Uploaded August 2022 | Updated September 2026, 6 hours ago
National Centre for Writing’s Escalator is a talent development programme: eight months of mentoring, training, guidance and networking for writers based in the East of England, who are at the beginning of their careers and feel their voice is under-represented on UK bookshelves.
Find out more about Escalator at nationalcentreforwriting.org.uk/escalator
Ben Cartwright grew up in a family where stories were told to join the present to a past across the sea. As a boy he wanted to be a singer-songwriter. Then he fell for poetry, and had poems published in magazines, including Areté. While studying for a PhD in archaeology, which included excavating on top of a coastal stack in Orkney, he began spending all his free time working on stories. An obsession that continued through his next jobs: bicycle courier, gardener, curator. In 2021, he completed the Open University free online Start Writing Fiction course, and the Faber & Faber Writing a Novel course. He lives in North Norfolk.
Ben is mentored by Kate Worsley.
National Centre for Writing’s Escalator is a talent development programme: eight months of mentoring, training, guidance and networking for writers based in the East of England, who are at the beginning of their careers and feel their voice is under-represented on UK bookshelves.
Find out more about Escalator at nationalcentreforwriting.org.uk/escalator
Ben Cartwright grew up in a family where stories were told to join the present to a past across the sea. As a boy he wanted to be a singer-songwriter. Then he fell for poetry, and had poems published in magazines, including Areté. While studying for a PhD in archaeology, which included excavating on top of a coastal stack in Orkney, he began spending all his free time working on stories. An obsession that continued through his next jobs: bicycle courier, gardener, curator. In 2021, he completed the Open University free online Start Writing Fiction course, and the Faber & Faber Writing a Novel course. He lives in North Norfolk.
Ben is mentored by Kate Worsley.
