Sadler’s Wells Theatre, Channel 4 and BBC Radio 1xtra, and has had work commissioned by The Mayor’s Office and BBC World Service/BBC Africa. Yomi was selected as one of ten Poets to join The Complete Works in 2016, a national development programme for advanced Black and Asian writers.

Nicole Davis graduated from Middlesex University with a BA honours in Acting. She is best known as one of the original presenters on CBeebies. Her television work also includes Casualty, Moses Jones and Sinchronicity. Nicole also works with young people facilitating Drama sessions in schools and youth clubs.

Theo Solomon is an actor who has worked extensively on stage, screen and in the voiceover world. He is the voice of Lenny the Lizard in Rhyme Time Town. He has a growing reputation as an audiobook narrator, most recently winning an Earphones Award for The Book of Koli. On screen he appeared in Sky’s Temple and BBC’s Enterprice. On stage he played a lead in the Old Vic’s Woyzeck, toured Hamlet and performed the award-winning play Shebeen in London and Nottingham.