Meet the team
WriteMentor is organised by founder Stuart White who works with high-profile authors, agents
and other industry experts to successfully deliver our programmes
Stuart White
Founder
Stuart is a writer and secondary school teacher, who has undeterred passion for helping people, whether it’s his students at school, or the writers who have joined the WriteMentor community. He has a Masters Degree in Creative Writing and founded, and now runs, WriteMentor. In 2020 and 2022 he was placed on the SCWBI Undiscovered Voices longlist and named as an Hononary Mention for his novels ‘Ghosts of Mars’ and ‘Astra FireStar and the Ripples of Time’. Stuart’s ethos focuses on making writing more accessible and affordable, something that is at the heart of everything he does and motivates him to make WriteMentor helps as many people as possible. He makes sure WriteMentor is always open, warm and welcoming and, as a writer himself, he understands what you need to help pick you up as well as improve to take that next step in your career. Stuart was included in The Bookseller’s 2021 list of Rising Stars in the publishing industry.
Florianne Humphrey
Social Media, Marketing, Magazine Editor and Courses Co-ordinator
Florianne is an author, freelance marketer, and creative writing workshop leader represented by Chloe Davis at Darley Anderson. Her poem The Blundergaffe is published by Popshot Magazine, her YA short story The Time Tailor is published by Northern Gravy, and her short story ‘Blind Date’ was shortlisted for the Bridport Prize. She runs face-to-face creative writing workshops for organisations such as New Writing North, Seven Stories and International Women’s Day and independently tutors creative writing online. Florianne’s WriteMentor journey started in 2019 as a mentee on the summer mentoring programme, and now she supports Stuart by designing and promoting content, co-hosting WriteCast, and producing WriteMentor Magazine. She is a francophone and francophile, and her favourite things include cheese, bookshops and German Shepherds.
Melissa Welliver
Hub Manager and Spark Mentoring Co-ordinator
Melissa is a speculative Young Adult author represented by Lucy Irvine at Peters, Fraser & Dunlop. Her debut novel, The Undying Tower, was published by Agora Books in October 2021. It is the first in a Young Adult dystopian trilogy. Melissa has been a mentor for the last three years since WriteMentor’s inception. Apart from writing, she works as a freelance editor and has several testimonials on her website.
Sophia Payne
Events Co-ordinator
Sophia is the Picture Book winner of the WriteMentor Children’s Novel Award 2020. Following her win, she was offered representation from Alice Williams of the Alice Williams Literary Agency. Sophia then went on to sign a contract for her debut picture book, which she is hoping to announce soon. Sophia likes to write thought-provoking children’s books that reflect her mixed-race heritage, and enjoys the collaborative process of making books. Sophia is a natural-born planner, and is excited to be working as part of the WriteMentor events team.
Emily Randall
Events Co-ordinator
Emily has worked as a touring actor, an historical interpreter at Hampton Court and for the National Trust, creating events, exhibitions and interpretation. She writes haunting middle-grade mysteries and has won both the Mslexia Children’s Novel and YA competition and the Times/Chicken House Competition. She’s represented by Lucy Irvine at Peters, Fraser & Dunlop and her debut novel will be published in spring 2023. When she’s not writing, she’s busy raising two young children. On days off she can be found near the sea, at the pub or eating cake. Or all three.