ArtfulScribe Industry Day

Sam Pegg is a Digital Media Technician in the Department of Film, helping students develop foundationary skills in digital media creation tools for videographic criticism and digital exhibitions. In addition, he is a Postgraduate Researcher in the Department of English, exploring topics on AI and Creativity through creative practice and digital storytelling methods.

Toby Litt is Associate Professor of Creative Writing at the University of Southampton where he runs the Writing Programme. He is a writer and environmental activist. His novels include Corpsing, Ghost Story, Patience, which was shortlisted for the Republic of Consciousness Prize. He posts daily on his much-followed Substack, A Writer’s Diary. His run on the comic Dead Boy Detectives is the basis for the 8-part Netflix series. When he is not writing, Toby likes sitting doing nothing.

Natasha Onwuemezi is a content strategist, editor and writer with over a decade of experience turning insight into standout storytelling. She currently leads content strategy at TikTok for Business Europe. Her work spans blogs, email, social, reports and thought leadership – and has earned industry recognition including LinkedIn’s “Best in B2B” award. Alongside this, she is Associate Editor at The Bookseller. She also works with brands including Stylist, Bustle, Penguin Random House and HarperCollins on editorial and strategy projects. Natasha is a University of Southampton graduate.

Sarah Such has been shortlisted as Literary Agent of the Year by the The British Books Awards. She runs a leading independent London agency representing a wide range of quality literary and commercial fiction and non-fiction, including YA and children’s books. She was part of the Royal Society of Literature’s Spring/Summer season 2023 Careers in Literature, and also a Literary Agent contributor to Writers’ and Artists’ Yearbook 2025.

Hattie Nikodem is Rights Executive at Profile Books. Previously she worked as a Rights Assistant at Faber and Faber. Hattie is a University of Southampton graduate.

Julia Silk worked as a bookseller and editor for 18 years – latterly as Publisher of digital crime imprint The Murder Room at Orion – before becoming an agent in 2016, representing a wide range of fiction and non-fiction. She has an MA in Comparative Literature from UEA.

Sean Campbell is the MD and Editor in Chief at époque press. He established the company in 2017 as a lifelong ambition to champion great literature, with the aim of seeking out exciting new authors and literary voices. In addition to the main imprint, époque press also hosts an online arts magazine, the époque press é-zine, which connects global artists working in different mediums in order to stir the wider pot of creativity. Notable works published by époque press include the Barbellion Prize winning ‘What Willow Says’ by Lynn Buckle, the Republic of Consciousness Prize longlisted ‘The Beasts They Turned Away’ by Ryan Dennis and the Women’s Prize for Fiction longlisted ‘In Defence of the Act by Effie Black.

Carole Burns is an American ex-pat living in the UK whose debut novel, The Same Country, explores family, friendship, racism, privilege and the risks we take to unravel the truth. The writer Gish Jen wrote: “The Same Country unearths long-buried truths that remain the truths of America.” It was named one of the best Welsh fiction books of 2023 by the Wales Arts Review.  A freelancer for publications including the Washington Post, Electric Literature and LitHub, she was the winner of Ploughshares’ John C. Zacharis Award for her collection, The Missing Woman and Other Stories. Her book, Off the Page: Writers Talk About Beginnings, Endings, and Everything in Between, was based on interviews with forty-three writers including Jhumpa Lahiri and Anthony Doerr. She is Associate Professor in English teaching Creative Writing at the University of Southampton.