How to Get Published

Thousands of books are written every year – but how do you ensure yours is one that makes it into print? In this informative panel, five authors based in and around Guildford will share their paths to publication. With a wealth of tips and information - spanning fiction for both adults and children, as well as non-fiction - this event is for anyone who dreams of seeing their words in print.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Alice Fowler is an award-winning writer of short stories and longer fiction. Her debut short story collection, The Truth Has Arms and Legs, was published in July 2023 by Fly On The Wall Press, an independent press based near Manchester. She has won the Historical Writers’ Association short story competition and the Wells Festival of Literature short story prize, with listings in many others. Alice also writes historical novels, exploring themes such as identity, rivalry and the boundaries between friendship and love.

www.alicefowlerauthor.com

Ally Sherrick is an award-winning children’s author of stories full of history, mystery and adventure. Black Powder, her debut novel about a boy caught up in the Gunpowder Plot, won the Historical Association’s Young Quills Award. Other titles include The Buried Crown, a wartime adventure with a twist of Anglo-Saxon myth and magic, The Queen’s Fool, a tale of treachery and treason set at the court of King Henry VIII and Vita and the Gladiator, the story of a young girl’s fight for justice in the high-stakes world of London’s gladiatorial arena. Ally’s latest book, Rebel Heart, set during the tumultuous English Civil Wars and featuring brave Royalist heroine, Merriweather Pryce was published in March this year. www.allysherrick.com

Sarah Hegarty’s work has twice won the Yeovil Literary Prize and been shortlisted for the Bridport, Exeter and Manchester fiction prizes. Her short fiction has been published by Mslexia, Cinnamon Press and the Mechanics’ Institute Review, among others. She is a reader for the 2025 Bath Short Story Award and a judge for the Writing Without Restrictions category of the 2025 Yeovil Literary Prize. She has an MA in Creative Writing and lives in Surrey, where she teaches creative writing. Her debut collection Magpie and Other Stories is published by Troubador. http://sarahhegarty.wordpress.com

Louise Morrish is an author and librarian. She writes stories inspired by the lives of women in the past, who achieved extraordinary things, but whom history has forgotten.

Her debut novel, Operation Moonlight, won the Penguin Random House First Novel competition and was published in 2022. Her second novel, Women of War, was published this year, and its sequel, The Library of War and Peace, will be published in 2026.

www.louisemorrish.com

Joanna Foat, author and speaker, uncovered the forgotten WW2 history of the Women’s Timber Corps. She has published three books on The Lumberjills, written an exhibition for Forestry England, contributed to the VE Day 80 celebrations at the Royal Albert Hall and BBC1’s The Nation Remembers and given nearly two hundred talks. Her media interviews include BBC Radio 4 Woman’s Hour, TV’s How We Won The War, Walking Wartime Britain, BBC South TV and Dan Snow’s History Hit Podcast. www.thelumberjills.uk