By Rebekah Lattin-Rawstrone
After another bumper month of submissions to the City Writes Competition this term, we’re delighted to announce the winners who will join alumna, Alex Morrall on the virtual stage at 7pm on Wednesday 7th July. You can register for the event here. For those of you who aren’t familiar with City Writes, it is a showcase event for students, tutors and alumna of City’s Creative Writing Short Courses. With a termly competition for students and alumna who win the chance to read their work alongside a published alumna or tutor.
This term’s winners, in alphabetical order are:

Glenda Cooper

Glenda Cooper, who will be reading her story ‘The Heaven Born’. Dr Glenda Cooper worked as a staff journalist for a variety of media organisations including the Independent, Washington Post and BBC. She is now a senior lecturer in journalism at City. Her work has been shortlisted for the Exeter Novel Prize twice, and longlisted for the Grindstone Novel and Yeovil Literary Prizes.  She has won the 2014 Poetic Republic and Writers’ Bureau Short Story Prizes. She is currently taking the Narrative Non-Fiction course at City.

Helen Ferguson, who will be reading an extract from her novel Ghostings. Helen is a translator of Russian a

Helen Ferguson

nd German. She started writing in 2015 and had her first piece published in Lighthouse Literary Journal. In 2020 she completed City’s Novel Studio course and since then has finished writing her novel. She lives in Ely with her daughters. Book tweets @HFergusonWriter

Anne Manson, who will be reading ‘Bones’. Anne has a Masters in Writing for

Anne Mason

Young People from Bath Spa University. Her first novel, Lobster Wars, is a YA thriller about two boys who witness a murder on a small island off the coast of Maine. Her second, The Clockwork Artificer, is a MG fantasy about a stolen pen, a lidless eye, and a girl with a hole in her heart. She was recently awarded the Writer’s Prize from PaperBound magazine for her short story, “Winter”. Anne has is an alumna of the Crime and Thriller Writing course with Caroline Green and Short Story Writing with Katy Darby.

Jen Metcalf

Jen Metcalf is a translator and editor who arrived in Berlin in 2006 and accidentally made it her home. Hav

Susanna Morton

ing spent most of her adult life concerned with foreign languages, she recently decided to focus on her own and enrolled on this summer’s Narrative Non-Fiction course. Jen was an avid lindy hopper for several years and will feel forever lucky that this coincided with the evenings that inspired her text, to be read on the 7th, ‘Tentstation’.

Susanna Morton, who will be reading her story ‘Regrowth’. Susanna lives and works in London, where she has developed her writing habit through creative writing courses at Imperial College London and the Arvon Foundation, and as a current participant in City’s Narrative Non-Fiction short course. Susanna studied English Literature with Spanish at the University of Edinburgh, where she was a contributor to Edinburgh Flipside and Editor of Nomad: a travel, culture and creative writing magazine.

Adam Zunker

Adam Zunker has taken several short courses in creative writing at City University (Introduction to Creative Writing and Writers’ Workshop) and is working on his first novel, a fantasy story about death, faith and hallucinogenic frogs. He has spent far too many years working in politics and journalism, though both have probably provided some grounding in creative writing. He lives in London with his wife and daughter. He will be reading ‘Mosquito Gods’ an extract from his novel-in-progress.

These five writers will join Alex Morrall, reading from her novel, Helen and the Grandbees, published by Legend Press in 2020 about a mother and daughter reunion that explores identity, race and mental illness. We can’t wait to share all these wonderful stories with you on the 7th July at 7pm. Register here for your zoom link to the event. See you there!