Celebrating the world of words

Now we are 10

Five bestselling authors take to the stage to celebrate a decade of storytelling in Newark Book Festival's Friday afternoon panel, Now we are 10.

Louise Beech is the author of eleven novels and a memoir, Eighteen Seconds (2023). Her debut, How to be Brave, was a Guardian Readers’ Pick; The Lion Tamer Who Lost shortlisted for the Romantic Novel Awards 2019 and longlisted for the Polari Prize the same year; Call Me Star Girl was Best magazine’s Book of the Year; This Is How We Are Human was a Clare Mackintosh Book Club pick; and the audiobook of her memoir, Daffodils, shortlisted for the Audies23. Her thrillers, End of Story and Lights Out, are written as Louise Swanson; the former was chosen by Sophie Hannah as a Book of the Year in the Daily Mail, and the latter was reviewed by The Times. Her debut play, How to be Brave, toured Yorkshire venues in 2024. Wonderful was released in June 2026.

Isabelle Broom is the award-winning author of 13 novels, published in 15 territories worldwide. She began her writing career after winning The Great British Write Off with her short story, The Wedding Speech, which was later adapted into a prize-winning short film. A former Book Reviews Editor at heat magazine and Woman & Home, Isabelle now works part-time as a journalist, editor and mentor. She lives in Suffolk, surrounded by books, family and an unruly dog. Isabelle writes emotionally rich stories about people, family, and love in all its forms. Her latest novel, The House Of Hidden Letters, is a sweeping dual-timeline drama set between modern day and 1940s Greece, where a one-euro property lottery draws its winner into a past filled with long-buried secrets.

Michael Wood was born and raised in Sheffield, South Yorkshire. Before becoming a full-time writer, he worked as a freelance journalist, often covering the courts which gave him an insight into the dark world of crime. His first crime fiction novel, For Reasons Unknown, was published in 2015 and launched the DCI Matilda Darke series set in his home city. The series is still going strong and book fourteen, First One To Die, is released in autumn 2026. He is also the author of the Dr Olivia Winter thriller series and a number of standalone psychological thrillers. Michael currently lives in Newcastle.

Sarah Ward is a critically acclaimed Welsh crime and thriller writer. Her third book in her Derbyshire quartet, A Patient Fury (Faber, 2018), was an Observer thriller of the month and her fourth novel, The Shrouded Path (Faber, 2019), was an Amazon top ten bestseller. Her gothic thriller The Quickening (Trapeze, 2020) was a Radio Times book of the year and its successor, The Shadowing, a Daily Express book of the year. She is currently writing two series: one set in West Wales, where she lives, and the other, a dark academia-focused New England series inspired by real-life archaeologist Professor Sarah Tarlow.

TM Logan’s thrillers have sold more than three million copies in the UK and are translated into 24 other languages. Seven of his novels have been Sunday Times bestsellers and two of them – THE HOLIDAY and THE CATCH – have been adapted for television. A former national newspaper journalist, Tim now writes novels full-time, and lives in Nottinghamshire with his family. His latest book is THE WEEKEND, published in 2026.