Haydn Middleton - Editor
Haydn Middleton has been an author and tutor for almost forty years.
He has written extensively for both adults and children. His nine novels for adults, marketed variously as literary fiction and fantasy, include The Ballad of Syd & Morgan which was dramatized in 2023 on BBC Radio 4 and his most recent novel for children is The Girl Who Said No To The Nazis (Pushkin Children’s, 2020).
Since 2015 he has taught Creative Writing for Stanford University’s Oxford Program, and more recently for the Sarah Lawrence Programme at Wadham College, Oxford. Before becoming a freelance author of children’s fiction and non-fiction – producing scores of books on subjects ranging from Emmeline Pankhurst to jellyfish – he worked as a history schoolbook editor at Oxford University Press.
You can find more information here: www.haydnmiddleton.com.
Testimonials
- Catriona & Alexa
– Rafif A. R.
– Murray F.
– Martin W.
- Nigel S.
- Kathryn T.
- Charles B.
- Gillian G.
- C. H.
- Laura L.
- J. Parnham
- Ann L.
- Ed B.
- Eamonn M.
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- Adelehin I.
- Edith W.
- Michael J.
WHY WE LOVE HAYDN
Haydn is one of our longest-standing editors, having worked with us since 2005. He’ll happily work across fiction and non-fiction and books for adults and children. He’d be a particularly good fit for your fantasy, historical, or literary novel. His intricate reports are always packed-full of advice, particularly on voice. We spoke to him about his work as an editor here.
WHAT HAYDN SAYS ABOUT EDITING
Clients have paid good money for a report, and the last thing they need from me is soft soap or flannel. In the most respectful way, I aim to help each client communicate their vision more clearly and more entertainingly (two qualities which are often closely linked). This may at times require a fairly thorough rethink of the client’s own original aims. I frankly admit that I’m not sure whether creative writing can be taught, but I sincerely believe that it can be learned, particularly via open-minded editorial exchanges, and exposure to the great literature of the past. My job, as I see it, is to offer ‘tools not rules’ for more effective delivery.
What Haydn works on
Manuscript Assessment
Developmental Editing
Agent Submission Pack assessment
Post-editorial guidance
Opening Section Review
Genres Haydn specialises in
Haydn's published books
The Ballad of Syd & Morgan
A beautiful young man dressed in Cuban heels and a crushed-velvet jacket cuts a dash as he strides up Silver Street in his native Cambridge, heading for the ornate splendour of King’s College. It is 1968. He is the 22 year old Syd Barrett of Pink Floyd, and his destination is home to the great Edwardian novelist, 89 year old E M Forster. What follows is a tender exchange of truths between two men belonging to opposite ends of the 20th century, but who find within each other’s company shadows of the same demons, loves and losses as well as the familiar weight of the creative impulse. They become unlikely comrades passing fleetingly through each other’s lives. Conjuring the mischievous spirit of Pan, Haydn Middleton has created an exquisite fiction involving two towering figures of English culture. The Ballad of Syd & Morgan is a deeply moving but joyous portrait of the despair and redemption at the heart of artistic endeavour, as well as the essential solace of companionship – wherever it may be found.
True Lives: Shakespeare: The Master Playwright
Will Shakespeare dreamed of becoming an actor and a playwright. At nineteen he left his home town of Stratford and headed for London, following his dream. He became an actor, part owner of the Globe theatre – and the greatest playwright of all time. 400 years on, his plays are even more popular. They are performed in theatres all over the world.
