Charity Book and Brunch. Author Biographies

Author Biographies

David McCaffrey

David lives in Redcar in the North East of England.  He is an Infection Prevention and Control Nurse Consultant, former broadcaster on Zetland FM, co-director of Live It Ventures LTD publishing house… ohm, and an author! He has a Kelly, a Jake, a Liam, a Baby Moo (a.k.a Cole, but Liam calls him Baby Moo) and an Obi… who’s the dog .

A huge fan of Steve Alten, John Grisham and Lee Childs, David loves reading as much as he enjoys writing.

Hellbound was his first novel, all thanks to Britain’s Next Bestseller and the aforementioned Steve Alten, who took a chance on him as a writing coach client and taught him so much about what it takes to be a writer.  In 2014, the book was voted by W H Smith readers as one of the most underrated crime novels.  It was the winner in the Thriller category of Authors Talk About Awards 2017.

His second book, the novella prequel to Hellbound titled ‘In Extremis’ was a Semi-finalist in the Kindle Book Awards 2016. ‘In Extremis’ along with ‘Hellbound’ is also available as an audio book on Audible, Amazon and ITunes.

The third book in the Hellbound Anthology, Nameless was released in August 2017.  David worked on crime thriller ‘By Any Means Necessary’ with Stephen Sayers which was released to critical acclaim in December 2016.

He is hoping to complete his passion project, infection control thriller and homage to all things David Cronenberg and John Carpenter, ‘The Warmest Place to Hide’ this year (finally!).  In 2018, a mini prequel, ‘Viral’, was released for a short time as a treat for supporters of his books.

However, the project he is most proud of is 2018’s book concerning bullying and harassment in the NHS. ‘Do No Harm’ was an Amazon bestseller in the U.S and has remained in the top 15 titles of its category in the U.K since its release.

A personal project, this book led to David being able to work with the Ben Cohen StandUp Foundation and support those who suffer daily in their healthcare working environment. A follow up book is due for release this Summer. Half of all royalties for ‘Do No Harm’ go to the StandUp Foundation.

A self-professed geek, David loves Doctor Who, Arrow, Supernatural, Batman, Superman, D.C Comics, Star Wars, The Walking Dead… beginning to see a pattern here?

He also knows he only exists as an author because of you.

Phil Mews

Born in Bishop Auckland in 1970, Phil grew up on his family farm with his parents and two brothers. He was sent away to boarding school at the age of eight, following the death of his parents, with the help of a grant from a Masonic charity.

After graduating from university, Phil spent time working in India, Israel and Hong Kong before returning to the UK. He has spent the last twenty years in television production working alongside Barbara Windsor, Liza Minelli and Graham Norton.

As part of the production team for the BBC’s Days That Shook The World series, Phil was nominated for a BAFTA in 2005. Phil has also presented from the red carpet at the BAFTAs for Channel 4 interviewing a number of Hollywood A List stars.

Whilst working with Sandi Toksvig in 2015, she encouraged him to write his childhood memoir, Orphan Boys which was published in July 2018 by John Blake and has sold copies around the world.

Phil is currently writing his second book and running his television production business from his home in Weardale.

Alan Wright

For nearly 30 years, Alan was one of the most well-known voices on BBC Radio.  More recently, Alan was a familiar face on BBC TV. Highlights of Alan’s career included three industry awards in 2001 and 2002. He also had the honour of acting as royal commentator for BBC TV when Her Majesty the Queen opened the Millennium Bridge in 2002.

Today, with business partner Wendy Gibson, Alan chairs Soundswright Ltd, specialising in publicity consultancy, strategic advice, and training in presentation and media skills. His travel writing and broadcasting keeps him particularly busy, and he has enjoyed combining his speaking trips with travel journalism in many parts of the world.

He has also played a key role in publicity and media consultancy for many leading companies and high profile individuals. For many years, Alan has been a popular columnist and travel writer in the regional and national press.

Simon Catterall 

Simon is a criminal defence solicitor from North Yorkshire.

Prior to qualifying he spent eighteen months as a street entertainer in Paris, Covent Garden and on the London underground.

Simon has had many other jobs including working as a:

waiter, petrol pump attendant, chauffeur, ice cream vendor, gardener and a roadie/vocalist/keyboard player on the northern working mens’ clubs circuit.

Simons’ interests include horse racing, singing, piano and guitar, having a few beers, African travel, English and military history.

In between court hearings, and while waiting for jury verdicts, Simon wrote his book Hob Hole.  It took him over three years to write.

June Taylor

June Taylor is a psychological thriller/suspense writer from Leeds.

She had two books published by HarperCollins for their Killer Reads imprint. Her first book, Losing Juliet, was nominated for the Guardian’s ‘Not the Booker Prize’ in 2017. Her second, Keep Your Friends Close, came out early 2019.

June is on the Board of Script Yorkshire.  She is also involved in the Leeds Lit Fest and Big Bookend.

She’s says she’s very proud of her Yorkshire heritage.  However, she went to university in Durham and this will always be a special place for her too.

Lucie Brownlee

Lucie Brownlee is an award-winning writer, researcher, and creative writing tutor. Life After You, her memoir, was published in 2014 by Virgin Books. It is a Sunday Times best seller and was a Richard and Judy Autumn Book Club pick. It was named as one of the top twenty scripts by British writers in 2018 and has now been adapted for television by Georgia Pritchett.

Lucie won Northern Writers’ Award for Fiction 2018 for her novel The Song of Annie Chapman, which is currently under consideration with Penguin.

She completed a writing commission for Durham Book Festival based on women in East Durham mining communities. Subsequently Lucie was awarded grant funding through the Society of Authors to develop this commission into a book-length narrative.

Lucie’s blog, Wife After Death, won Best Personal Blog in the Blog North Awards 2013. In the blog she talks about losing her young husband Mark. Her short stories have been nominated in two international competitions.  Lucie has published many articles, including for the Independent and the Telegraph.

Originally from Newcastle, Lucie now lives in County Durham with her daughter and dog. She holds a PhD in Creative Writing from Newcastle University.  Lucie was recently appointed Teaching Fellow in Creative Writing at Leeds University and is A member of the Society of Authors.