Fitzrovia News presents a Fitzrovia Festival event

A panel of writers from a range of disciplines give their views on the way things are changing and what might be in the future. These are not industry gurus predicting the future, rather they are practitioners sharing their personal perspective of what they see as the ups and downs ahead for their craft. For example, these might be technological, cultural, economical or political changes. They invite you to come along and listen, ask questions and then share a glass with them afterwards. 

Panel members:

Stephen Oram (host)

Stephen Oram has lived in Fitzrovia for nearly twenty-five years. He writes near-future fiction intended to provoke debate. As a teenager he was heavily influenced by the ethos of punk. In his early twenties he embraced the squatter scene and was part of a religious cult, briefly. He did some computer stuff in what became London’s silicon roundabout and is now a civil servant with a gentle attraction to anarchism. He is the Author in Residence at Virtual Futures and has published two novels and several shorter pieces of work. stephenoram.net @OramStephen

Helena Halme

Helena Halme is a Finnish author based in London. Her books include The Englishman, a best-selling romantic novel, which won an Awesome Indies badge on publication. Helena grew up in Tampere, central Finland, and moved to the UK via Stockholm and Helsinki. She is the winner of the John Nurmi prize for best thesis on British politics, a former BBC journalist, and has also worked as a magazine editor and a bookseller. Until recently, Helena ran a Finnish/British cultural association in London. Her articles have been published in the CoScan Magazine, The ScanMag and the Finn-Guild Magazine. helenahalme.com @helenahalme

Allen Ashley

Allen Ashley is a British Fantasy Award winning editor, writer, poet, creative writing tutor and critical reader. Recent books include “Dreaming Spheres: Poems of the Solar System” (co-written with Sarah Doyle, PS Publishing, 2014) and “Creeping Crawlers” (as editor, Shadow Publishing, 2015). His next book will be a revised updated version of his novel “The Planet Suite” (Eibonvale Press, 2016). He is sole judge for the British Fantasy Society Short Story Competition. As a tutor, he currently has five groups running across north London , including the advanced science fiction and fantasy group Clockhouse London Writers. allenashley.com @AllenAshleyUK

Hannah Kowszun

Hannah Kowszun started life as a geeky, serious child who enjoyed taking exams and getting the answers right in class. As an adult she has taken advantage of her early years training and now makes a living as a professional geek, who sees each marketing campaign as a chance to prove her theories right. She’s currently Director of Marketing & Comms at the Science Council and in her spare time does a lot of paranoid day dreaming. @koffs

Authors and Readers: panel discussion, 7pm Monday 20 June 2016 at the Sainsbury Wellcome Centre, 25 Howland Street, London W1T 4JG. Free event. Please RSVP to news@fitzrovia.org.uk to attend.