NAME:
Shawn Dunkley - Cool, California
FACT:
She can peel bananas with her toes.
BIOGRAPHY:
Shawn grew up in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains, where her major passions were tree climbing and skinny dipping. At eighteen she moved to Los Angeles to attend UCLA's School of Theater, Film, and Television. After four years of battling urban mutants, she graduated with a degree in Theater, specializing in Playwriting, and with a minor in Italian. Shawn has been paid to write articles, flip burgers, make pizzas, manage a concert hall, and photograph whitewater rafters. She likes to write stories that have strong female characters, compare rural and urban life, and require an element of magic. Shawn has a weakness for wild animals and jumping fences.
EMAIL: shawn.dunkley@nakedonstage.co.uk

NAME:
Kathleen Gray - Wormit, Fife
FACT:
Kathleen has climbed Mt Kenya, Africa with a pair of socks on her hands.
BIOGRAPHY:
When Kathleen was a child she spent hours making up exotic pen names for herself in preparation for fame as a writer in later life. By the time she was twelve the choice was narrowed to, Augusta Laureen Laperdu and Angelica Florence Morphorine. Today, Kathleen is happy to be published under the name of -
Kathleen Gray. Kathleen is currently working on a novel, 'One Short Hour,'and has written various short stories on the themes of tattoos, pilots and angels, cows and farming.

NAME:
James E. Hopkin
FACT:
James difused a bomb when he was eight.
BIOGRAPHY:
During his bachelor’s degree in Imaginative Writing and Film making at Liverpool John Moore’s University, James wrote his first novel (Sex and Suicide) and helped form the film production company ‘Project Monkey’. After making six films, James finally decided to continue his creative writing at St. Andrews University, where he focuses on the horror and science-fiction genre. James is currently writing a collection of short stories and is planning his
next novel.
EMAIL:
james.hopkin@nakedonstage.co.uk

NAME:
Hope Jennings - New York
FACT:
In researching her future career as a secret double agent, Hope obsessively watches 'Alias' reruns instead of writing her thesis.
BIOGRAPHY:
Hope wrote her first novel at the age of seven. Not finding immediate success in spite of her precocious ambitions, she decided to become a famous actress. After studying theatre in New York, followed by the typical excruciating though enlightening experience of working for tips in numerous random restaurants and bars, she resolved to return to her first calling. She now lives in St Andrews and is currently finishing her doctoral thesis on Angela Carter while writing her second novel.
EMAIL: hope.jennings@nakedonstage.co.uk

NAME:
Sigridur Kristjansdottir - Reykjavik, Iceland
FACT:
Sigridur has lived in four different countries and speaks three languages.
BIOGRAPHY:
Writing was always a secret Sigridur kept from those around her, she felt it was too personal to share. Being a very practical person Sigridur decided to take a job in an insurance company, after receiving her Bachelor´s in Comperative Literature, to get financially stable. Having worked there for two years she decided to stop being practical and follow her dreams. She applied to the Creative Writing program in St. Andrews, was accepted and now hopes it will lead to wonderful things. Today Sigridur writes short stories and is working on her first novel.
EMAIL: sigridur.kristjansdottir@nakedonstage.co.uk

NAME:
Kirsty Lee - St Andrews, Fife
FACT:
Kirsty once led a procession, at the age of five, through the streets of London for the Queen's silver jubilee dressed as a Royal Herald.
BIOGRAPHY:
Despite being told by an ex-boyfriend she should be a children's television presenter Kirsty resisted the bright lights of TV stardom to fulfil her lifelong ambition to be a children's writer instead. Having written short stories from an early age she took a detour from her goal to gain a Bachelor of Arts degree in Business and Marketing. Fortunately it wasn't long before she returned to her calling and has undertaken a Masters degree in Creative Writing at St Andrews University to perfect her craft whilst writing her debut children's fantasy novel.
EMAIL: kirsty.lee@nakedonstage.co.uk

NAME:
Stephen Livingston
FACT:
Stephen is devoid of quirky talents and had his sense of humour surgically removed along with his morals and conscience.
BIOGRAPHY:
Born in 1971, Stephen graduated from the University of Glasgow in 1999, other stuff happened in between no doubt. Stephen was a winner of the Canongate Prize in 2000 for his short story "Choose Your Future". Now Stephen is at the University of St. Andrews working on his prose fiction.
EMAIL: stephen.livingston@nakedonstage.co.uk

NAME:
Rachel Marsh - Baton Rouge, Louisiana
FACT:
Rachel can tie and untie a cherry stem into a knot with her tongue.
BIOGRAPHY:
Before even being literate, Rachel’s dream was to become a writer. As a child she drew from the Southern oddities around her to develop a quick wit that was easily transferable to paper. After receiving her Bachelor’s in Creative Writing from Louisiana State University, Rachel moved to Denver where she successfully perused a career as a freelance writer and editor. Unfortunately, her success was not financial as she gave up the life of an impoverished writer and Creative Writing teacher to become a starving student at the University of St Andrews. Today Rachel writes short stories, novels and plays all with an absurd humorous bent.
EMAIL: rachel.marsh@nakedonstage.co.uk

NAME:
Marilee Newell - Durham, England
FACT:
Marilee has a German alter ego called ‘Gisela’.
BIOGRAPHY:
After completing her bachelor’s degree in writing and literature at George Fox University in Portland Oregon, Marilee moved back to the UK to begin a PhD in Divinity on the topic of Costume and Incarnation. This year she is on leave of absence to pursue her interest in writing a novel. Marilee also enjoys composing playful (sometimes slightly silly) poetry with a touch of whimsy.
EMAIL: marilee.newell@nakedonstage.co.uk

NAME:
Tamara Simpson - Pennsylvania
FACT:
Tamara was recently quoted as saying, "I never do drugs. I rarely drink. But occasionally, I like to stalk people."
BIOGRAPHY:
Tamara has been severely misled by career choices in the past. She considered teaching, flying, acting, detective work, landing on the moon, and becoming the first female President of the United States before finally returning to her initial masterpiece, her kindergarten essay "What I want to be when I grow up," for guidance. The diction, style, voice, and perfectly formed letters in her first childhood essay led her to the undeniable fact that her life's work was that of a writer. She studied English at Jacksonville University in Florida and received a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholarship to study creative writing in St Andrews. The intrigue of historical crime has caught her attention particularly this year as she researches Scotland's infamous serial killers--Burke and Hare.
EMAIL: tamara.simpson@nakedonstage.co.uk

NAME:
Derek Vaughan - Dundee
FACT:
Derek's dog, Alf, attended more classes at the University of Dundee than he did, and was even given an honorary degree.
BIOGRAPHY:
Derek has lived on and off in St. Andrews for the last 20 years and lost his sight, as a result of an accident, 16 years ago. He gained an undergraduate degree in Philosophy in Dundee University, and has since travelled extensively, visiting 50 different countries. He's worked many jobs including throughout the world: a Gallery owner in St. Andrews, oil rakes in Scotland, Fisherman, Dustbin man in Iceland, and picked grapes and olives in France and Greece. He is currently writing a novel based on some of those experiences and others including hitchiking over Sahara (sighted), visiting Timbuktu, pony tracking up the Himalayas (blind).
EMAIL: derek.vaughan@nakedonstage.co.uk

NAME:
Joanna Whiteley - Raunds, Northants
FACT:
Joanna has had a cotton bud down Eddie Izzard's ear.
BIOGRAPHY:
Born in Singapore into an army family, Joanna has moved around the world a bit but had never been to Scotland before she applied to study for the Mlitt in Creative Writing at St Andrews. Before that she was a mother of three, tapestry weaver, gardener, trivia quiz regular and Head of English at a boys' school in Northampton. She has always stolen time to write but now the time is her own. She writes short stories and is enjoying the Guinness drinking opportunities student life brings.
EMAIL: joanna.whiteley@nakedonstage.co.uk

NAME:
Christiana Worley - Austin, Texas
FACT:
Christiana fell into her great-grandfather's grave when she was eight. She was saved by the bar on the side of the coffin and her fast-moving father.
BIOGRAPHY:
Christiana's grandfather always told her she should be a writer, and even though she'd been writing poems about alligators and stars and toilets from a very young age, she didn't believe him until her senior year at a small university in Abilene, Texas when she wrote a children's book. She was hooked. She spent the next two years writing her first novel and travelling. Then she moved to St Andrews to study theology and the arts. Now Christiana is working on a PhD in creative writing. Her second novel is called The Fear of Not Flying. She sings and is currently learning how to play the guitar.
EMAIL: christiana.worley@nakedonstage.co.uk