About Us
Laura Williams, MA
Laura read English Literature at Edinburgh University, where she achieved a first class honours degree, followed by a postgraduate diploma in Broadcast Journalism at City University, London.
During her journalism career, Laura worked for ITV news and as an investigative researcher for Harriet Sergeant. In 2010, Laura decided that her vocation was to teach. She has since taught English in Italy, Saudi Arabia and across a variety of London secondary schools, in both the private and maintained sectors. She has also been a Director of Studies at sixth form level. Laura enjoys seeking innovative ways to communicate myriad texts with young people and has a particular penchant for Shakespeare, Pinter and strong, female writers such as Angela Carter, Sylvia Plath and Audrey Lorde. She enjoys teaching creative writing to children of all ages and is currently writing her own collection of gothic short stories.
Laura has an interest in all things theatrical and recently completed a playwriting course at the National Theatre under Evan Placey.
Texts Laura wishes were on the syllabus:
GCSE:
The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
Coriolanus by William Shakespeare
Orlando by Virginia Woolf
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
A-level:
The Collected Poems of Audre Lorde
Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
A Woman in Berlin by Anonymous
Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flanagan
Chimerica by Lucy Kirkwood
Leopoldstadt by Tom Stoppard
Emma Silverthorn, MA
Emma read English Literature at Royal Holloway University, Surrey, and then completed her Masters in Creative and Life Writing at Goldsmiths University, London. In 2024 she published Roaming Wild a commissioned biography of the founders of animal welfare charity Compassion in World Farming. She is currently working on a bildungsroman and writes regularly on her Substack ‘After the Fact’ here.
Emma, finding teaching the perfect accompaniment to writing, began teaching throughout London, in 2011. She loves to explore new and dynamic ways to engage and motivate her students, especially those most resistant to the wonders of Literature and Language! Her literary heroes include Virginia Woolf, Salman Rushdie, Angela Carter, Allen Ginsberg and of course Shakespeare.
In her spare time Emma enjoys intrepid travel, zen yoga and literary podcasts.
Texts Emma wishes were on the syllabus:
GCSE:
The Buddha of Suburbia by Hanif Kureishi
Franny and Zooey by J.D. Salinger
How to Breathe Underwater by Julie Orringer
A-level:
Hot Milk by Deborah Levy
Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
Exquisite Cadavers by Meena Kandasamy
Rock 'n' Roll by Tom Stoppard
Slouching Towards Bethlehem by Joan Didion
Reading in the Dark by Seamus Deane