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Ivan has over 25 years’ experience in the arts and heritage sector leading on business planning, strategic review and transformation programmes including most recently working for Dance Consortia North West, The Dukes in Lancaster and serving for six years as a Committee Member for National Lottery Heritage Fund (nee Heritage Lottery Fund) in the North West. Between 2003 and 2014 Ivan led a series of audience development agencies. He joined All About Audiences (then Arts About Manchester) as Chief Executive in 2003. In autumn 2012, All About Audiences and Audiences London merged to create the new national audience development agency The Audience Agency and Ivan became joint Executive Director alongside Anne Torreggiani (ex-CEO of Audiences London).
Between 1993 and 1999 he worked at Sadler’s Wells, where as Head of Marketing, he was part of the team that oversaw the National Lottery-funded re-building and re-opening of Sadler’s Wells. He then moved to Manchester to be Marketing Director at the Royal Exchange Theatre.
He is currently on the Board of Without Walls the outdoor arts consortium.
Jo has a decade of experience in communications and marketing for the Manchester arts and cultural sector. She has shaped and managed the Manchester City of Literature partnership of almost 40 literary organisations for the last 5 years, working on international campaigns for literature in this role and in others.
As Director of For Books’ Sake Jo lead truly disruptive and inclusive projects for writers of marginalised genders to champion a more accessible literature industry in the UK. She has also lead on marketing campaigns for the National Trust and Mind. Jo sits on the Press and Communications group for the UNESCO Cities of Literature as a network.
Jo is also a poet awarded a Northern Writers’ Award for her current work in progress. After winning the Roy Fisher Prize for poetry, Jo’s debut pamphlet was published and she’s since been featured at the National Poetry Library in London and been shortlisted for the Jane Martin Poetry Prize as well as invited to read internationally.
Hawwa is a (self-proclaimed) professional multitasker working in the creative, cultural and heritage sector, who holds particular focus on facilitating authentic youth engagement, anti-racist advocacy and supporting institutional change within the arts. Alongside Manchester City of Literature she is a freelance producer, photographer and artist, founder of the qamar collective for young Muslim women in the north, mentor for early-career creatives of colour, and founder of the online platform hawwa, etc, which explores themes of identity, belonging and heritage through visual storytelling.
Her work has been published in a variety of platforms and publications including Oxfam, Adobe, Instagram and TMRW Magazine, whilst her poetry has been used in history classrooms across Manchester and London. In her spare time, she is proud to be the shortest shooting guard on any basketball team she has ever joined, takes the upkeep of her colour-themed bookshelf very seriously, and is consistently creating new zines and lino-prints that will probably never get finished.
Billie is a writer, facilitator and wearer of many hats. They are passionate about championing new writing talent in the North West, and in the past have provided administrative and communications support to organisations such as The Writing Squad and the British Film Institute. As a writer, their work has been produced by the Liverpool Everyman Theatre, ThickSkin Theatre, Box of Tricks Theatre, BBC Radio 4 and CBBC. Billie is published by Nick Hern Books, and is currently a mentor for Arts Emergency, Homotopia’s Queer Core Programme and Graeae’s Beyond Programme.
Katie Popperwell – Chair
Katie Popperwell has over twenty years experience in creative production, programming and cultural strategy, and has devised international programmes of work in partnership with The British Council, Innovate UK and the Royal Society of the Arts.
Katie led the International Engagement Programme for the UK Gov cultural investment UNBOXED: Creativity in the UK, devising a global programme of live and digital commissions, heading up major international delegations and leading a global research enquiry into the role of cross-sectoral collaboration in sustainable development.
Prior to this, she worked on major arts and cultural festivals including Manchester International Festival and 14-18 NOW. As a consultant she has developed cultural strategy for businesses, universities, charities and community organisations.
As a critic Katie has contributed to a variety of publications and is a former presenter of BBC Radio 4’s flagship arts programme Front Row. As a native Northerner, lifelong book-lover, and passionate advocate for the power of literature to change lives, she is proud to be acting Chair of Manchester City of Literature.
Michelle Collier
Michelle is a writer, artist and narrative designer born and raised in Greater Manchester. Her work spans animation, games, printmaking, immersive digital experiences and more. As a writer, she’s worked on projects for the BBC, the National Gallery, the British Museum and the BFI, as well as charitable organisations such as Syria Relief, Children in Need and the Mental Health Foundation. In 2023, she was accepted into BAFTA Connect in recognition of her contribution to the UK screen industries.
Michelle’s practice is often playful and participatory, encouraging communities to create new stories together. She’s invited people to hunt for old gods in the Dark Peak, grow mushrooms on books and commune with ghostly distant librarians… among other things! She’s exhibited prints at HOME, NOMA and Manchester Print Fair; screened work at DepicT!, London Short Film Festival and Manchester Animation Festival; and published creative writing with Lune, MsLexia and the Glossop Winter Story Trail. She’s currently part of Channel 4’s New Writers Scheme, one of York Mediale’s Immersive Assembly artists, and is working on her first short fiction collection with support from Arts Council England. Michelle especially loves stories about the strange and unusual – from our newly emerging myths to folklore that endures through the ages.
Andrew McMillan, MBE FRSL
Andrew McMillan is the author of three poetry collections, a novel and the co-editor of the anthology 100 Queer Poems. His work has been widely translated across Europe, and has won the Guardian First Book Award, the only poetry collection to ever do so, as well as a Somerset Maugham Award, an Eric Gregory Award, the Polari Prize and a Northern Writers’ Award, amongst others. He has been shortlisted for the Dylan Thomas Prize, The Forward Prizes and the Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year. He is Professor of Contemporary Writing at Manchester Metropolitan University and a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. He was made an MBE for Services to Literature in the 2026 New Year’s Honours. A fourth collection, partings, will be published in February 2027.
John McAuliffe
John McAuliffe has lived in Manchester since 2004, working at the University of Manchester, where he is now Professor of Poetry and Director of the Creative Manchester research platform, which develops and co-ordinates interdisciplinary research focused on Creative Industries; Creativity, Health and Well-being; and Creative and Civic Futures.
At Manchester John founded and subsequently directed the Centre for New Writing (2007-2021), one of the leading centres for creative writing internationally. He served on the Irish Arts Council 2013-2018, where he was Deputy Director and chaired the Council’s Strategy work. He is also Associate Publisher at the leading independent poetry press, Carcanet, and co-editor of the international journal PN Review, and a trustee of Manchester’s UNESCO City of Literature. He is a member of the AHRC Peer Review College, a Fellow of the English Academy, and has worked extensively internationally as an external examiner and consultant for Creative Writing and English Departments. He wrote a regular poetry column for The Irish Times 2013-2020.
Mike Murphy
Mike has worked in publishing for many years, latterly back in the North West, in content and commercial roles. Growing up in Lancashire, what theNorth West offers the literary world is rich and unique, and Mike is delighted to see our Publishing sector continue to grow.If we want literature to reflect our character, we need to have a strong production sector for books. Mancunians, by birth or spirit, own the stories of our city and its new narratives. Mike wants our city and its voices to grab you and shake you up in the best possible way. Mike is driven by identifying barriers to growth and overcoming them, and helping people find their voice and fulfil their potential. Having lived in Edinburgh and Barcelona, he knows how valuable a well-loved City of Literature can be. We are a city steeped in a radical tradition that stands for fairness, being fiercely proud of our own, while global in our outlook and friendships. Mike hopes to bring that to his work with Manchester City of Literature.
Rochelle Saunders
Rochelle is a cultural producer, curator, and project manager with over 10 years of work experience spanning the arts, education, and community leadership. Her particular expertise in literature has led to focused work on projects in both national and international contexts. A politics graduate from SOAS, she recently completed a master’s degree in Arts and Cultural Enterprise at the University of Arts London, where she developed an academic interest in transformative social change frameworks. Rochelle has built a portfolio career and is currently a Producer at Factory International in Manchester. She also serves as an Executive Producer and sits on the Advisory Board for the Black British Book Festival. Her previous roles include positions within the British Council’s literature team, Penguin Random House’s Social Impact team, and as a Senior Producer at Renaissance One.
Reshma Ruia
Dr. Reshma Ruia is a Manchester based British writer of Indian origin. She has a PhD and Master’s in Creative Writing from Manchester University. Her first novel, Something Black in the Lentil Soup, was described in the Sunday Times as ‘a gem of straight-faced comedy’. She has published a poetry collection, A Dinner Party in the Home Counties, winner of the 2019 Word Masala Award and a short story collection, Mrs Pinto Drives to Happiness, shortlisted for the 2022 Eastern Eye ACTA Awards. Her new novel, Still Lives, won the 2023 Diverse Book Readers’ Choice Award. Reshma’s work has appeared in anthologies and journals, and commissioned by the BBC, University of Cumbria and Manchester Literature Festival. She is the co-founder of The Whole Kahani – a writers’ collective of British South Asian writers. Her writing explores the preoccupations of those who possess a multiple sense of belonging.
Louisa Craggs
Louisa Craggs is a strategic brand and marketing leader with over 15 years’ experience. She specialises in helping organisations build meaningful connections with audiences through smart insight, creative communications and impactful partnerships. Most recently, as Head of Brand at JD Sports, she led the company’s global brand strategy and major international campaigns.
Louisa brings commercial expertise alongside a strong commitment to social impact, driven by a belief that stories have the power to shape culture, foster empathy and broaden whose voices are heard and valued.
Her interests centre around youth culture and widening access to ensure more people see themselves, and their communities, reflected in Manchester’s rich literary and cultural landscape.
Danielle Bassan
Danielle is an experienced policy and strategy advisor with a focus on managing public money for better outcomes. After studying English Literature at University she became a management consultant. She then spent more than a decade in a variety of central government roles in the UK and New Zealand. Now she has settled in Manchester, she is keen to get get to know the city better through its literary scene and help others fall in love with literature.
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