Silk Road Slippers Writing Masterclass

Alexandra joined Bloomsbury in 1999 and was Editor-in-Chief for 20 years. Her list of Nobel, Booker, Women’s Prize-winning and bestselling authors includes Richard Ford, Esther Freud, Elizabeth Gilbert, Abdulrazak Gurnah, Khaled Hosseini, Jhumpa Lahiri, Madeline Miller, Ann Patchett, George Saunders, Kamila Shamsie, Ahdaf Soueif and Patti Smith. She is on the Advisory Board of the Bradford Literature Festival, a Patron of Index on Censorship, an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and Visiting Professor at the Centre for Fiction at Manchester Metropolitan Festival. She is writing a memoir, Caravan, to be published in the UK and US in 2027.

Alex is a historian, broadcaster and screenwriter. The most recent of her five books, Fallen Idols, was shortlisted for the Wolfson History Prize 2022. Her debut, Indian Summer, was an international bestseller. Her feature film debut, Churchill (2017), had an international theatrical release, and starred Brian Cox. She has also written episodes of Medici (Netflix), starring Richard Madden and Dustin Hoffman. She writes History’s Secret Heroes for BBC Radio 4, narrated by Helena Bonham Carter, and wrote and presented The Lucan Obsession (Radio 4), one of The Observer’s top ten podcasts of 2024.

Faiza is former Consulting Editor at Bloomsbury UK. She has worked with critically acclaimed authors with a special interest in emerging voices from around the world. She currently works as a freelance editor with publishers and literary agents in London, and as a mentor for writers. She leads writing and editing workshops for international cultural institutions including the National Museum of Sweden in Stockholm and the Academy of Art and Design in Basel.