​Julia is an experienced chairperson for many of the best festivals in the UK and abroad. She has chaired events at The British Library and Cunard’s Queen Mary 2, and hosts online discussions for UK and international audiences.

 

​Julia worked for the BBC for 15 years including as the BBC’s Gulf Correspondent between 2000 and 2010. She is published in The Times, Telegraph, Guardian and Economist and works as a freelance journalist and writer.

Judith Baker has been a journalist and award winning writer for over 30 years, contributing to several UK and international publications including The Times, The Sunday Telegraph, The Mail, City AM, Huffington Post and a number of consumer magazines. She has travelled extensively, writing about travel, property and culture, and is considered to be an expert in travel and tourism throughout the Caribbean.

 

​Judith began her writing career in the technical press but quickly moved on to work for and edit a range of trade and consumer magazines such as Arabel, London Portrait, Real Travel, and Caribbean World. In the course of her career in journalism Judith has interviewed politicians and presidents, chefs and cricketers, dancers and diplomats.

 

​Judith has three sons and lives in Chiswick, West London with her husband and two tortoise.

Mark is an highly experienced creative director and designer with over 30 years in branding, web design, publishing, print and merchandising, through to award winning online virtual events.

 

​He has collaborated with leading companies and organisations such as Pernod Ricard, L’Oréal, GN Hearing, Wine Australia, Southampton University, Cengage and Dorling Kindersley.

 

​With his constant commitment in helping to deliver their visions, he has a loyal following of long standing delighted clients.

Richie works across the creative sectors, higher education and the public sector specialising in entrepreneurship, innovation and EDI initiatives.

 

​Currently based at the University of South Wales, he manages their business incubation programmes (which are now the 3rd top ranked university in the UK for graduate startups) and leads their work across the whole institution for Race Equity. He also runs an arts and creative industries research consultancy and events company; with clients including the Arts Council’s of England, Scotland, Wales and N. Ireland, the BFI and National Museums Wales. In addition, he has held the role of Community Producer for Llangollen International Eisteddfod since 2024.

 

​His recent research and policy work has focused on supporting the development of the UK Arts Access Card - 'All In' and identifying barriers to D/deaf, disabled and neurodiverse people attending the arts. Richie is a Trustee of Newport Live and chairs the Riverfront Theatre board.

​A musician by training, Tamsyn’s career started in classical music festival management and programming and she worked for a number of top organisations and produced concerts in some of the country's most prestigious venues. After 10 years of concentrating on music, Tamsyn extended her freelance remit to include a wide range of events, including large-scale outdoor Festivals, spoken-word events, corporate conferences, gala awards ceremonies, with roles in production management, stage management, ticketing, operations and programming.   

Equally comfortable backstage or front of house, Tamsyn has spent the last 25 years specialising in working with teams to produce high profile events.  She enjoys working with artists and clients to achieve the very best results. With an eye for detail and a calm approach, Tamsyn brings a sunny positivity to every interaction. 

 

Recent clients have include all four Cheltenham Festivals (Jazz, Science, Music, Literature), Proms at St. Jude’s Music Festival, National Black Police Association, National Trust to name just a few.

Master of Ceremonies, Voice of God, public speaking coach. An experienced MC, Roddy has for six years presided at the Stanfords Travel Writers’ Festival, inspiring him to journey to Jordan, China, and Rick Stein’s restaurant.

 

Quick to gauge tone, Roddy has a confident charm and thrives under pressure at exhibitions and charity galas. He puts his oratorical and speedy sight-reading skills to further use coaching private and corporate speakers.

 

Based in London, Roddy likes the arts, cycling and those little umbrellas you get in cocktails.​​

​Lucy specialises in setting up and delivering international creative initiatives and producing live events. She is founder and director of Untold, a development programme for writers in areas of conflict and post-conflict, whose current project is Write Afghanistan. She produces Your Local Arena, with Speaking Volumes – an Arts Council England-funded series of live literature events in collaboration with literary festivals across the UK.

 

She founded and led Commonwealth Writers, and she established BBC Writer’s Room. She is a Visiting Research Fellow at King’s College, London; a Director of the BOCAS LitFest in Trinidad and a trustee of Vital Xposure Theatre.

With over 20 years working in the events industry Georgie also successfully Produced some very large automotive training events for Toyota as well as delivering events for 7 consecutive years in Trafalgar Square, London, including on The Mall and in Royal Parks.​

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Georgie spent 5 years working for award winning experiential agency RPM on a number of road shows and brand activations, including delivering a 4 year campaign for Sky Arts, and projects for other leading brands at some of the UK’s largest festivals. Georgie has also produced private events for clients including James Dyson, Zoe Ball and Chris Evans.

Robin is a seasoned freelance Event Manager working across a variety of entertainment, music and corporate events. Over the past fifteen years he has amassed great expertise in leading and executing events. From event production, on site management and stage management to sound and visual production, ticketing and more.

 

Career highlights include high profile events at the Cheltenham Festivals - Jazz, Literature and Science for the last fifteen years. More recently also working for large scale corporate conferences, family festivals and alternative events.

Georgina Godwin is Books Editor for Monocle Radio and host of flagship literary show Meet the Writers, and the geopolitics current affairs programme The Globalist. She is the also the host of Visionary, a series for Hear East, the innovation and technology campus in East London, spotlighting the people shaping the world to come. She chairs book events worldwide and is a regular on stage at Hay, Cheltenham, Adelaide, Jaipur, Georgetown University and Charleston, South Carolina. 

 

She is on the board of English PEN and an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. She has judged the Bailie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction, The Caine Prize for African Writing, the Ockham New Zealand Book Prize and the British Book Awards. Originally from Zimbabwe, she was a founder of the first independent radio station there, consequently designated an “enemy of the state” and banned from the county of her birth. She lives in London.

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