The RNA team
The RNA is governed by a board of directors, supported by other senior volunteers who are part of the wider management team.
Sue Moorcroft
President
Sue is a Sunday Times bestselling author. She writes two books a year and her publishers are Renegade, Hachette; Avon, HarperCollins; Choc Lit, Joffe Books; and various publishers in translation. She’s won the Goldsboro Books Contemporary Novel of the Year, Readers’ Best Romantic Novel award, two HOLT Medallions and the Katie Fforde Bursary. She is also a former vice-chair of the Romantic Novelists’ Association and editor of their anthologies.
Seána Talbot
Director/Chair
Seána has significant board experience, having served on a number of statutory, charity, and private sector boards. In her day job she works for a leading charity. She has written a number of historical romance novels as Catherine Tinley and has won two RoNA Awards, a Rita® Award and the HOLT medallion.
Katie Ginger
Director/Member Services Officer and Vice-chair
Katie writes as contemporary romance as Annabel French for Avon, HarperCollins and historical fiction as Emma Royal for Century, Penguin Random House. Her previous work experience before becoming a full time writer was as a visitor services manager in the heritage industry.
Lorna Cook
Director/PR Lead
Lorna is a Kindle Number 1 bestselling author who writes historical fiction under the name Lorna Cook for Amazon Lake Union and contemporary fiction under the pen name Elle Cook for Penguin. Lorna graduated from the RNA New Writer’s Scheme in 2019 with her first novel The Forgotten Village which won the RNA Katie Fforde Debut Romantic Novel of the Year Award and the RNA Joan Hessayon Award for New Writers. She was also nominated for the RNA Historical Novel Award. The RNA holds a very special place in Lorna’s heart and she runs the ever-growing Essex Chapter. Before becoming a full time author Lorna was a retail journalist and then ran a PR agency working with brands including Nivea and Hershey.
Ali Henderson
Director/Company Secretary
Ali writes romcoms. She’s been the RNA’s Company Secretary and Board Secretary since 2020 and also organises events, the conference and awards. She lives on the Isle of Wight with her husband and four sons. She’s a proud Trustee of the Island branch of Home-Start, which offers practical and emotional support to families with young children.
Deborah Klee
Director/Governance Lead
Author of contemporary and historical romantic fiction, and podcaster.
Deborah has significant board experience having chaired a number of Statutory Boards. As a management consultant, she has worked with senior management teams enabling change and transformation. She is also a member of the Frinton Literary Festival Committee.
A member of the Essex Chapter; Deborah lives by the sea where she loves to walk, filling her pockets with shells and her head with stories.
Katharine Light
Director/Events
Katharine joined the RNA after independently publishing her first novel, Like Me, in November 2023. She has spent most of her working life in event management and is head of operations for a busy church based in south-west London. She and her husband are currently empty nesters, although they will not be surprised if at least one of their children returns home for a time. She loves singing, walking, painting, looking at art, and going to the theatre. Her second novel, Me Too, was released in November 24.
Lucy Morris
Director/Newsletter Coordinator and Comms
Lucy graduated from the NWS in 2021 after publishing her debut historical romance with Mills & Boon (Harlequin Historical); she hasn’t looked back since. She writes historical romance blending myths and passionate characters as Lucy Morris, and writes contemporary RomComs under the pen name Lulu Morris. When she’s not writing, she spends time with her husband, two children and two cats. Her hobbies include swimming, drinking prosecco with friends, and generally trying to live her best life.
Maryam Oliver
Director/Awards Coordinator
Maryam writes sweeping historical romance as Melissa Oliver and graduated from the New Writers’ Scheme in 2020 after her debut, The Rebel Heiress and the Knight won the Joan Hessayon Award for new writers that year. She joined the management team as the JH Coordinator in 2022 and is now taking on new roles as Awards Organiser and Director. Apart from writing, which is her passion, Maryam loves travelling, long dog walks with her naughty cocker spaniel Mr Darcy, art galleries and museums and dragging her family to visit crumbling old castles and stately homes.
Maria Wilson
Director/RNA Learning Lead
Catherine Wiseman
Director/Treasurer
Catherine is the Treasurer for the RNA and joined in 2024. She has significant financial and board experience from her roles within the financial industry. Although not a writer, she is an avid reader and keen consumer of the genre and is looking forward to supporting the RNA.
Julia Boggio
Management Team Member/Romance Matters: Reader Edition Editor in Chief
Julia Boggio joined the RNA as a member of the New Writers’ Scheme and now she has four books published. Julia writes romantic comedies set in the world of professional photography and her debut book, Shooters, won the Selfie Awards at London Book Fair in 2024. Julia is also an original YouTube star, whose Dirty Dancing wedding dance went viral, landing her in the arms of Patrick Swayze on The Oprah Winfrey Show.
Lisa Firth
Management Team Member/Website Coordinator
Lisa is the author of twenty-odd books in various genres under her increasingly numerous pen names, including romcoms as Mary Jayne Baker and wartime sagas as Betty Firth. She is also a professional graphic designer. She has been a member of the RNA since her debut was published in 2016 and has served on the management team since 2022. In her limited spare time, you can usually find her hiking over the moors around her Yorkshire home, attached to some needles and yarn or wrangling two naughty border collies!
Jean Fullerton
Management Team Member/Chapter Liaison
Kate Galloway Smith
Management Team Member/Romance Matters Editor
Kate is a best-selling author of contemporary romantic fiction and crime thrillers and has been a member of the RNA since 2020, graduating from the NWS in 2021. With a degree and master’s in psychology and therapy, it’s the humanity of the characters that lead Kate’s plots.
Kate lives in the beautiful county of Norfolk with her daughter and their cats. She loves Irn-Bru and macarons and can often be found with both, as she ferries her daughter back and forth to the local stables.
Helen Kelly
Management Team Member/Membership Secretary
Helen became a member of the RNA in February 2023, after independently publishing her first novel. She loves history and went to university as a mature student. In the end, she left with three different master’s degrees in History. In addition to her books, she also writes theatre reviews for the Northern Arts Review. She lives in North Yorkshire with her husband and youngest daughter. She loves going out and about and can sometimes be found in London or Stratford Upon Avon as she visits these regularly.
Leonie Macauley
Management Team Member/121 Coordinator
Emma Meyler
Management Team Member/Advertising and Sponsorship
Emma, writing as Maggie Grant, crafts stories with spice, heart, and plenty of laughs. For years, she has worked in Arts Fundraising in Manchester, supporting artists and filmmakers in bringing creative projects to life. She now enjoys dog walks with her Labrador Paddy, a cold glass of Chablis, and celebrating the small joys that inspire her writing.
Lou Morgan
Management Team Member/Diversity and Inclusion Officer
Janice Preston
Management Team Member/Finance Officer
Janice joined the NWS in 2012 and graduated in 2014, since when she’s written a number of historical romances. She joined the management team in 2022, and appears to be a rarity among novelists in that she enjoys finance and is not scared of spreadsheets!
Tara Rama
Management Team Member/Press Officer
Sarah Rodi
Management Team Member/NWS Coordinator
Suzanne Snow
Public Appearances List/New Releases Coordinator
