Blog Archives

Founding director & senior editor

Matt has been working with words for over a decade. Since founding
Zebrablogs and WordZebra (formerly Pixifish Writing) with Anna in 2009, Matt and his team of writers have ghost written and edited hundreds of blogs, read by
hundreds of thousands of people. These blogs have been published on
clients’ websites, and also on forums including Mashable and
CrowdLeaders.

As well as helping other people write blogs, Matt is a writer and blogger
himself. In 2008 the New Zealand Herald published his dispatches from
the Mongol Rally. Following its success, the same newspaper published
his Kiwi Abroad series of blogs in 2009 and 2010. Both were nominated
for the Qantas Media Awards. Longman Educational Books in Hong Kong
also published excerpts from the series. Four of his travel stories were
published in the book Jandal Prints on the Globe, in 2008.

Before becoming a professional writer, Matt’s skill with words and attention
to detail were honed in service of a higher, if more tedious authority: the
law. As a lawyer, Matt drafted contracts for Goldman Sachs in London. As
he left in 2007, he was in no way responsible for the global financial crisis
(despite what his friends may tell you).

Founding director & senior editor

The sign on Anna’s office door says ‘Writing is my life’. She has worked as
a professional writer for over ten years and believes that good
communication is the answer to just about everything.

After several years employed as California-based CalorieKing’s web
content writer and manager, Anna teamed up with Matt to create
WordZebra (previously Pixifish Writing), a copy-writing outfit that
specialises in working with companies who communicate in English but
are not native speakers. This happened in Helsinki, Finland, which is an
odd place for two Kiwis to start a business but you have to do something
when it’s -20 degrees outside.

Anna now divides her time between the UK and Saudi Arabia. In the UK
Anna consults with the narrative consultancy, Amalgem, and in Saudi
Arabia she advises on communications at KAUST.

Anna holds an MA in Creative Writing with Distinction from the University of
East Anglia, the UK’s top-ranked creative writing program. She has taught
Creative Writing at the Christchurch School for Young Writers.

Writer & editor

Safia’s eclectic mix of talents are united by her boundless curiosity and her
love for the written word. A professional archaeologist, Safia has
contributed to numerous excavation reports and monographs. In 2008 she
hung up her trowel to focus on writing full-time. Since then her methodical,
scientific and quirky mind has been busy ghost writing technology related
blogs, editing content for the research agency ImpactWise and writing
reports for major UK universities.

Safia hold a BSc in archaeology with 1st Class Honors from the University
of Sheffield, a Diploma in Computing with Distinction from the University of
Oxford and an MA in Creative Writing with Distinction from the University of
East Anglia.

Writer & editor

Eleanor has been working with language since her primary school poem
Why I Hate My Sister won her first prize in a competition and the
temporary adulation of her brothers. Currently working on a novel, she is
devoted to the craft of writing. She has worked for Arden Shakespeare as
a proofreader, copywriter and marketing manager and now works as a
teacher of English as a second language, spending her days happily
immersed in linguistic pedantry.

Eleanor holds a first class degree in Classics and English from the
University of Oxford, England, where she edited her college arts magazine.
She also holds an MA in Creative Writing from the University of East
Anglia. Her sister has now forgiven her.

Writer & editor

Tim Cockburn is a widely published poet who holds a BA and an MA in
Creative Writing. He has been described by British poet Lavinia Greenlaw
as one of the UK’s best ‘emerging poets’. With an expert ear for English
prose registers and conventions, Tim works passionately and obsessively
as a copywriter and editor, specialising in the fields of literary and
scientific writing.

Tim graduated with distinction from the University of East Anglia’s Creative
Writing MA, where he received full funding from the Arts and Humanities
Research Council. He was also the recipient of the Institute Art Prize at the
Norwich University College of the Arts, where he completed his
undergraduate degree.

Writer & editor

Armando Celayo was born and raised in Oklahoma City – a place, contrary
to popular belief, not named by Italian explorers as “the home of oaks.”
Before settling down to concentrate on his writing, he drove equipment
vans across the United States, worked as a lighting and effects technician,
and wore inflatable animal costumes on stage for The Flaming Lips.

Armando has published book reviews and interviews in World Literature
Today and PEN International. He is also a contributing editor for Molossus,
an online broadside of world literature. He currently lives in England,
where he completed the MA in Creative Writing at the University of East
Anglia. He is working on his first book: a novel-in-stories set in Oklahoma
City.

Writer & editor

Chelsey has been working as a writer for over five years. She has written
for web and print clients ranging from University College Falmouth to
Mitsubishi Forklift Trucks, reviewed books and theatre for a range of
magazines and webzines, including Stranger Magazine and The Short
Review, and published short stories in a number of literary journals and
anthologies, including Route, Southword and Riptide.

Chelsey holds an MA in Creative Writing from the University of East Anglia
where she won the 2010 Curtis Brown Award for her writing. She was an
Arvon Mentee with Bernadine Evaristro in 2010 and has recently been
awarded funding from the UK Arts Council to complete her first novel.

Writer & editor

Tom has a first-class degree in English literature and a Master’s with
Distinction in Creative Writing. He was a web editor and copywriter for City
Life, an arts magazine for the Manchester Evening News, and his work has
appeared in print and online. Tom is also an author, and is currently under
contract with Jonathan Cape, an imprint of Random House. His first novel
will be published in early 2012.

Writer & editor

Richard is a published and award-winning poet, author, and medieval
historian whose extensive writing experience ranges from commercial
publishing, to local government and academic administration, to blogs. His
poems and short stories have appeared in UK national newspapers and
literary magazines, and have been collected in anthologies. He has also
published on medieval history and had a play staged. In 2008, his
chapbook The Magnolia was published by Rialto.

With a PhD in medieval history, Richard taught at the University of Bristol
for eight years. He gained a distinction from the Creative Writing program
at the University of East Anglia in 2010 and is currently completing a novel.
He blogs for the literary website of the poetry publisher, The Rialto.