Writers at Work 2026

Writers at Work 2026 is a creative development programme for emerging Welsh talent at Hay Festival Hay-on-Wye with the support of Literature Wales, funded by Arts Council of Wales.

Offering a fully-programmed ten days of creative development opportunities, Hay Festival Writers at Work allows the selected writers to engage in Festival events, attend workshops with publishers, agents and, crucially, with established international artists.

Participants to date have achieved a spread of award wins and short-listings, including the International Dylan Thomas Prize, Wales Book of the Year, The New Welsh Writing Award, the Wasafiri New Writing Prize, Wales Media Award, Welsh Rising Star Award, and Creative Wales Award

Open to writers working in English and Welsh across genres – fiction, non-fiction, creative non-fiction and poetry – this year’s 10 successful applicants are:

SOPHIE CALON

Sophie Calon is a writer from Cardiff. Her first book, Long Going (Honno, 2025), is a memoir of her dad who drank. Long Going sold out within a fortnight and is on its fourth print run. Featured in The Bookseller’s annual top five picks from Wales, the book has been endorsed by authors including Jacqueline Wilson, Louis de Bernières, and Amy Liptrot. Sophie has spoken about her memoir on BBC Radio and at more than twenty events, from bookshops and museums to a homeless shelter and a recovery festival. She is now writing a novella set on the Welsh border, where she lives with her husband and daughter. Sophie is represented by Philip Gwyn Jones, Greyhound Literary.

BEN HUXLEY

Ben Huxley is a writer and journalist based in Colwyn Bay. With a focus on video games, his writing has been published by Radio Times, The Escapist, TechRadar, Live Science, WhatCulture, and the mental health charity Safe in our World. Shortly after finishing his MA in creative writing at Bangor University, he was selected for Literature Wales’ Representing Wales programme. In this year he finished his first novel. In 2024, his short fiction was published in (un)common: anthology of new Welsh writing, with Lucent Dreaming.

Passionate about giving marginalised voices a platform, he has mentored aspiring writers for Young Critics Conwy, and in 2026 he launched (Un)Common Magazine with like-minded writers. Alongside his editing and journalist work, Ben continues to write his unique brand of fiction; surreal, funny, and sad stories about working-class Welsh people, often touching on neurodivergence and gaming culture.

HOLLY MÜLLER

Holly Müller is a writer and musician living in the Bannau Brycheiniog. Her debut novel My Own Dear Brother (Bloomsbury, 2016) was Waterstones’ Book of the Month and garnered positive reviews in the Guardian, Independent, Sunday Times, Sydney Morning Herald and more. Her short stories are published in Rarebit (Parthian Books, 2013) and New Welsh Fiction (Seren Books, 2015). Holly achieved a PhD in Creative Writing from the University of South Wales where she taught undergraduates. Holly has written for national press as well as prominent online publications and has performed at Cheltenham, Hay, Laugharne, and Cardiff Literature Festivals.

NAOMI PEARCE

Naomi Pearce is a writer living in Ceredigion. Her debut novel, Innominate (MOIST Books, 2023), was described by Iain Sinclair as “a classic of local archaeology.” Drawing on a background in textiles, her work weaves together feminist and queer histories, place, ecology, and art. She has been published in British Art Studies, LA Review of Books, TON Magazine, and The White Review, and performed live at Experimentica (Chapter, 2024) and Y Tu Allan i’r Ffrâm | Out of the Frame (National Library of Wales, 2025). Naomi was selected by Literature Wales for the Writing Fiction cohort 2025 and teaches interdisciplinary practice at Aberystwyth University. She is currently writing, a revisionist Western set in West Wales, alongside non‑fiction about bogs, bisexuality, and the politics of lying down.

SILVIA ROSE

Silvia is a published writer born, raised and living in the mountains of Eryri. Working across creative nonfiction, fiction and poetry, her writing is shaped by her Welsh and Serbian heritage, travel and place, and the symbolic language of myth and fairytale. In 2023 she was selected as an Emerging Welsh Writer by Literature Wales and shortlisted for the Rhys Davies Short Story Award. Her work has since appeared in a range of print and online publications including anthologies by Parthian Books and Honno. She was recently awarded a place on the 2025 - 26 Representing Wales programme. Alongside her writing practice, she works as a creative facilitator running workshops and retreats and is Co-Director of Inclusive Journalism Cymru.

EMILY PARADICE-RUAN

Emily Paradice-Ruan is an autofiction and children’s book writer and illustrator hailing from Swansea whose work explores liminality, belonging and marginalisation. Her debut short story ‘Adref’ was published in the Bloomsbury Mentorship Programme 2024-25 anthology for which she was shortlisted. She interned at Trill Magazine as a journalist covering life, music, travel, and trends and is now pursuing an MA in Creative Writing at Cardiff University. Emily acts as a teaching assistant in undergraduate creative writing seminars and is a prose editor and resident artist at The Tonic Review, a literary magazine run by and for Welsh university students. She is currently working on her novella Fledglings and has designs to pursue a PhD in Creative Writing in Wales.

CARYS SHANNON

Carys Shannon is originally from north Gower, Swansea, and now divides her time between Wales and the Spanish Pyrenees. She has had short stories published by Honno Press, Parthian Books and Mslexia Magazine, as well as broadcast on BBC Radio 4. Her debut novel, Truth Like Water, was published by Parthian Books in October, 2025. The novel has been described as ‘an absolute belter of a story’, ‘a sublimely written work’ and ‘Welsh Noir at its best.’ When not writing, Carys is happiest enjoying slow time in big nature.

STACEY TAYLOR

Stacey Taylor is a writer from Cardiff. In 2023 she won a place on Penguin Random House’s WriteNow programme, and has been mentored by an editor at Penguin Michael Joseph. She was selected for The London Library Emerging Writers programme and was featured in the programme’s anthology: From the Silence of the Stacks, New Voices Rise. She was also part of the Literature Wales Representing Wales 2023/24 cohort.

ROLANT TOMOS

Born in Dolgellau, Rolant Tomos now lives in the Vale of Glamorgan. He has directed tv drama and run a microbrewery with lots of other work in between. His first novel, a YA fantasy - Meirw Byw (Living Dead) was published in 2025, followed by Raaarrr in 2026. Meirw Byw 2: Didudydd will be publshed later this year, followed by a Western - Brithdir, his first novel for adults in 2027.

STEFFAN WILSON-JONES

Steffan Wilson-Jones (he/him) is a bilingual writer and theatre producer from the Vale of Clwyd, now living in Cardiff. He enjoys all kinds of writing, with a great enthusiasm for Welsh identity, dark comedy and political satire. Steffan has worked for Theatr Cymru as an Assistant Producer, as an Assistant Producer on the film ‘Y Sŵn’ by Roger Williams, and as a Script Editor on Pobol y Cwm, as well as writing an episode for the show earlier this year. His short story, A Hint of Dawn (Awgrym o Wawr) was featured in Sebra’s Pelydrau short story anthology in 2025. He was a member of the 2025-2026 Representing Wales (Literature Wales) cohort, where he was mentored by Llwyd Owen, and is now working on his debut novel which will be published in 2027, and is also in the R&D phase of a brand new musical with Onnen Productions. He’s looking forward to keep writing and to the next stage of his writing career.