“Alison is a passionate advocate, a connector of ideas, people and activities and someone who genuinely cares about the ecology of the literary arts.” Chris Gribble (Chief Executive of The Forum Trust)
A short story The Man Who Types by A.T. Boyle was included in a new anthology HELL HATH NO FURY featuring writers based in the UK, India, Italy and North America including Irenosen Okijie, Robin McLean, Anukrti Upadhyay and Catherine McNamara.
Editor Shinie Antony gathered the thirteen writers and Hachette published the book in India. It was launched in Bengaluru at the end of 2024.
Shinie Antony
Eight of A.T. Boyle’s short stories about Lancashire in northern England appear in the first exObjects anthology 2024 alongside Vikram Sampath, Ramona Sen, Jerry Pinto, Sauma Afreen, Gajra Kottary, Belinda RushJansen, Devasiachan Benny, Shashi Deshpande, Shinie Antony and Jaishree Misra.
Author Shashi DeshpandeAuthor and co-editor Shinie AntonyAuthor Jaishree Misra
In 2021 Alison launched Artificial Silk’s collaborative web magazine exObjects and joined a live-streamed Grief panel at Bangalore Literature Festival with Bollywood podcaster RJ Stutee.
Jean Boyle, a talented seamstress and embroiderer and mother who features in the first exObjects story Peace
A.T. Boyle runs creative workshops. A Nicholson Art Gallery collaboration invited participants to bring an object with a silky texture. The two Alisons (Alison Nicholls and A.T. Boyle) discussed items in the Museum collection and the group wrote imaginatively about fabrics and their cultural history.
With support from Moorland Climate Action, Artificial Silk ran Sadabahar: Evergreen events at HUG Green Arts festival. A global community postcard with an evergreen theme was sent between India and Staffordshire.
A Zoom creative writing workshop brought England closer to Uttar Pradesh, and three climate stories were written.
One of A.T. Boyle’s short fiction stories was Highly Commended from 1,700 submissions to a BBC Radio 4 competition for audio presentation.
Starting out as a copywriter creating reviews for Bertelsmann’s global book club magazine, she became founding and managing editor of a BBC magazine with weekly sales of 60,000. The author of many published stories, she launched online book reviews for Orange and worked as a publisher of print and digital in London, Cambridge, Bath and Oxford (Kar2ouche /UCL).
Writing Conventions – What’s new? was awarded a Distinction by the University of Bristol. It studied the use of online social networks for in-depth commentary on fiction and was featured in the University of Winchester’s first e-magazine alongside Michael Rosen.
A.T. Boyle is the author of a fiction story set in Istanbul that was shortlisted in the international Mslexia awards.
The published story morphed into a performance script and multimedia performance at the Bluecoat arts centre and a perambulation through a Liverpool shopping area with an audience of over 8,000 people.
Liverpool Hope drama students in the stage version of The Typing Man and the Turkish Woman written by A.T. Boyle
“There’s a small but powerful story hidden in The Typing Man – the woman’s story that lies within. There is also the story of the relationship between Fıstıkçı and The Typing Man. This story has impressed me. Alison has greatly captured the city, the spirits of the city, surrounded by hustle and bustle.
A.T. Boyle and the cast of the multimedia version of The Typing Man plan its showcase at the Bluecoat in Liverpool, England
She has reflected the rhyme of the city like an Istanbulli, a place where she truly belongs. The mood of the city is nicely written. It’s a moving saddening love story filled with lively characters from around Istanbul. The writer narrates the story so well that it inspires the reader’s curiosity.” Jale Sancak
You can buy a digital copy of The Typing Man story and writing prompts here
Jale Sancak is President of the Istanbul Galatapera Culture and Arts Foundation. She writes and performs with Kara Kutu Tiyatro and has received the Haldun 2001 Taner short story prize, the 2014 Duygu Asena novel award, and the 2018 Attila Ilhan novel prize.
Click here for more about The Typing Man and the Turkish Woman drama.
Alison is the author of over 50 children’s books, co-creating these with illustrators Nick Sharratt, Lydia Monks, Cathy Gale, Garham Percy, Julie Lacome and many others. When she worked with Michael Morpurgo, his story about Venice and the star of the book (a donkey) appeared live on Channel 4’s breakfast programme.
The Dance of the Eagle and the Fish Originally a story for adults written by the satirical Turkish writer Aziz Nesin, the longer text was first translated into English by Ruth Christie, then Alison adapted it for presentation in a large format picturebook.
‘A terrific story… with a timeless quality’ (School Librarian magazine).
The illustrator was Istanbul-born Kağan Güner, and for a time the book author and illustrator lived close by. There were plans to produce a second book, but Kağan died in 2011 at the age of 48.
His PhD in modern Turkish art at the School of Oriental and African Studies followed a master’s degree at Chelsea College of Art, with work showcased in Tokyo, Seoul, New York, Paris, Lisbon, Bologna and Bratislava.
Also a UNESCO war artist, the Museum of London collected four of Kağan’s pieces from the London Against War exhibition.
The Guardian’sobituary of Kağan Güner was written by the Punjabi poet Amarjit Chandan.
World Book Day reading and chat…
Returning to her secondary school in Preston, now called Newman College, to talk about her writing inspirations…
Events at the Artificial Silk exhibition in the community gallery of the People’s History Museum…
Family events at Bluecoat in Northwest England…
You can take part in writing activities at any time of the year through exObjects
Check our Events and News page for updates on publications, workshops and events in 2025.
