Month: January 2022

City Writes Spring 2022 Competition Opens

By Rebekah Lattin-Rawstrone

City Writes is the showcase event for all the fantastic writing coming from City’s Creative Writing Short Courses and this term’s competition is now officially open. Winners get to read a 1,000 word extract or story alongside a published alumni or tutor.

Michael Mann’s debut novel Ghostcloud

This term’s guest reader is the wonderful debut author, Michael Mann whose middle grade novel, Ghostcloud, set in the smoky underworld beneath Battersea Power Station, is causing quite a stir. He’ll be reading alongside the competition winners at our Spring event on Wednesday, March 30th 2022 at 7pm on Zoom. Register now to join us.

Michael Mann is an alumnus of the Short Story Writing and Writers’ Workshop short courses. Winner of Undiscovered Voices 2020 and a London Writers Award in 2019, Michael is a teacher and author living in East London whose first creative writing success was for a poem about potatoes. Lindsay Littleson, Carnegie Medal Nominee, called Ghostcloud, ‘an utterly brilliant debut children’s novel’.

All you need to do to join Michael on the virtual stage is to submit 1,000 words of your best creative writing, be it fiction or non-fiction, an extract or a complete piece, to Rebekah.Lattin-Rawstrone.2@city.ac.uk along with details of your City Short Course. Though we’re happy to read Middle Grade and YA, we don’t accept children’s picture books, poetry or drama, but… anything else goes! The full submission guidelines are here.

The deadline to submit is midnight, Friday 4th March 2022. Good luck!

There will be a short Q&A with Michael Mann about his debut, so don’t forget to buy your copy beforehand here and do register for the event, on March 30th at 7pm here.

If you simply can’t wait, you can read about last term’s event with Ciaran Thapar, our first creative non-fiction reader, and even see the event video here.

We can’t wait to read the submissions and see you in March!

My Short Course Experience : Gillian Belchetz

Gillian Belchetz

Gillian Belchetz

We spoke to Gillian Belchetz who completed the Writing for Children 10-week course last year, to understand what she learnt from the course and has been up to since.

Tell us a bit about yourself.

I am from Lancaster but have lived in Leeds for 40 yrs. I was a nurse for 37 years but also love writing, so undertook and MA in Writing for Performance and Publication at Leeds Uni as a mature student. My first book, ‘A Game of Consequences’ was published in 2015 by Fisher King Publishing, and raised money for The Alzheimers. In lockdown, and inspired by my grandchildren, I started writing for children and my first kids book was published at the end of 2021. I volunteer one day a week at a homeless charity in Leeds, St George’s Crypt, and wanted to write something that was both engaging and would raise the issue of homelessness with children. I have sold almost 1000 copies and raised over £3,500 for St Georges. Supporters have bought 350 of these books to be donated to local schools, and this year I will be visiting schools, giving them copies of the book, doing a reading and talking to the children. I love walking our dog Winnie, and am learning to play bridge – badly!

Why did you choose to take this course at City?

The Writing for Children course was well structured and specifically aimed at learning the craft of writing for children, which is similar to writing for adults, but also different.

What did you learn on the course?

Each week introduced a different aspect of writing so that we discussed how to open a book, plot, character, endings, editing etc. It was thorough and a lot was crammed into ten weeks. The different requirements for picture books up to Teen literature. Brilliant.

How did you find the virtual classes?

Excellent. A great mix of information delivery and participation.

What are the key things you have taken away from the course?

Great examples of books for different age groups were used which I find a useful reference. Writing exercises to inspire and motivate. Information on structure and how to keep a child’s attention.

What have you achieved since completion? 

I wrote and had published ‘Clara’s Geni-Ous Plan – To help a lady who is homeless,’ and experienced working with an illustrator for the first time.

I liaised with Booths Supermarkets, (Waitrose of the North) who have been selling it and donating their profits to the homeless charity I am supporting. It has been a roller coaster and a real thrill to see it on a supermarket shelf.  You can order the book now through this online form.

To find out more about the course Gillian took visit our Writing for Children webpage and for more about our other writing courses browse our course finder tool.

 

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