Jan and Jacqui have backgrounds in education. They are former teachers and lecturers with many years’ experience writing both academically and creatively. Jan and Jacqui have run workshops on storytelling, poetry and creative writing. They have both been writers from an early age and retirement has given them the time to explore and extend the knowledge gained from a working lifetime encouraging others to learn and develop. Jan’s father was a writer, Cledwyn Hughes, and Jacqui’s father told stories, encouraging her imagination from an early age. They are both convinced that writing can be therapeutic as well as creative and that everyone can find a spark of creativity within themselves. Writing can be intensely private; it can be shared with others. Either way, writing offers rich opportunities to find out more about yourself and the world.

 

Jan and Jacqui write together as J L Harland, and their debut novel, Elin, was longlisted for the Cinnamon Debut Novel Prize in 2016. Separately, they have been published by Sage, Honno, UKLA, TES, Bloomsbury, Springer and Multilingual Matters. Their online publications have appeared on Litro, Adhoc Fiction, 81 Words and Modernartbypost. At present, Jan and Jacqui are writing a sequel to Elin. They have other writing projects. Following a course in crime writing at Cardiff University, they are currently editing their latest crime novels.