Niel Bushnell (born 1970) is an English writer and artist from Hartlepool. He is the author of the science fiction series, The Arkship Saga, and children's fantasy novels Sorrowline and Timesmith, the first two books in The Timesmith Chronicles series, published in the UK by Andersen Press. He is the co-founder of animation studio Qurios Entertainment.
Niel Bushnell was born in Hartlepool, England. Bushnell collaborated with school friend, Gordon Fraser, to create the newspaper comic strip, The Funny Farm, later retitled Farmageddon. The strip ran for 18 months in the Hartlepool Mail. Later Bushnell developed Farmageddon as an animated project.[1]
An early interest in comics, notably Star Wars Weekly, encouraged Bushnell to draw and write his own comic strips. In 1990 he published and contributed to the small press comic Over The Edge. In 1993 Bushnell contributed artwork to the Marvel UK comic The Incomplete Death's Head.[2]
Since 1994 Bushnell has worked as an animator. His credits include a variety of roles on feature films including Space Jam, Lost in Space and Felidae.[3][4]
In 2002 Bushnell and his wife, Diane, established their own animation studio, Qurios Entertainment, in their home town of Hartlepool.[5] As well as producing animation for commercials Qurios has a string of TV credits, including Hyperdrive, Spooks, Tracy Beaker Returns, and The Dumping Ground.[6] Qurios later merged with Dene Films, a Newcastle upon Tyne based live action production company where Bushnell was Animation Director until 2013.[7][8]
Having written all his life, Bushnell began work in 2009 on what became his first novel, Sorrowline.[15] Bushnell submitted the first 30 pages of Sorrowline into the 2011 Northern Writers Awards, an annual event organised New Writing North, a development agency for creative writing and creative reading based in the north east of England.[16] Bushnell received a Northern Promise Award and Sorrowline was quickly picked up for publication by Andersen Press in the United Kingdom, Heyne in Germany and by Pensamento-Cultrix in Brazil.[17][18] Sorrowline was one of twenty nine début novels for children long-listed for the Brandford Boase Award 2014.[19]
In March 2017 Bushnell became the first Writer in Residence at The Word, the National Centre for the Written Word in South Shields.[20]
Bushnell wrote and directed the live-action comedy short DCSS, a film made as part of Tees Valley Screen's Microshorts project,[21] He has also written a Blake's 7 audio book for Big Finish Productions, released in November 2020,[22][23] and several Doctor Who audiobooks.
As well as supporting writing through his voluntary work with the Society of Authors and New Writing North, Bushnell has been involved in several projects to highlight and promote his hometown of Hartlepool and the north-east region of England. He has often campaigned to promote his home town of Hartlepool and, in 2003, was one of a small number of local businesses who joined to launch the Enterprising Hartlepool campaign, attending events and roadshows across the region. The campaign culminated in a visit to the Houses of Parliament and an opportunity to promote Hartlepool to MPs and national business leaders as a good place for business.[29]
Bushnell was one of several north-east business owners who featured prominently in the Passionate People, Passionate Places campaign to promote the north-east of England. The campaign ran from 2005 for several years and featured promotional posters in train stations, London tube stations and in local and national press.[30] In 2006, Bushnell lent his support to a campaign by Hartlepool businesses to get a direct rail link to London. In December 2007, Grand Central Railway began a daily service to the capital.[31] In 2017, he joined the Tees Valley Digital Strategy Board to help to drive forward the Tees Valley's technology industries.[32][33]
