Dr

Alexia Casale

Personal statement

Having worked across the Arts and studied across the Social Sciences, my current portfolio includes writing novels, delivering dramaturgy and script consultancy services, and doing specialist human-rights non-fiction editing. My first two YA books are published by Faber & Faber (with audiobooks via Tantor), with two more lead titles due in July 2023 and July 2024, while my adult debut and a second book will be lead titles for Viking books in February 2024 and February 2025. I was delighted to join Bath Spa as a Lecturer in Autumn 2021, and was overjoyed to be promoted in June 2022 to Senior Lecturer and Course Leader on the renowned MA in Writing for Young People and the new parallel online programme, which I help set up in 2021 to widen access.

The Bone Dragon was shortlisted for the Waterstone’s Children’s Book Prize and the Jugendliteraturpreis, and long-listed for the Branford Boase Award. It was also a Book of the Year for the Financial Times and Independent.

House of Windows is a Reading Well for Young People: Shelf-help title, available in most libraries nationwide as a ‘book on prescription’ for the NHS. I was also part of the Selection Committee for the ‘Reading well with long term conditions’ list.

Although I have always wanted to be a writer, I decided to pursue a career that would give me the knowledge and experience to write about the things I was interested in, as well as the skills needed to achieve my writing goals. A portfolio career is my dream, with each strand informing and enriching the others.

Among other things, I've been a researcher at Cambridge University looking at how to use technology to screen for dyslexia in HE students, worked on a double-Tony-award-winning Broadway show (backstage!), and served time as Box Office Manager at a large UK musical festival, where I arranged a yearly mentoring programme for students at various universities. This later helped me set up YAShot – a young adult literature festival with a large outreach programme for disadvantaged schools and a mentorship track to help young people who can’t undertake traditional internships get a foot on the publishing ladder.

More recently, I've been busy as a paid reader for top screenwriting competitions on both sides of the Atlantic, in-between consulting on new musicals for the West End, and delivering training for the Metropolitan Police on dyslexia and dyspraxia... among other things.

Recent book deals

Alexia’s first two adult books have been preempted in a major deal by Viking in the UK, at auction to Pam Dorman Books/VikingUS, and in four other announced territories. Faber has also announced a two-book deal for Alexia’s next two YA novels.

Academic qualifications

• MA in Social & Political Sciences, Psychology Major (qualified to the BPS)
• MPhil (Research Route) in Educational Psychology & Technologies (focus on dyslexia, accessibility in HE and psychometrics)
• Full PGCHEP (PGCE equivalent for Higher Education teaching)
• PhD Creative Writing (focus on writing historical fact and fiction)

Professional memberships

• FHEA
• ALCS, PLR

Teaching specialism and areas of expertise

• Creative Writing
• Writing for Young People
• Scriptwriting (theatre and film and TV)
• Creative Writing and Psychology
• Historical Fiction and research for Creative Writing
• Academic nonfiction publishing (journals)

Research supervision

I am interested in supervising research students on cross-disciplinary projects; for instance, work on psychological aspects of creative writing, the relationship between fiction and human rights, and how the same historical research is transformed in writing historical fiction versus non-fiction.