ISSUE 20
Bios
Birmingham born, Manchester (and sometimes Sheffield) based, Guruleen has worked on a number of projects and residencies with various organisations. These include a residency at Elizabeth Gaskell’s House where she wrote a collection of short stories, and a script written in collaboration with composers and virtual reality experts for an immersive tour of the National Trust’s Erddig House. The latter will open to the public in February 2026.
Guruleen has taught workshops to children, teens and young adults for English Heritage, The Writing Squad and Elizabeth Gaskell’s House, among others.
Her own practise centres character journeys, with a focus on women in particular. She writes scripts for screen and theatre, as well as prose. Guruleen is currently working on her novel and on writing and making a short film with some friends.
Kayleigh is a poet, short story writer and occasional critic. Her debut poetry pamphlet mango & starblush was published in 2025 by fourteen poems.
She has been a part of the Roundhouse Collective, the MMU Poetry Library Critics Collective and the Apples & Snakes Writing Room. Her poems have appeared in Propel, Ink Sweat & Tears, Butcher’s Dog, fourteen poems, Isele Magazine, Cardiff Review and others. Her reviews have been published with PN Review, Poetry Book Society and the North. In 2024 she performed at Glastonbury Festival.
Kayleigh was an Ink Sweat & Tears intern in 2023 and 2024, and now works in publishing in London. She is a Squad Buddy for new Squad members.
Chloe is a writer, poet and artist based between London and York. She is a winner of the 2022 New Poets Prize and the 2020 Creative Future Writers’ Award. Her debut pamphlet Encyclopaedia came out with Smith|Doorstop Press in June 2023. In 2024, she released her microchapbook DREAMSIMULATION with The Braag.
Her arts writing has featured in Aesthetica, where she worked as part of the editorial team, and regularly contributes to Corridor8. Her work has featured in bath magg, Basket Magazine, Bedtime Stories for the End of the World, Magma, The North, Strix and The Poetry Review, amongst others. She is particularly interested in mixedness, scrap ecology, and the tactile world.
Chloe is an experienced live arts facilitator, and has previously partnered or run workshops for Creative Future, Young Poets Network, Manchester Poetry Library, New Writing North and The National Glass Centre. She works for Modern Poetry in Translation and sits on the board for The Writing Squad.
She was part of the 24/25 Roundhouse Poetry Collective and has an MPhil in History of Art from the University of Cambridge.
Tayiba Sulaiman is a writer from Manchester. She graduated with a degree in English and Modern Languages in 2023, and completed an Emerging Translators Mentorship with the translator Jamie Lee Searle in 2024. Her translations from German include poetry by Dragica Rajčić Holzner and the sample chapters for Alena Jabarine’s book Der Letzte Himmel (The Last Sky). Her own writing has appeared in Prospect Magazine, PEN Transmissions and World of Interiors.
Thank you to Manchester Poetry Library, the Northern Film Archive and Special Collections at Manchester Metropolitan University.
The project was co-managed with Ruth Awolola who, at the time, was the Poetry Library’s Learning Officer. Big thanks to the library’s Programme Manager Martin Kratz for making this all possible.
Ruth Awolola is a poet, performer, theatremaker and creative facilitator based in Manchester. She writes and performs for a variety of audiences including poetry for children and young people and has performed her work across the UK and internationally. Her poetry first featured in ‘Rising Stars: New Young Voices in Poetry (Otter-Barry Press,2017)’ and has since been included in numerous anthologies.
