Mike Morris
Co-Director
Mike is a founder member of WoW and has a background in community activity, in education - working as a Learning Mentor in Anfield CC School, and film-making as a writer on Dockers (Channel 4, 2000), and as co-director and producer of a ground-breaking documentary, Liverpool’s Cunard Yanks (Granada, 2008). He studied Literature & American Studies at Liverpool John Moores University and has an MA in Creative Writing. He is a playwright, with his first play Waiting for Brando, which he wrote and produced, appearing at Liverpool’s Unity Theatre in 2012 and 2013, followed by a short tour of UK theatres. His second play, Subterranean Theatre: The Maurie, based on a short story by George Garrett, was produced as a site-specific piece in Liverpool’s Cunard Building during the city’s Three Queens celebrations in 2915. Mike created WoW's Pulp Idol competition and is responsible for the editing and publishing of WoW's annual Pulp Idol - Firsts (a book of the finalists’ First Chapters) and leads on WoW’s publishing strategy. Mike created and directed the George Garrett Archive Project and is currently working with actor and director Raymond Waring to produce George Garrett’s second play, Flowers and Candles, for June 2018. Mike is also working with Madeline on WoW’s long-term strategic aims and development.
Madeline Heneghan
Co-Director
Madeline Heneghan became WoW’s first full-time Festival Director in 2006 and was ultimately responsible for the delivery of the annual month-long Festival and all WoW projects. Madeline has an MA in American Literature and History, and prior to joining Madeline was the Action Plan Coordinator for The Black and Racial Minority Network. As a former Equalities Consultant, Madeline gained a thorough understanding of the needs and preferences of different communities and hard to reach groups. Her excellent community engagement skills and expertise in diversity and audience development have been the driving force behind WoW’s growth and its diverse audiences. In 2017, after WoW were judged ‘Outstanding’ by Arts Council England under their ‘Creative Case for Diversity‘ criteria, she was invited to become a ‘critical friend’ for the Creative Case in the North. Madeline has organised and led on many festival events and projects. Most recently, Madeline has written and published, with Emy Onuara, a book based on the findings of the Great War to Race Riots Creative Heritage Project. Madeline is now delivering our latest Creative Heritage Project based on the archives of the Liverpool 8 Law Centre, and working to shape WoW’s long-term strategy and development.
Emma Hulme
Programme Manager
Emma joined the team in 2016 and is the Programme Manager, overseeing and curating the vast amount of WoW’s projects. During her time here Emma has led on many successful projects, including, What's Your Story?, Superheroes: Words are our Power, Moving Foreward and many more. She graduated from Central School of Speech and Drama and then returned to Liverpool to work freelance with several local organisations.
Amy Carrington
Project Manager
Amy Carrington joined WoW in 2020 and is a Project Manager for Write to Work Directions, Next Chapter, Enterprise Hub and PSS families. Amy believes in WoW’s dedication to creativity as a tool to improve confidence, develop skills and bring people together. After graduating from University of Manchester with a degree in English Literature and Creative Writing, Amy worked as a Team Leader in the Education Department of National Liverpool Museums. She is proud to have a poem featured in The Rialto, and is currently writing her first collection of poetry. She is most likely to be found reading, baking or being overly competitive whilst playing board games.
Ciarán Hodgers
Project Manager
Ciarán joined the team in 2017 and is one of WoW’s Project Managers, with specific responsibilities over the WoWFest and Black History Month festival programmes, and our Writer On The Bloc series of digital residencies. A graduate of Manchester Metropolitan University, outside of WoW he is a multi award-winning spoken word poet, and his debut poetry collection Cosmocartography was published by Burning Eye Books in October 2018.
Alice Bunker-Whitney
Project Manager - Children and Young People
Alice Bunker-Whitney joined the team in 2020 as WoW’s Project Manager for Children and Young People. She leads on the Superheroes: Words are our Power project and WoW Young Writers.
Alice graduated from Liverpool Hope University with a first-class degree in Drama and is a theatre maker and youth arts leader. Alice is a highly experienced youth arts facilitator and is passionate about stories; reading them, performing them, writing them & most importantly helping people to share theirs. When Alice isn’t working for WoW she can be found dancing in the street dressed as a bumble bee with her street theatre company EggPeople www.eggpeople.co.uk. Alice believes in the power of creativity and play and will chat to anyone about it, probably offering them a slice of cake too.
Katrina Paterson
Project Worker
Katrina joined the team in 2018 and is WoW’s Designer and Project Worker responsible with creating the incredible books we produce. Having completed a MA in Screenwriting at John Moores University, Katrina has a real passion for screenwriting in her free time.
Lauren Buxton
Project Worker
Lauren Buxton joined the WoW team in 2017 as the Project Assistant, having previously been a participant on the first Write to Work course. Lauren is now a Project Worker supporting on our adult projects from for Write to Work Directions, Next Chapter, What’s Your Story Write Minds, SS Orbita to Orbital and our national novel writing competition Pulp Idol. Lauren is passionate about WoW’s dedication to giving people the voice to tell their own stories and the creative community the projects create. When Lauren isn’t working for WoW she can be found writing about new musical gems on her music blog,
Zack Bakir
Project Worker
Zack Bakir joined the WoW team in 2020 and works as a Project Worker whose main responsibilities lie-in marketing and social media, creating the online content as well as curating our digital image. Zack also works alongside Alice with Children and Young People. Having originally supported the Life of Grime project, he is now a frequent face of the WoW Young Writers, running sessions with Alice and collaborating on the exciting projects and masterclasses. Outside of WoW, Zack is an actor who can be seen exploring characters and narratives both on the stage and the screen.