Hyper-Individualism: A 21st Century Obsession

Cathy Reay is a writer and journalist covering pop culture, motherhood and sex through a disability lens. She contributed chapters to three books out in 2023: No Offence, But… by Gina Martin, We’ve Got This: stories of disabled parenting by Eliza Hull and Everyday Action, Everyday Change by Natalie and Naomi Evans. Her words have appeared in The Guardian, i paper and Glamour. She is currently writing her first book.

Max Dickins is a published playwright, actor, presenter, comedian and author of Billy No Mates, which has been translated into multiple languages and is currently being adapted for television.

Christina has written over 200 journal articles and book chapters and has published 8 books in the field of gerontology. Her most recent book, Ageing, Health and Care, was launched by Policy Press at the British Society of Gerontology conference held at Brunel in July 2010. She is Editor of Ageing and Society, the leading social gerontology journal in Europe. She is a member of a range grant awarding bodies including NIHR and ESRC. She is a Fellow of the Faculty of Public Health and an Academician of the Academy of Social Sciences. In 2017, Christina was awarded the Lifetime Achievement award of the British Society of Gerontology and awarded Fellowship of the Gerontological Society of America.

Clare Shaw has four poetry collections with Bloodaxe; their latest collection, Towards a General Theory of Love, was awarded a Northern Writer’s Award, and was published in May 2022. Clare is Co-Director of the Kendal Poetry Festival and a regular tutor for Wordsworth Grasmere and the Arvon Foundation. Clare is also a mental health trainer with a particular interest in trauma, creativity and wellbeing. In collaboration with Winnie M Li, Clare was the recipient of a Royal Society of Literature Literature Matters Award in 2019, creating workshops and a free online resource for survivors of trauma, available via the below link.