Donate
Rob is responsible the overall direction of Ministry of Stories, leading the organisation with a mixture of mischief and mastery. With a career in the arts and creative learning, Rob is inspired by the ideas and imaginations of children and young people, and the power of their voices to make change in the world.
Jessica has over 20 years experience facilitating creative workshops for children and young people. Her background is in youth theatre and she has an MA in Applied Theatre from the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. As a playwright (Jessica Fisher), she won the 2010 Nick Darke Award and Pilot Theatre’s 2012 Generation Zed competition. Jessica’s play Ghost Town toured nationally in 2014. More recently, she has had prose published in Aesthetica Magazine’s annual anthology. Jess manages our community writing programme and works part time hours Mondays to Thursdays.
Autumn is a creative facilitator, writer and poet. They’re particular interested in the ways that creative writing can be used to help people talk about the things that matter to them – from working with young carers to write performance poetry about financial literacy, to running intergenerational LGBT+ storytelling workshops and building immersive experiences to engage families in the climate change conversation. Autumn recently completed an MA in Education & Creative Writing at Goldsmiths and is a Bridport Prize shortlisted writer, with poetry published regularly across independent media.
Regan (formerly Retail Manager of Hoxton Streets Monster Supplies) is responsible for supporting our Ministry of Stories community by welcoming them and their families into the space, helping future young writers get signed up to our programmes and engaging with the wider community – offering a taste of MoS magic across East London. Regan also assists as a writing facilitator during our Community Writing Labs and schools programmes, supporting our young people in having fun and being creative while they learn.
Regan loves listening to music and discovering new songs. He also writes, produces and performs music across London.
Oliver is a writer and arts administrator from London. His poetry has been published in magazines, most recently The Rialto & Ambit, and his debut pamphlet, Haptics, was published in 2023 by Broken Sleep Books. He is a member of the 2022/23 Southbank New Poets Collective. He’s been working with artists and arts organisations since 2014 to help creative people find their voices and audiences, and brings this experience to Ministry of Stories, working with trusts and foundations to help young people realise their potential as creative writers.
Cath loves bringing arts facilitators and teachers together to make creative spaces for children and young people to imagine and tell their stories, in their own way. Before joining the Ministry of Stories she worked for many years in theatre and drama education. As well as her work at the Ministry, alongside Jane her job share partner, she is training to be a Feldenkrais teacher
Tegan’s a teller of tales and an alliteration aficionado. She has experience working in both youth and arts organisations and is a strong believer in empowering young people through creativity. Outside of work her hobbies include making tasty lattes and touching her nose with her tongue, however, when she is at work she spends the majority of her time in absolute awe of our volunteers and their dedication and support to Ministry of Stories.
Jack of all trades and master of roast potatoes, Rowan has worked at Ministry of Stories for over 4 years in many forms. Across operations, financial admin and our Monster Mail letter writing service, Rowan is delighted to be part of the magical team supporting East London’s young writers.
Beattie is really, very excited to be working as Fundraising and Communications Officer at the Ministry of Stories; mainly because it sounds like a very serious role for the government but actually involves thinking a LOT about the needs of monsters. Also a freelance playwright and poet, Beattie feels inspired by the incredibly creative minds of the young writers (and ever-so-slightly jealous too).
Thea has been working in arts marketing for more than ten years. She is passionate about inspiring and engaging new audiences. She’ll go the extra mile to tell great stories and create exciting content, including taste testing Hoxton Street Monster Supplies’ Seasonal Bogies. Thea supports us on a freelance basis on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.
Rebecca is Director of Arts Planning & Producing at Southbank Centre – a major cultural venue in London offering literature, spoken word, music, dance, performance, visual arts, participation and creative education.
With 20 years of experience in producing and arts administration, she has worked with organisations such as the BBC, the Royal Court Theatre and independent producing company Fuel.
Anya does what the Ministry of Stories does for children, just for adults. And she’s done this throughout her career. As the founder of Winning Language Ltd, she helps companies change the conversations they have with their customers and teams by changing their language. As a Language Director at KPMG, she helped people win work by making their words more compelling.
As Account Director at The Writer, she helped to change culture in multinationals by changing how people write and speak. She’s a firm believer in the positive power of language to change people, businesses and children’s prospects. Anya joined the Ministry of Stories Board in 2019.
As an experienced Internal Audit Manager, Mame is recognised for providing strategic assurance and trusted guidance to senior leadership within complex, multinational environments. Her work spans enterprise risk management, governance, and internal controls, with a focus on translating audit findings into practical, value?adding outcomes.
Drawing on experience from Channel 4 Television Corporation, KPMG LLP and Warner Media, Mame combines treasury, commercial insight, technical rigour and strong stakeholder engagement to support organisational objectives and continuous improvement.
Keji specialises in youth engagement and programme design; she combines her knowledge of the youth sector and coaching as well as her personal brand of creativity for organisations including HUDL Youth Development Agency, Esmee Fairbairn’s Involving Young People Collective, Mission44, and more. She uses her close links with Hoxton’s local community to strengthen Ministry of Stories’ community partnerships and collaboration.
Lucy is a long-serving member of Hackney Council’s Culture team. She has over 20 years experience working with the borough’s cultural sector and in engaging its diverse communities, often in the public realm. The common themes running through her work are inclusion and building a shared sense of ownership of Hackney’s extraordinary cultural landscape. Key projects include the Hackney Carnival, the Hackney Circle – a cultural programme for older residents, many co-produced events in public spaces, various cultural grant programmes and, more recently, the Hoxton Hub – a creative health network for Hoxton and Shoreditch, which aims to reduce health inequalities through culture, co-chaired with Hoxton Hall.
Philip is a Partner at international law firm, Field Fisher, and a senior practitioner in corporate and commercial law, with particular emphasis on cross-border mergers and acquisitions, sophisticated private equity transactions, takeovers, strategic investments, joint ventures, restructurings, refinancing, buyouts and exit strategies.
Philip advises corporates, family offices and private equity investors both in the UK and internationally, across a wide range of industries. His expertise spans the media and telecommunications, retail, hospitality and leisure, education, luxury brands and fashion, technology and financial services sectors.
For close to 25 years Philip has developed an active charity practice and has considerable experience advising high-profile UK charities and not-for-profit organisations including The Roundhouse Trust, the Design Museum, The Saturday Club Trust, the Creative Industries Federation, Blood Cancer UK and Rambert School of Ballet and Contemporary Dance.
Born in Nigeria, Inua Ellams is a poet, playwright & performer, graphic artist & designer and founder of: The Midnight Run (an arts-filled, night-time, urban walking experience.), The Rhythm and Poetry Party (The R.A.P Party) which celebrates poetry & hip hop, and Poetry + Film / Hack (P+F/H) which celebrates Poetry and Film. Identity, Displacement & Destiny are reoccurring themes in his work, where he tries to mix the old with the new: traditional African oral storytelling with contemporary poetics, paint with pixel, texture with vector. His books are published by Flipped Eye, Akashic, Nine Arches, Penned In The Margins, Oberon & Methuen. Inua has been a patron for Ministry of Stories since we founded in 2010 and joined the Board in 2023.
Ben is a senior civil servant. As Secretary to the Covid-19 Inquiry he is running the UK’s broadest ever public inquiry. A big part of that role is capturing the human impact of the pandemic. Nearly 60,000 people shared their experiences through the Inquiry’s Every Story Matters project.
Earlier in his career, Ben worked at the Department for Education and at the Ministry of Justice. Outside work, Ben has been a trustee of Punchdrunk Enrichment, another charity committed to transforming the lives of children through the magic of their imaginations. He also likes eating, drinking, theatre and nature.
Caitlin is the managing director of Riot Communications, an east London based PR agency specialising in arts, culture and entertainment. The agency’s clients include: bestselling authors and publishers; Academy Award-winning production companies; cultural prizes including the Nero Book Awards, the Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting and the Edinburgh Comedy Awards; family brands such as Moomin Characters Ltd; and heritage organisations like the Royal Institution and the Science Museum Group. She has 15 years’ experience in public relations, 10 of which have been spent working in the arts and culture sector.
Vidal’s passion is unlocking the potential of individuals and groups through a combination of deep learning and deep connection. He does this in his day job as COO of IVY with organisations around the world, but also tries to bring the same mindset to all his interactions. Prior to joining IVY, Vidal was COO of Kano Computing, a quirky group of technologists dedicated to reorienting young peoples’ relationship away from consumption and toward creation through innovative hardware-software experiences like the Kano Computer Kit, the Harry Potter Coding Kit, & Kano World, a “Github for kids”. Vidal became a Non Executive Director for Hoxton Street in 2023, then also a Trustee for Ministry of Stories in 2024
Duncan is currently Deputy Head at Henry Maynard Primary School in Waltham Forest. He has worked in schools in Newham, Tower Hamlets and Hackney for more than ten years and has a deep understanding of both the challenges faced by young Londoners and their amazing potential. Duncan is committed to ensuring that creativity and imagination retain their central place in children’s education due to its essential role in their development into empathetic, articulate and emotionally-literate adults. Duncan started as a volunteer, then became a trustee in 2016. Following his retirement from the Board in 2022, he is proud to continue to support as an Expert Advisor.
Gerard has a background in grant assessment and grant making and work works for several foundations and grant-giving organisations. He has a Masters in Creative Thinking and runs workshops on fostering imagination and creative thinking in colleges in London. He is a Fellow of both the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust and the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA) and was the first recipient of the RSA’s Onians Creativity Fellowship. As well as volunteering as an expert advisor on the finance and fundraising committee, he is a regular writing mentor with Ministry of Stories’ community writing programme on Saturdays.
Nicole has worked in primary education in Tower Hamlets for the last 20 years. She currently works for Tower Hamlets Education Partnership as the primary curriculum lead for English. Nicole is known for her commitment to ensuring high-quality teaching and learning of spoken language, reading, and writing for all young people. She achieves this through overseeing English central training and development; supporting and delivering in-school school improvement; and developing English Subject Leaders borough-wide. From the moment she stepped into her first classroom, Nicole has been making books with young people. The list is wide and varied but at the heart is children’s voices and their love of writing, telling and sharing stories, and being successful.
Alistair, one of the co-founders of the Ministry of Stories, is responsible for the overall look of Hoxton Street Monster Supplies; he also oversees a team of fantastic volunteer designers. He has been running his own graphic design studio, We Made This, for more than fifteen years. Alistair supports us a few days/months per year.
Nick is the author of six novels, including High Fidelity and About a Boy. He has also written three works of non-fiction, including Fever Pitch. He wrote the screenplay for the film An Education, for which he was nominated for an Oscar. Nick was a journalist and an English teacher before becoming a writer.
Nikesh is the author of Coconut Unlimited, which was shortlisted for the Costa First Novel Award 2010, and Meatspace. In 2013 he released The Time Machine, which won the Best Novella at the Sabotage Awards. His short stories have featured in Best British Short Stories 2013, The Sunday Times and BBC Radio 4.
Born in Nigeria, Inua Ellams is an award winning poet, playwright & founder of the Midnight Run. Identity, Displacement & Destiny are reoccurring themes in his work in which he mixes the old with the new, traditional with the contemporary. His books are published by Flipped Eye, Akashic, Nine Arches & Oberon.
Laura is a performance poet, author, illustrator and short story writer. She is the author of the series of books ‘Darcy Burdock’ for young readers.
Riz is an actor and rapper known for his roles in films Shifty and Four Lions. As Riz MC, he has been championed by BBC Radio1 – on the ‘Introducing’ stage at Glastonbury, the Electric Proms, and a Maida Vale session – and toured the USA, playing shows from Fabric to the Royal Festival Hall with the likes of Massive Attack, Nitin Sawhney, Dizzee Rascal, and Mos Def.
Charlie Higson is an author, actor, comedian and writer for television and radio. He wrote the Young Bond series, which has now sold over a million copies in the UK and has been translated into over 24 different languages. Charlie is a huge fan of horror films and books, and even studied gothic literature at university.
David is the author of four novels including One Day and Us. His TV credits include penning an updated version of Much Ado About Nothing with Damien Lewis and Sarah Parrish and an acclaimed adaptation of Tess of the D’Urbervilles starring Gemma Arterton and Eddie Redmayne. He has been twice nominated for BAFTA awards.
Meera Syal is a writer, comedian, playwright and actress. She co-writes and is a cast member of the popular BBC Television comedy series ‘Goodness Gracious Me’ and The Kumars at No. 42′. She also works as a journalist and is a regular contributor to The Guardian.
Zadie is the author of four novels including ‘White Teeth’ and ‘On Beauty’ which was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize and won the 2006 Orange Prize for Fiction.
Co-founder of Second Home and and co-founder and chairman of Spacious, Rohan was formerly a senior policy adviser for the government.
Born in Hackney, Linda became one of the most recognised names and voices in the British folk rock movement of the 1970s and 1980s, in collaboration with her then husband and fellow British folk rock musician, guitarist Richard Thompson, and later as a solo artist.
Charles is a leading authority on innovation and creativity. He has advised companies, cities and governments around the world on innovation strategy and drew on that experience in writing his latest book ‘We-think: the power of mass creativity’.
Dominic is an actor known for his roles in, among others, ‘History boys’, ‘Mamma Mia!’, ‘An Education’ and ‘The Dutchess’.
Gem is a creative powerhouse with a passion for educating and empowering young people and marginalised voices. She’s also worked professionally as a performer, writer, producer and film festival director and aims to bring joy and laughter into every project she undertakes. She was Ministry of Stories’ first ever writing facilitator and recently developed our comedy sketch writing programme in schools.
Jenny writes novels for 8-12 year olds including the A Month of Magic series published by UCLan and Simon & Schuster. When not writing, Jenny cycles around on a very rusty yellow bike, eats a lot of ice cream and works as Writer in Residence at Mayfair Library and other beautiful and strange places, mostly on this planet.
Justin Coe is a poet, writer and spoken word theatre-maker, specialising in work for young audiences. He tours his theatre shows nationally and his collections The Dictionary of Dads (2017) and The Magic of Mums (2020) are published by Otter-Barry Books. He has enjoyed working in educational and community settings for over twenty years, facilitating numerous creative writing projects, most recently specialising in intergenerational work.
Michael is a writer, artist and teacher based in London. His most recent book, An Attempt to Exhaust a Place in Grand Theft Auto was published by Studio Operative. Michael’s work (covering video, sculpture, text) has been exhibited at LACMA, St Gallen Switzerland and Le Plateau, Paris. He has given talks internationally, most notably at the New Museum NY and the BFI, London. He teaches creative writing at Grasmere Primary School with “Spaghetti Club,” which was voted “Best 10 Exhibitions in UK/Ireland for 2020” by Frieze Magazine.
Keith is a poet, fiction writer, playwright and educator. He is the author of two books of poetry, Selah (Burning Eye Books, 2017) and I Speak Home (Eyewear, 2015) and the play Safest Spot in Town (2017). He holds a PhD in Creative Writing from the University of London, exploring Caribbean Pentecostal culture in London. He developed Ministry of Stories’ speech writing programme, Speak Up.
Regan is a musician and songwriter from East London who has a deep love and appreciation for music and the sentiments it can convey as an art form. He is a recent alumni of the Horniman museum’s Musicians in Residence programme. Regan strives to expand on the perceived zeitgeist of hip hop and rap. A task he’s embarked on as solo artist Wave Noir, and as part of his collective Anti.Net, featured on BBC Radio 1 and Spotify’s Fresh Finds and Hip Hop playlists.
Regan is also an alumni of the Ministry of Stories Trainee Programme, which was the start of his facilitation journey. He has since led songwriting sessions with young people at Ministry of Stories and creative writing programmes across London.
Becky is a creative facilitator in schools and the community. She loves co-creating opportunities to imagine, tell, write and share stories through the use of drama. Becky spent 25 years as a primary school teacher going on lots of adventures with incredible children and their families. She has extensive experience of supporting young people who have English as an additional language and advocates continually for inclusive education. Becky recently completed post graduate studies in theatre for community and education, with a particular interest in the connection between the arts and well-being.
Jaime is a poet, playwright and screenwriter from the Isles of Scilly. Their poems have been published in fourteen works, Impossible Archetype, Signal House Edition, and the anthology Cornish Modern Poetries by Broken Sleep Books, among others. Jaime was a BBC New Creative and is a recipient of the FylmK Award and The Squint Playwriting Award 2023. Jaime has a special interest in demystifying poetry and finding play in their workshops. Jaime was a participant of the Ministry of Stories’ Writing Facilitator Trainee Programme and can’t wait to continue building their creative facilitation practice.
Michelle is a director, writer/maker and actor, working across different forms of storytelling – from devised work, to live literature, scripted plays, and stories for audio and digital platforms. Now running our Saturday labs, she has taught, tutored and worked with young people in a variety of contexts – from primary school students through to under/post graduates – online, in person, and through schools and community groups. She worked with The Children’s Literacy Charity community programme, designed for children living in Westminster, and delivered storytelling workshops on short form video for communications’ charity The Media Trust in schools and community organisations across London and Essex.
Laura is a Poet and Creative Facilitator from Hull. Laura moved to London to complete her MA in Applied Theatre from the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, and has worked with Hull Truck Theatre, the National Literacy Trust, several London theatres and Mousetrap Theatre projects, where she is a creative associate. She has delivered drama and creative writing projects in various settings including schools, day care centres, homeless activity centres, colleges, prisons and theatres.
Laila is a poet, editor, performer and educator who works with schools, hospitals, museums, galleries and charities on a wide variety of poetry projects. Laila fearlessly co-edited the Monster Travel Guide series on sale in Hoxton Street Monster Supplies with fellow Ministry writer Sandra A Agard collating creative work from the Writing Labs and leading workshops on international monsters! She leads teacher training sessions specialising in diversifying creative writing practice and on how to explore history through poetry. She co-founded Poetry Vs Colonialism – an arts and education organisation who help learners of all ages unravel the histories of empire creatively.
Phoebe (she/her) is a poet and community artist. Her work explores politics in the personal through collaborating with people. She published her debut pamphlet The Body You’re In with Bad Betty Press in 2019. Her love of trainers inspired her to establish Crep Project, an arts collective exploring the identity, creativity and community in sneaker culture with working class people. In 2021, she was nominated for the Jerwood Compton Poetry Fellowship and was commissioned for Helen Kirkum’s London Fashion Week show. She’s part of the Poetry Translation Centre’s Polylingual Poets Please programme, a Barbican Young Poet and Visual Artist.
Zahra is a poet and facilitator based in London. She is a Roundhouse Poetry Collective and Barbican Young Poets alum. Her debut pamphlet, ‘sargam / swargam’ was selected as a Poetry Book Society Pamphlet Choice. Zahra completed her MA in Creative Writing and Education from Goldsmiths University of London. She first joined Ministry as a trainee, and has experience working with young people as a debate mentor and creative writing facilitator.
Kerri is an American who has been residing in London for 15 years. Kerri worked in finance for HSBC and Morgan Stanley, and then had a 15 year career as an administrator for the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection. Since moving to London she has been active in a variety of nonprofit organisations involved in education, theatre, and youth sports.
Cathy is an expat living in London. Her work experience ranges from corporate advertising, PR, and marketing to extensive volunteer work and Board leadership positions for local and national charities.
Maureen is a US lawyer who has been living in London for 7 years. Maureen works as a volunteer advisor for Zacchaeus 2000 Trust representing individuals with debt and housing issues.
Charles is a leading authority on innovation and creativity. He has advised companies, cities and governments around the world on innovation strategy and drew on that experience in writing his latest book We-think: the power of mass creativity.
Liam is Chief Technology Officer for the British Government. His team within the Government Digital Service is responsible for technical leadership across government and for identifying the technologies required to deliver great digital public services.
Charlotte is Director of Development at the Royal Academy of Arts. She previously worked as Director of Creative Development at Outset Contemporary Art Fund, and in the curatorial departments at The National Gallery and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
Liz is a Government Relations expert with 20 years experience working in the tech industry in the U.S. and UK. She is passionate about increasing opportunities for young people in STEM subjects and more broadly through organisations like the Ministry of Stories.
