West London born Courttia Newland is a playwright and novelist. He is the author of three critically acclaimed novels, The Scholar (1998), Society Within (1999) and Snakeskin (2002), and is a co-founder of the Tell Tales collective, a short story initiative. His short stories been published in many anthologies and several of his plays have been performed in venues across London, including The Far Side (Tricycle), Mother's Day (Lyric, Hammersmith) and B is 4 Black (Oval House).