Sophie Hannah is a Sunday Times, New York Times, USA Today and Amazon Kindle No. 1 bestselling crime writer whose books have sold more than five million copies and are published in more than 50 countries. She is the author of the new series of Hercule Poirot mystery novels, and won the Dagger in the Library Award for her body of work in 2023, and the UK National Book Awards Crime Novel of the Year prize in 2013.

Sophie is the founder, CEO and coach of Dream Author Coaching Ltd, where, since 2019, she has helped thousands of writers achieve greater success and happiness in their professional and personal lives. She helped to create the Masters Degree in Crime and Thriller Writing at the University of Cambridge in 2019, and is a Fellow of Lucy Cavendish College, Cambridge. Sophie's murder mystery musical movie, The Mystery of Mr E, is available on Amazon Prime, Apple TV and many US PBS TV channels including WETA.

Emily Winslow lives in Cambridge, England and is the author of a Cambridge-set series of crime novels (The Whole World, The Start of Everything, The Red House, Look For Her), the memoir Jane Doe January, and a writing book called Time to Write.

Her books have been published by Random House, HarperCollins, Allison & Busby, and Shanghai Translation Publishing House, and have been called "brilliant" (The Washington Post), "vivid" (Parade magazine) and "dazzling" (Shelf Awareness).

For 20 years, Jon Appleton commissioned award-winning children’s books – from picture books to non-fiction and YA – for a number of leading trade publishers, and as Editorial Director at Hodder and Orion. Now freelance, he works across the board for publishers and independent authors on everything from major structural edits through to line-edits, at various stages of the publishing process.

He has been an Arvon tutor, an All Stories and Rainbow Project mentor, and a lecturer and tutor on Cambridge University’s MSt in Crime Writing programme. He writes widely on aspects of children’s literature. His favourite thing is helping an author – whatever they are writing – to develop and convey their ideas uniquely and in a way that reaches as many readers as possible.

With a background in devised theatre, Jenny found her way into publishing 24 years ago. She is an editorial agent who likes to work with her authors to develop and refine their projects. Her approach is tailored, collaborative, holistic and writer-led. She represents a number of internationally bestselling and award-winning authors of both children's and adult books.

Ever wondered what actually happens once your manuscript lands on an agent's desk? Jenny's pulling back the curtain. Grounded, honest and refreshingly jargon-free, this session covers how agents read and assess work, how to build commercial awareness without writing to trend, when (and how) to submit, and what the agent–author relationship really looks like day to day.

Plus: every single writer gets a private one-to-one pitch session.

Is representation guaranteed? No. Representation is never promised. What the retreat does offer is professional insight, honest feedback, and the practical tools to make your best case when the time is right.