Staff

Ink Pantry would not be possible without the tireless efforts of the volunteers who dedicate their time and expertise to the project, free of charge. There have been many elves who have passed through the pantry over the years, but people kept giving them socks, making them free elves, and they have moved on. However, our current crop of elves looks a little something like this…

Deborah Edgeley – Editor-in-Chief

Deborah is our Editor-in-Chief here at Ink Pantry, having moved into the role from her previous position as the author liaison in charge of book reviews and interviews. Deborah has been part of Ink Pantry’s editorial team from the early days. She was born in Cheshire. After ten years of performing in amateur theatre she decided to study with The Open University. Five years on she graduated with a First Class Honours in English Literature. Her poem ‘Gaia on High’ was published in Ink Pantry’s Sea of Ink. Obsessions include an abundance of snow, every adaptation of A Christmas Carol, and speaking randomly in different accents.

In 2017 Deborah published her first poetry collection, Testing The Delicates, which explores the prejudice surrounding mental health. Her other collections are Wilkommen Zum Rattenfanger Theater (2019), Solitary Child, Friend of Immortals (2020) and Super 8 Magicscape (2021). Also in 2017 Fall in Green was born, a theatrical, experimental act of poetry and music, with Mark Sheeky. Fall in Green have released three albums: Testing The Delicates (2018), Apocalypse of Clowns (2019), and Lou Salome Empathy With Daisies (2022), a project inspired by Italian author Stefano Santachiara, and three singles: Time Falling (2018), Who is Afraid/She Floats (2018), Jabberwocky (2021), plus an EP, War is Over (2020).

Alyson Duncan – Webmistress / Distributor

Alyson take more of a back seat role in the Pantry these days as the webmaster and technical consultant although you will see the odd contribution from her on the blog now and then. For legal purposes she is also the registered distributor for Ink Pantry. In her other life, Alyson is the director of a digital media consultancy. When she is not writing Alyson enjoys all manner of paper crafting and is a keen paranormal investigator who loves nothing more than spending a Saturday night in a dark abandoned building armed with her Spirit Box and EMF meter.

Berenice Howard-Smith – Creative Consultant / Publisher

Berenice is a postgraduate qualified designer with an interest in social design. She was the designer for both anthologies and handled the ePub and print on demand process for the team. Walk In Our Shoes/Hello Lovely

Kev Milsom

Kev is in the very early stages of his 5 th decade, but looks at least ten years younger…possibly even fifteen on a good day, under beneficial lighting conditions. Currently training in holistic therapies, such as hypnotherapy, metaphysics and counselling, he is also trying to expand his creative writing knowledge and experience. As a devout ‘struggling artist’ he is working towards the completion of that elusive first novel, whilst fuelling a profound talent for procrastination by making notes on a possible second novel (alongside intermittent research for a third). He is proud to have achieved his goal of being independently published at least once a year since 2012, but is also currently exploring other aspects of writing such as journalism. His favourite colour is anything bright.

Kate Foster – Inky Proofreader

Kate is a freelance editor, editorial director at Lakewater Press, writing mentor,and an award-winning middle grade author. Originally from the UK, she now lives on the Gold Coast in Australia with her family and two ‘oodle pups. Her debut children’s novel, Winell Road: Beneath the Surface was published in 2015. Kate’s Website

Natalie Denny

Natalie Denny is a Senior Education and Wellbeing Manager from Liverpool. Her interests include reading, writing, dancing, exercising and socialising. She graduated with an Open degree at the Open University in July 2013, which included an advanced creative writing module which turned out to be the catalyst for her first novel The Holes on the Fall. She has been a youth worker for over ten years and draws on this experience to create interesting characters and add authenticity to her stories and poems. She also enjoys writing articles about important current issues and book reviews.

Marie Andrews

Marie lives with her husband in Staffordshire She has one married daughter and two young grandchildren. Marie has a B.A. Hons in Humanities which included a creative writing module that lead to her involvement with Ink Pantry. She was part of the sifting team for both the published works Sea of Ink and Fields of Words, the latter in which she had her piece of writing ‘Life in a Goldfish Bowl’ included. Her reading and writing tastes are eclectic but lean towards the science fiction genre. Among her wide range of interests is genealogy and Marie is currently busy adding facts and ancestors to her extensive and very interesting family tree.

Michelle Dunbar – Sales Lady & Inky Maths Expert

Michelle dealt with the accounts for Ink Pantry along with sales of our books completed here on the website. Michelle is also a developmental editor. Michelle’s Website

Isha Crowe

Isha lives in a small quaint town in South Wales after having been a resident of Cornwall, the Netherlands and Suriname. She lives with her husband Wilf and their two cats Millicent Shadowfluff and Charlotte Ringtail. There is a child too, but he only emerges when bribed with food, or when his university accommodation is unavailable. Isha Crowe writes speculative fiction, has a Creative Writing and English Language degree from the Open University, and runs a tiny online editing business.

Claire Faulkner

Claire lives and works in Cheshire. Since graduating from University of Salford with an MA in Documentary Research in 2000, she can mostly be found with her head in a book, or at one of the local theatres. Claire enjoys script writing and has recently started writing poetry again.

Giles L. Turnbull

Giles is a blind poet. He spent the first half of his life in North
Yorkshire before moving to South Wales to study chemistry at Swansea
University (when he still had sight). He has lived in South Wales ever
since, apart from a five-year sojourn Stateside, two years in London,
and one in Bristol. He has been writing poetry since his late teens
and his debut pamphlet Dressing Up was published by Cinnamon Press in
2017. He returned to Swansea University to study for an MA in creative
writing and graduated in December 2019. He currently lives in Cardiff
and is collating his first full poetry collection and is turning the
Long Form Fiction end-of-module assignment from his MA into a full
novel.

Simon Ross

Simon is writer and musician from Macclesfield, currently involved with IDST! Arts group, and Mash Improv performers. Lives with 4 cats and 2 dogs. Plans to explore the Peak District in 2018, and make work based on what is discovered.

Yang Ming

Yang Ming is a playwright and fiction writer. She graduated from Swansea University with an MA in Creative Writing in 2019. Her plays have been presented on stage in Singapore and the UK. Her recent short play, The Exit, was shortlisted for the Fizzy Sherbet podcast, an international platform for women writers and directors. In 2022, her short story, Spring Onions, was featured in Asian Anthology: New Writing Vol. 1, published by Leopard Print London. Her works explore women’s themes, moral ambiguity, belonging and identity in cross-cultural settings. Yang Ming enjoys reading a good book with a cup of aromatic coffee in her spare time. She’s currently based in Singapore. 

Neil Leadbeater

Neil Leadbeater was born and brought up in Wolverhampton, England. He was educated at Repton and is an English graduate from the University of London. He now resides in Edinburgh, Scotland. His short stories, articles and poems have been published widely in anthologies and journals both at home and abroad. His publications include Librettos for the Black Madonna (White Adder Press, 2011); The Loveliest Vein of Our Lives (Poetry Space, 2014), Finding the River Horse (Littoral Press, 2017), Punching Cork Stoppers (Original Plus, 2018) River Hoard (Cyberwit.net, Allahabad, India, 2019), Reading Between the Lines (Littoral Press, 2020) and Journeys in Europe (co-authored with Monica Manolachi) (Editura Bifrost , Bucharest, Romania, 2022). His work has been translated into several languages. He is a member of the Federation of Writers Scotland and he is a regular reviewer for several journals including Quill & Parchment (USA), The Halo-Halo Review (USA), Write Out Loud (UK) and The Poet (UK). His many and varied interests embrace most aspects of the arts and, on winter evenings, he enjoys the challenge of getting to grips with ancient, medieval and modern languages.

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