Col Howarth - Writer
Col Howarth is a writer of short fiction, poetry and scripts.
He is the co-writer of the successful scripted podcast series Moonkarta - a hilarious family-friendly story produced over a series of ten episodes. On its release the podcast entered the Apple Podcasts top-40 and has since been streamed in over 70 countries. It was a Best Podcast of the Week in The Guardian which described it as a 'surreally inventive children's podcast' with 'an almost Mighty Boosh-like quality...whimsical comic moments and oddball comic references...' It was also a Radio Times Pick of the Best Audio On-Demand. The Radio Times said: 'this is some achievement - a comic drama that doesn't patronise children or irritate adults...' As well as this the podcast won a Silver Award for producer Terry Mynott at the national Audio Production Awards for Best Drama or Fiction.
Col also co-wrote, researched and co-presented an episode of the podcast Uncommon Folk with stand-up and writer Dan Mitchell. The episode is about the Mari Lwyd tradition in Wales and Col interviewed people from around the world who practice the tradition.
Col was recently given an Honourable Mention for his first competition entry for a short piece of fiction.
He was recently part of Ghost Writers: a creative writing project based at the Wales Millennium Centre. The group worked with actors, a producer and award-winning playwright Owen Thomas on a series of ghostly monologues which were performed at the venue on Halloween night to a live audience. Col's monologue was performed by actor Gareth John Bale.
As well as fiction, under the guise of standupforcomedy.co.uk, Col has conducted interviews and written and produced countless articles which can be found on this site. Interviews are from the world of stand-up comedy and with some of the biggest names in the UK: with the likes of Tony Law, Craig Campbell, John Moloney, Mike Gunn, Romesh Ranganathan, Nathan Caton, Dave Spikey, Iain Stirling and many more. Col has contributed to the Indie Comedy Mag where some of these interviews are available to read in print including: Tony Law - 'My Pure Funny' and Lloyd Langford - 'Why the Big Face?'.
He is also a member of the Chapter Arts Centre Writers Circle which provides creative responses to programmed performances.
Finally, Col has an MA in Creative Writing and is currently writing his first novel and a screenplay.
