Gavin D’Costa started writing poetry while at school and has continued since. He has written one unpublished novel and dabbles with oil painting. He taught a religion and literature degree course for some years. He is a Roman Catholic married to a Quaker and has two teenage children. He is consultant to the English and Welsh Bishops and the Vatican and also the Anglican Church on matters of theology and religious pluralism. Gavin is Professor of Catholic Theology at the University of Bristol. His publications include Vatican II: Interpreting the Roman Catholic View on Other Religions (Oxford University Press, 2014); Christianity and World Religions. Disputed Questions in the Theology of Religions (Blackwell, 2009); Theology in the Public Square (Blackwell, 2005); Sexing the Trinity (SCM, 2000) and The Trinity and the Meeting of Religions (T & T Clark, 2000).
Eleanor Nesbitt has read and written poetry since her primary school days. When religious labels are called for she sometimes explains that she is a Quaker, of Anglican background, that Sikh tradition has left a deep imprint and that she is part of a Hindu family. Her poems have appeared as Turn But a Stone (Hilton House, 1999) and in Gemini Four (OnlyConnect, 2011), in Of Faith and Friendship: In Memory of David Bowen (Bradford College, 2000) and Bare Feet and Buttercups: Resources for Ordinary Time (Wild Goose Publications, 2008). Eleanor is Professor Emeritus (Religions and Education) at the University of Warwick. Her publications include Sikhism: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford University Press, 2005); Intercultural Education: Ethnographic and Religious Approaches (Sussex Academic Press, 2004); and Interfaith Pilgrims (Quaker Books, 2003). Co-authored volumes include (with Robert Jackson) Hindu Children in Britain (Trentham, 1993); (with Gopinder Kaur) Guru Nanak (Bayeux Arts, 1999) and (with Kailash Puri) Pool of Life: The Autobiography of a Punjabi Agony Aunt (Sussex Academic Press, 2013).
Mark Pryce grew up in Oswestry, in the Welsh Marches, where his poetic imagination was shaped by the liturgy and music of the Anglican choral tradition and the remote beauty of the Shropshire-Montgomeryshire hills. He read English at the University of Sussex and trained for ordained ministry in the Church of England at Westcott House, Cambridge. He has served as a University Chaplain and inner-city parish priest. His poetry explores themes in Christian spirituality and worship, rooted in his work as a pastor, teacher and practical theologian. In Finding a Voice (SCM, 1996) Mark offers poetry as one source for reimagining masculinity. His Literary Companion to the Lectionary (SPCK/Fortress, 2001) and Literary Companion for Festivals (SPCK/Fortress, 2003) draw on poetry as a resource for personal devotion and public worship. More recently Mark has collaborated with theologians Paula Gooder and James Woodward in poetic interpretations of the four Gospels (SPCK, 2011, 2012, 2013, forthcoming 2014). Mark is Bishop’s Adviser for Clergy Continuing Ministerial Education in Birmingham Diocese and an Honorary Canon of Birmingham Cathedral.
Ruth Shelton is a poet and theologian presently working as Chief Executive at Emmanuel House in Nottingham, a Centre for homeless, vulnerably housed and marginalised people. She has taught Pastoral Theology at Campion House, Osterley and at the University of Nottingham (EMMTC) and was Director of Social Responsibility for the Diocese of Southwell and Nottingham between 1991 and 1998. A Roman Catholic, she has worked in a wide variety of settings including as Reader-in-Residence in three Leicestershire Prisons, and Poet-in-Residence at the then Shepherd School in Nottingham (now Oak Field School) for students with Special Educational Needs. In 2004 she worked in partnership with Barnardos, supporting sexually exploited young women in the writing of diary material for an exhibition at The Women’s Library in Whitechapel. (As Ruth Hobson) she has regularly published poems over many years in magazines including Magma, Ambit, Poetry London, Delinquent and London Magazine.
Nicola Slee grew up near the wild coast of North Devon, a landscape that continues to inform her writing and sense of self. She has written poetry since childhood and had poems published in many anthologies and journals. A lay Anglican, she is active in a number of groups and networks campaigning for the full inclusion of women and sexual minorities in the churches. She is Research Fellow at the Queen’s Foundation for Ecumenical Theological Education, Birmingham (half-time) and a freelance writer, speaker and consultant. Her publications include Seeking the Risen Christa (SPCK, 2011); The Book of Mary (SPCK, 2007); Women’s Faith Development: Patterns and Processes (Ashgate, 2004); Praying Like a Woman (SPCK, 2004) and Faith and Feminism: An Introduction to Christian Feminist Theology (DLT, 2003). Co-edited texts include Presiding Like a Woman (co-edited with Stephen Burns; SPCK, 2010) and The Edge of God: New Liturgical Texts and Contexts in Conversation (co-edited with Michael Jagessar and Stephen Burns; Epworth Press, 2008).