The creative writing programme at University College London’s Birkbeck is a leader in the field and has partnered with Cove Park to establish a residency for their outstanding graduate of 2011. The resident is the winner of Birkbeck’s Sophie Warne Memorial Essay Prize. This four-week residency gives an emerging writer their first taste of a professional residency experience and the opportunity to network with other artists in all fields.

Paul is working on his debut novel, begun whilst on the Birkbeck programme. He has worked as an A&R man at various record labels including the cult Talking Loud where he won the Mercury music prize in 1997 with Roni Size/Reprazent. He is a lecturer in Music Industry Management at the University of East London and was recently awarded the Sophie Warne Fellowship from Birkbeck University for his Creative Writing MA. He runs music projects with maverick musicians and is working on his first novel Right On for the Darkness.