Steve has spent his life trying to discover the secret of how to become a fully-functioning adult. He has so far failed. One thing he has learnt is that he ought to have tried writing a book forty years earlier than he did, although he also now realises that he should have become a celebrity first, as this would have made selling it much easier.

He currently has three comedy spy thrillers to his name, all published by Claret Press: A Very Important Teapot, set in Australia; Bored to Death in the Baltics, not set in Australia; and Poor Table Manners, which takes place in Cape Town. These feature an initially fairly hapless hero, Dawson, and a considerably less hapless heroine, Lucy, together with varied supporting casts, most of whom are not who they claim to be.

In 2025, Steve also released into the world a comedy-murder-mystery, Lazytown, set in an eccentric Oxfordshire village. And, in a departure from comedy, a UK based thriller, False Connections, featuring ex-MI5 agent, Mel Milano, may well be out before the summer book fair. This could be the first of a new series, although Dawson and Lucy are also planning another outing at some point.

Enthralling. Inspiring. Impossible to forget. Epic Tales creates books, resources, and live storytelling experiences that have inspired many children to fall in love with reading, helped others overcome anxiety and related issues, and put smiles on the faces of entire families. Our work draws on decades of professional storytelling, school visits, teacher training, and Reading for Pleasure expertise.

Angela has written extensively for the Oxford University Press Reading Tree Programme (mostly for the award-winning Readerful series). She has recently written two Stories for Maths titles. Scareground, her middle-grade novel was published in 2023 and nominated for the Historical Association’s Young Quills Award (Best Historical Fiction for Children). Angela teaches creative writing worldwide to children and adults, and will reopen her booking list in September. Hobbledown, the award-winning adventure park, is based on her children’s book of the same title.

Oxfordfolio is a high-quality self-publishing provider, taking you and your unique story from manuscript to physical book. We are experts in full-colour integrated books with over 40 years of editorial, typesetting and graphic design experience. We work primarily in illustrated non-fiction (memoirs, histories, travel, biographies) but have also launched Anglepoise Books for quality fiction. We aim is to provide a flexible service tailored to your specific requirements as we take you through the whole publishing process We work with personally selected artists and illustrators, copy-editors, proof-readers and indexers, graphic designers, typesetters, and UK printers to produce the best bespoke book for your budget.

Your Life • Your Story • Your Book

I have been a writer of fiction for many years, initially as a short story writer for women’s magazines when I was published extensively, nationally and internationally.

After completing an M.A. in Creative Writing, I turned to full length fiction and have now written four novels with a fifth close to completion. My novels are character driven – their genre is book group/commercial/literary crossover with themes of the complexities of family life, relationships and the influence of the past upon present lives. Set in the latter years of the 20th century and the opening decade of the 21st, each novel is a standalone story.

My fifth novel is something of a departure for me: set in London during WW2 with themes of conscientious objection as well as duty and familial obligation, it is my first venture into what can be considered historic fiction.

In addition to writing, I run creative writing classes and workshops and enjoy speaking to a wide range of societies and groups about my creative process and my long writing career.

Linda Newbery writes for both adults and younger readers. Her latest novel for adults, The One True Thing, was inspired by Oxfordshire Artweeks. She won a Costa category prize with her young adult novel Set in Stone and has twice been shortlisted for the prestigious Carnegie Medal. With friends Adele Geras and Celia Rees, Linda hosts the literary blog Writers Review.