John Dougherty (Chair) is the award-winning author of over thirty books for children, including fiction, picture-books, poetry, and educational reading scheme content. From 2013-2015, John chaired the Society of Authors’ Children’s Writers & Illustrators Group. He was one of the first Patrons of Reading in the UK and is a Founding Patron of the Chipping Norton Literary Festival. A resident of Stroud since 2004, John has been involved with the Stroud Book Festival since its inception and is a fervent supporter of, and campaigner for, a strong public library service.
John’s thoughts on libraries are here.
Dr Rachel Sargeant is an author of suspense fiction, including the Gloucestershire Crime Series. She holds a PhD from the University of Birmingham and is a judge for the Henshaw Press Short Story Competitions.
As a chartered librarian, she oversaw the design of two Gloucestershire school libraries and implemented study skills and reading for pleasure initiatives.
Before moving to Gloucester, she taught English at a university in Germany.
Previously, she ran a group of libraries and the mobile service in the London Borough of Bromley, led a lifelong learning project for Shropshire Libraries, and set up the Voices from Europe Festival, the forerunner to the Richmond upon Thames Literature Festival.
Rachel’s thoughts on libraries here
Cheltenham born author, Jim O’Sullivan‘s early career focussed on urban regeneration in some of London’s poorest neighbourhoods. The pivot into a writing career was a long held dream finally fulfilled, and both his novels have been widely acclaimed. Fascinated by history’s nooks and crannies, Jim’s passion is to bring to life the stories of those overlooked or forgotten.
“Libraries have given me access to the world’s imagination for more years than I care to remember. But it doesn’t just end at books. When my Dad was working nights, and silence at home was the order of the day, I spent hours studying for my O and A levels in my local library. Libraries are there for everyone. From reading to studying to staying warm to accessing the internet to a calm space. Libraries are brilliant. We should cherish them.”
Hereward Corbett was born on a farm in Sussex and as a child spent many hours in Hastings Public Library. He has worked in bookselling since the late 1980s, and currently runs the two Yellow-Lighted Bookshops in Tetbury and Nailsworth. He is a slow but persistent reader, and is passionate about words, stories, and how they enable people to understand and change their lives.
Julian Hasler is an arable farmer living near Tetbury; with a degree in Sciences and English Literature he has been a voracious reader from an early age.
See Julian’s comments on libraries here.
Peter Hunt is Professor Emeritus in English and Children’s Literature at Cardiff University, UK, and Adjunct Professor at Dublin City University, Eire.
Peter was the first Professor of Children’s Literature in a UK
university. He has lectured at over 150 universities in 24 countries,
and has written or edited 38 books and more than 500 papers and
reviews on the subject. His books have been translated into Arabic,
Chinese, Danish, Greek, Japanese, Korean, Persian, Portuguese
(Brazil) and Serbian.
Awards include the Brothers Grimm Award for services to children’s literature, from the International Institute for Children’s Literature, Osaka, and the Anne Devereaux Jordan Award for Distinguished Service to Children’s Literature from the Children’s Literature Association (USA). He was a member of the initial Board of Trustees for Seven Stories, the children’s book centre in Newcastle.
Over the past few years he has been a Visiting Professor at Trinity College Dublin, Unversità Ca’Foscari Venice, Newcastle University
(UK), and Hollins University (USA). His most recent books include
The Making of Lewis Carroll’s Alice (2020), and Alice’s Oxford (April
2025). He is currently one of the editors of The Routledge Companion to Young Adult Literature.
He has four daughters and nine grandchildren, and lives with his
extremely long-suffering wife in Horsley, just outside Nailsworth.
TASH HYDE Tash is originally from North Lincolnshire via Derby & Toulouse. She moved to Gloucestershire in 2022 to work for Read for Good, a UK wide reading for pleasure charity based in Nailsworth. Tash was previously a children’s librarian for Derbyshire County Council, she worked as a Sure Start Librarian doing outreach to encourage families to fall in love with books & promote the benefits of libraries. Now Books & Libraries Lead, she leads on pilot project work with schools in Gloucestershire, liaison with publishers including books reviews and events, manages Brilliant Box of Books and is also a judge for Oscar’s Book Prize.
