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LOOKING FOR: ADULT FICTION Louise Buckley has worked in publishing for well over a decade. She was inspired to enter the publishing industry after completing an MA in Creative Writing and then spent a hugely enjoyable year working as a bookseller for Waterstones, wishing that she could have a hand in publishing books. After a year working at Dorling Kindersley, she then spent almost five years working in the commercial fiction division at Pan Macmillan, where she published a mix of commercial bestsellers and award-winning authors. Most recently, she was an Associate Literary Agent at Zeno Agency Ltd. As an agent she represented a roster of commercial and literary fiction, including Anne Griffin’s When All is Said, which spent five weeks at number one in Ireland and sold into 17 territories. She is delighted to be working with Hannah at Hannah Sheppard Literary Agency. Louise is looking for:- Literary and upmarket fiction that focusses on the underdog, the repressed, the suppressed. Louise is especially interested in novels that represent working-class people or children going through difficult circumstances (think Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart, My Name is Leon by Kit de Waal or Boys Don’t Cry by FÍona Scarlett). Irish literary and book club fiction. Think Claire Keegan, Louise Kennedy or Anne Griffin. In commercial fiction she loves novels set during the Second World War, such as The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah, The Beekeeper of Aleppo by Christi Lefteri or The Midwife of Auschwitz by Anna Stuart. Louise recently read and loved The Last List of Mabel Beaumont by Laura Pearson and would love to see anything in the same ‘older person going on a journey’ category, a more recent The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry. Louise had a lot of fun publishing a ‘pet fiction’ novel as an editor (Molly and the Cat Café) and would love to find an author who can write an Alfie the Doorstep Cat/Dog. She has a soft spot for novels featuring time-travel or parallel universes, a ‘what if’ that plays around with conventions. At the literary end this would be books like Life After Life by Kate Atkinson, The Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes or This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone. At the more commercial end Louise loved Wrong Place, Wrong Time by Gillian McAllister, Dark Matter by Blake Crouch and Oona Out of Order by Martina Montimore. She also enjoys novels set in the real world but featuring a hefty dose of magic or the supernatural. They can be commercial or literary, present-day or historical. Think Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch, Threadneedle by Cari Thomas, A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness or The Gifts by Liz Hyder. And also cosy fantasy in the vein of Legends and Lattes or The House in the Cerulean Sea. Cosy or humorous crime. Recently, Louise absolutely loved Over My Dead Body by Maz Evans. When she was an editor Louise published the hit Luckiest Girl Alive by Jessica Knoll and would love to represent incisive, intelligent suspense written by authors such as Jessica Knoll and Gillian Flynn, or something a little more subversive and blackly comic like My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite. More generally, Louise would also love to see novels with a disabled protagonist or someone (like herself) who is living with an invisible disability. As an ex-primary school teacher, she also warmly welcomes submissions from teachers, especially if the submission falls into one of the other categories she has listed. Following-on from this, she enjoys reading stories that follow a ‘beating the system’ narrative. Horror. Louise is currently really enjoying the horror resurgence and would love some more horror for her list. She is looking for all types of horror from the more literary, suspenseful horror along the lines of Andrew Michael Hurley to the more commercial like Witchcraft for Wayward Girls by Grady Hendrix. Louise is also a big fan of horror mash-ups, especially body transformation horror such as Nightbitch, and horror mixed with, say, vampires, in the vein of Hungerstone or The Lamb. She would also love to see some dark academia. Think If We Were Villains or In My Dreams I Hold a Knife, and is a huge fan of gothic horror, so would love to see something that’s a modern-day Shirley Jackson or Rebecca. Louise is NOT looking for: -romance -romantasy -epic, traditional fantasy -space opera -straightforward women’s fiction -children’s fiction of any kind -non-fiction Louise would like you to submit a covering letter, 1 page synopsis and the first three chapters or 5,000 words of your manuscript in a single word document. (In addition to the paid sessions, Louise is kindly offering one free session for low income/under-represented writers. Please email agent121@iaminprint.co.uk to apply, outlining your case for this option which is offered at the discretion of I Am In Print).  By booking you understand you need to conduct an internet connection test with I Am In Print prior to the event. You also agree to email your material in one document to reach I Am In Print by the stated submission deadline and note that I Am In Print take no responsibility for the advice received during your agent meeting. The submission deadline is: Tuesday 18th March 2025

Success = Value + People + Process With innovation happening more than ever, the new agile project economy requires more and more people across organisations to manage projects successfully, leading to many of us quietly slipping into the role of the unofficial project manager! The problem is very few people receive formal training on how to do it. Stakeholders, scope creep, limited training, and a lack of process all combine to raise the probability of project failure costing organisations time, money, and employee morale Is it any wonder 65% of all projects fail* each year! The good news is—unofficial project managers can build confidence to lead high-value projects and engage teams in a way that inspires them to volunteer their best efforts. Source: *Nieto-Rodriguez, A. (2021). “The Project Economy Has Arrived.” Harvard Business Review; Nov/Dec 21. Outcomes Project Management for the Unofficial Project Manager™ combines best practices from agile and waterfall project management to equip learners with the mindset, skillset, and toolset to engage and inspire team members. Success starts with the core agile principle of value—a project must deliver value to Noble! Once value is established, it is people who make projects successful through a consistent process. Project management isn’t just about managing logistics and hoping the project team is ready to play to win. The skills of “informal authority” are more important than ever before, so team members are inspired to contribute to project success! This course will help learners: Build strong informal authority that inspires project teams to consistently volunteer their best efforts. Utilise a consistent process to start and finish high-value projects on time and with quality. Influence and engage others to define a clear project scope, including clear deliverables and risk strategies. Model openness and agility to apply proactive change management and deliver high-value projects. Project Management Framework The Project Management Framework guides you through five distinct elements in the life of any project. Coupled with the foundational behaviours taught in the programme, this framework can help you deliver highly successful projects again and again. Who Should Attend? This programme is for anyone who finds themselves leading projects at work, regardless of whether or not their job title says, Project Manager! It is NOT a deep dive into project management processes, nor is it a qualification based programme. Whilst it would be helpful to either be involved in or to be leading a project, during the programme, this is clearly not essential. However, it is advisable that the participants have had some experience, whether as a project member or as the person who is leading the project (officially or not)! Project Management Institute (PMI) FranklinCovey is a member of the Project Management Institute (PMI) Authorised Training Partners (ATP) Programme and this course has been designed to satisfy the project management education requirement for PMI Certifications as well as Professional Development Education units (PDUs) needed by PMI credential holders.

Tea 'N Chat discussing the new A-LEVEL ESA (Externally Lead Assessment) themes with fellow teachers

A beautiful hour of connection, guidance and fun! Join together with other like minded women, to feel held supported and seen.

What is Best Companies? Best Companies are the workplace engagement specialists. They help organisations become better places to work by measuring, improving and recognising engagement. Why have we chosen this for Pathways? We want you to understand how your employees think and feel about their work. This module will help you to understand how the survey is done so that you can drive your team's engagement. Further, once the survey is closed, we want you to understand how to create action plans and make improvements based on the data you receive. Be introduced to who Best Companies are Have knowledge of the 8 workplace factors Understand the Best Companies accreditation levels Understand the importance of workplace engagement Know the part you can play in survey completion Understand how to interpret survey results Understand action planning and keeping the momentum

LOOKING FOR: ADULT FICTION / NON-FICTION Upon joining Curtis Brown in 2018, Ciara Finan worked with senior agents Jonny Geller and Sheila Crowley on their lists of bestselling and prize-winning authors such as Lisa Jewell, Susanna Clarke, David Nicholls, Jojo Moyes and Nigella Lawson. Now as an agent she is representing a wide range of fiction and non-fiction writers. Ciara would consider her reading tastes to be quite broad and ever-growing, but is constantly drawn to books that have a decisive voice, unforgettable characters, an unexpected story, or can subvert and reconstruct the conventional narratives of love, friendship, family, loss and coming-of-age. In particular, she is looking for Adult and YA fantasy and romantasy, rom-coms and book club romance. In the wider fantasy genre, Ciara is keen on finding romantasy, cozy fantasy, dark/light academia, and anything with political intrigue. She seeks novels that will keep her reading into the early hours of the morning. She wants to be consumed by the world, the plot and the characters. Think authors like Leigh Bardugo, Tamsyn Muir, R.F. Kuang, Sangu Mandanna, Hannah Nicole Maehrer, Deborah Harkness, Chloe Gong, Ava Reid or Sabaa Tahir. In romcoms and romance, Ciara is looking for something that explores the complicated nature of romantic relationships - think Seven Days in June by Tia Williams, The Dead Romantics by Ashley Poston or anything by Taylor Jenkins Reid. She would love to find a brilliantly witty workplace romance or anything that will leave her in tears. Ciara would like you to submit a covering letter, 1 -2 page synopsis and the first 5,000 words of your completed manuscript in a single word document. (In addition to the paid sessions, Ciara is kindly offering one free session for low income/under-represented writers. Please email agent121@iaminprint.co.uk to apply, outlining your case for this option which is offered at the discretion of I Am In Print).  By booking you understand you need to conduct an internet connection test with I Am In Print prior to the event. You also agree to email your material in one document to reach I Am In Print by the stated submission deadline and note that I Am In Print take no responsibility for the advice received during your agent meeting. The submission deadline is: Thursday 20th March 2025

LOOKING FOR: YA, ADULT FICTION, NON-FICTION Laura Williams is literary agent at the Greene and Heaton Literary Agency. She is seeking literary fiction, commercial fiction, psychological thrillers and high concept Young Adult. Laura is actively building a fiction list and a small non-fiction list. She is currently looking for literary fiction, edgy commercial fiction, psychological thrillers and high-concept contemporary young adult, as well as narrative non-fiction of all types. Her taste is quite dark, and she loves gothic, ghost stories, horror and anything sinister. She also loves books that make her cry, from big love stories to intense family dramas. She is open to historical or horror YA, but not magical or fantasy.  Meditative or moving novels about modern life, appeal to Laura, sad stories with love and the importance of caring for each other shining through. She also loves stories about female friendships or conversely groups of women who don't get on, such as the hugely fun BAD SUMMER PEOPLE by Emma Rosenblum. She is always on the lookout for a big tragic love story to make her cry happy or sad tears. At the more commercial end of fiction, think funny novels with warmth and romantic comedies with a bit of depth – think Marian Keyes. Most of all Laura is looking for novels she hasn’t read before – something unusual structurally or thematically, something that shines a light on a subject the author is passionate about, something that’ll break her heart or raise her blood in an entirely new way. Laura is always looking to promote diverse voices from across the globe, and is particularly keen on LGBTQI+ stories. Laura would like you to submit a covering letter, a 1-2 page synopsis and the first 5,000 words of your completed manuscript in a single word document. (In addition to the paid sessions, Laura is kindly offering one free session for low income/under-represented writers. Please email agent121@iaminprint.co.uk to apply, outlining your case for this option which is offered at the discretion of I Am In Print).  By booking you understand you need to conduct an internet connection test with I Am In Print prior to the event. You also agree to email your material in one document to reach I Am In Print by the stated submission deadline and note that I Am In Print take no responsibility for the advice received during your agent meeting. The submission deadline is: Thursday 20th March 2025

We will review some familiar functions of the Old Testament in Spiritual Direction, and then move on to explore some different ways to make use of less familiar OT stories and poems. Our investigation will be a mix of input, conversation, and prayer … and have a Bible at hand!

Presentation - How charity retail can improve patient care in hospices by Vicki Burnett, The Charity Retail Consultancy Session aimed at hospice retailers Retail strategy: - How having a strategic approach to retail can support the delivery of your hospice’s goals, what should be included and how to ensure the team share the vision Staff and volunteer recruitment and retention: - The sector’s biggest challenge today – what you can do to ensure you recruit and retain the right people to run your retail chain Investment and growth: - Identifying the key trends in charity retail right now, helping you to make informed decisions about when and how to invest and grow

Discover your special powers, receive insights and deep healing together with an abundance of light codes taking your life to the next level!