Month: March 2025

City Writes Soars in Spring

March 31, 2025 / / 0 Comments

Guest alumna Han Smith in conversation with Rebekah Lattin-Rawstrone

By Rebekah Lattin-Rawstrone

 

The 26th March marked nine years of the creative writing showcase event, City Writes. In person for the first time since the pandemic, this celebration of the writing coming from City St George’s short courses was a bumper edition with readings from competition winners, tutors and the Goldsmiths Prize shortlisted author, Han Smith. It really was a creative writing extravaganza of a night with drinks, nibbles, book signing, course discounts and lots of networking. Students and alumni met tutors, writers and agents on a balmy Spring night and it was, quite simply, a delight.

 

Hattie Nash

We began the evening with three of our competition winners. Approach to Creative Writing alumna, Hatty Nash made us all laugh (a little nervously) with her story ‘Brainrot’ in which an unsuspecting office worker literally moulders in her ergonomic chair. Aaron Payne, a Short Story Writing alumnus, gave us an extract from his longer short story, ‘Scoop’ next. He dropped us into a graveyard in the drizzle and dazzled with metaphoric and symbolic connections as his character prepared for a funeral. Aaron was then swiftly followed by another Approach to Creative Writing alumna, Mya Shakur, whose story ‘Sandwich Bag’ made us witness to a painful punishment. A mother cuts off her daughter’s hair and puts it in a sandwich bag on a shelf in her daughter’s bedroom. The humiliation of a bad haircut hung over the audience.

Mya Shakur

Aaron Payne

Two of City St George’s short courses tutors took to the stage next. First up was Novel Writing and Longer Works tutor, Martin Ouvry. We were treated to an extract from the opening of his Arts Council funded novel, The Cost of Living. A casual but flashy meeting with an old school friend quivered with a sense of unease. The London of cocktails and globetrotters was quickly changed for the closer quarters of a less-fashionable London bedroom as Crime and Thriller Writing tutor Caroline Green read from her novel, Sleep Tight. The first in a series of DC Rose Gifford thrillers, the audience was very relieved not to be going home after this terrifying invader of rest unfolded.

Jonathan Gibbs of the Creative Writing MA and MFA at City St George’s encouraged us to investigate the higher education on offer here at City St George’s. He’s running a taster session later in April for those keen to find out more.

After a short interval to top up drinks and chat, we were back with two further competition winners. Narrative Non-Fiction alumna, Ellen Bassam, started us off with her story of ghosting in the age of dating apps and mobile phones, ‘Two y’s and no smiley face’.

Judging by the audience’s laughs and groans this was a story that really struck a chord. Ellen was followed by fourth time winner of City Writes, Tunde Oyebode. A Short Story Writing and Writers’ Workshop alumnus, Tunde read his story, ‘Immaculate Education’. An extract from a longer piece, we listened to a dark and uncomfortable tale of sexual and physical abuse in a boarding school in Lagos. There was audible silence as the story ended.

Tunde Oyebode

Ellen Bassam

Following this was Tunde’s former Short Story Writing and Writers’ Workshop tutor, Katy Darby. A writer of historical fiction, Katy gave us a steamy encounter from a work-in-progress set in the closet of a large house in the Victorian era. There were some flushed faces as moved from fiction to fact with our final tutor reading of the evening from Fact-based Storytelling tutor, Jem Batholomew. Jem has just signed a contract with Faber to publish his non-fiction book, Threading the Needle, about poverty in the UK. We were treated to an extract from this work, challenging the comforts of warm seats and free drinks and nibbles. Jem suggested a night of readings to get tutors and students together and his reading lingered as we prepared to hear from Short Story Writing alumna and guest, Han Smith.

Portraits at the Palace of Creativity and Wrecking is Han Smith’s debut novel and was shortlisted for the 2024 Goldsmiths Prize. We were very lucky to hear two extracts from this fragmentary series of portraits that ask us how the past is remembered when the system is forcibly trying to make us forget. It’s a thought-provoking novel written in precise and tender language that speaks directly to our modern ‘post-truth’ age. There’s desire, activism, exploitation and fear. Han read beautifully and answered questions from Novel Studio tutor, Rebekah Lattin-Rawstrone and audience before all the tutors were invited to join Han for a brief, broader Q&A.

This marked the end of the night, with book signing from Han Smith and thanks yous to Emily Pedder, Robert Lastman and Patsy Collison. Do buy Han Smith’s fantastic novel, Portrait at the Palace of Creativity and Wrecking here. And look out for details of City Writes next term, which will be back online, but we will be joined by Writers’ Workshop alumna and debut novelist, Fiona Keating, whose novel Smoke and Silk (Mountain Leopard Press, 2025) comes out on March 27th. We’ll see you in the summer term!

Writing in the age of AI: Transforming Copywriting and Content Marketing

March 31, 2025 / / 0 Comments

In today’s fast-paced digital landscape, artificial intelligence is revolutionising how we approach copywriting and content marketing. For students entering this field, understanding AI’s capabilities and limitations is no longer optional—it’s essential professional knowledge that could define your competitive edge in the industry.

How AI is Changing Content Creation

The emergence of sophisticated AI writing tools has fundamentally altered the content creation process. These tools can now:

  • Generate first drafts of marketing copy in seconds
  • Adapt messaging to different audience segments
  • Create variations of headlines and calls-to-action for A/B testing
  • Optimise content for search engines
  • Identify trending topics and content gaps

For copywriters and marketers, this represents both a challenge and an opportunity. The mechanical aspects of content production — once time-consuming barriers to creativity — can now be delegated to AI assistants.

From Volume to Strategy: The New Human Advantage

With AI handling production volume, human copywriters are being elevated to more strategic roles. The competitive advantage now lies in areas where humans still decisively outperform machines:

Strategic Thinking

Understanding brand positioning, audience psychology, and market differentiation remains a distinctly human strength. AI can execute, but humans define the “why” behind content strategies.

Brand Voice Development

Creating authentic, distinctive brand voices that resonate with specific audiences requires cultural awareness, emotional intelligence, and creative intuition that AI tools still struggle to replicate.

Emotional Resonance

The most effective marketing copy connects emotionally with readers. Human copywriters understand emotional nuance in ways that AI, for all its pattern recognition capabilities, cannot yet match.

Cultural Context

Understanding cultural references, sensitivities, and zeitgeist moments requires living in and experiencing culture — something AI systems, trained on past data, inherently cannot do.

Practical Applications for Modern Copywriters

For students learning copywriting and content marketing, here are some practical ways to leverage AI while developing essential human skills:

  1. Use AI for Research and Ideation AI tools can analyse vast amounts of content to identify patterns, topics, and gaps in existing content landscapes, providing valuable starting points for original content creation.
  2. Employ AI as a First-Draft Generator Use AI to generate initial content drafts that you then refine, enhance, and infuse with brand voice and emotional resonance.
  3. Leverage AI for Content Optimisation AI excels at identifying SEO opportunities, readability issues, and potential audience responses — use these insights to strengthen your content.
  4. Focus Your Expertise on Strategy As AI handles more production aspects, develop your strategic thinking, audience understanding, and creative direction skills— areas where human input remains irreplaceable.

Preparing for the Future

The UK content marketing landscape is evolving rapidly with AI integration. For students preparing to enter this field, focusing on these key areas will help you thrive:

  1. Learn to collaborate with AI tools rather than compete with them
  2. Develop your unique creative perspective that AI cannot replicate
  3. Hone your strategic thinking and audience understanding
  4. Stay informed about AI capabilities and limitations
  5. Experiment with AI tools to understand where they add value

AI is not replacing copywriters and content marketers — it’s transforming their roles. By automating routine aspects of content creation, AI frees us to focus on strategy, creativity, and emotional connection. This shift represents an evolution of the profession rather than its replacement.

For anyone interested in using AI alongside their content and copywriting, take a look at our short courses in Introduction to Copywriting (next course starts April 12), Introduction to Branding (next course starts 17 May) and Content Writing (next course starts 13 June).

Or if you’re interested in our other writing short courses at City St Georges, visit our home page HERE.

For more on all our short courses, why not come along to our virtual open evening on Wednesday 2 April? Sign up here. As a bonus for attending, you’ll receive 10% off your short course if you book by midnight on Thursday 3 April.

 

Announcing City Writes Spring 2025 Competition Winners

March 20, 2025 / / 0 Comments

By Rebekah Lattin-Rawstrone

We’re delighted to announce the winners of the City Writes Spring Competition, all of whom will be reading at our bumper in person City Writes Spring Event 2025, Wednesday, 26th March, 6.30pm in Northampton Square alongside Goldsmiths’ Prize shortlisted author, Han Smith and four of City St George’s Short Course tutors: Jem Bartholomew, Katy Darby, Caroline Green and Martin Ouvry. Register for this wonderful free event now and sit back as we introduce you to our competition winners.

Ellen Bassam is a London-based writer whose work explores the intersections of everyday life, politics, popular culture, and nature. With a background in political campaigning, she brings a sharp, insightful perspective to her writing. Currently, she runs Alternative Route, a zine about walking, with a focus on the experiences and stories of women and girls. Ellen is a Narrative Non-Fiction alumna and will be reading her story, ‘Two y’s and no smiley face’.

Approach to Creative Writing alumna Hatty Nash is a radio producer who writes and reads fiction in her spare time. She joined the BBC on the prestigious Production Trainee Scheme and has since produced programmes for Radio 4, Radio 1, and the World Service, including Woman’s Hour and the Today programme. She grew up in Devon and now lives in East London. Hatty will be reading her story ‘Brainrot’.

Tunde Oyebode is a Nigerian-British architect and writer in London. His fiction, inspired by everyday life, explores themes of relationships, society, and urban environments, reflecting the experiences of the African diaspora. His work has appeared in Stylist Magazine, Obsidian, and Solstice Literary Magazine. Tunde was a finalist for the 2023 London Independent Story Prize and the 2024 Solstice Literary Magazine Prize. He is currently seeking to publish a collection of interconnected short stories and enjoys cycling and photographing architecture. A Short Story Writing and Writers’ Workshop alumnus, Tunde will be reading his story, ‘Immaculate Education’.

Aaron Payne is a Short Story Writing alumnus and unpublished writer who lives in South London. He is working on a story inspired by suburban landmarks: graveyards, allotments, libraries and schools. His reading, ‘Scoop’ is extracted from this story. He is a civil servant.

Mya Shakur is a novice fiction writer with a love for character-driven storytelling. She’s currently working on a collection of memory-inspired pieces, including her winning story ‘Sandwich Bag’, as part of a fictional memoir. After briefly studying Politics and American Studies at university, she took a different path with storytelling remaining a consistent passion throughout. She now writes in her spare time, trying to make sense of it all and has just completed the Approach to Creative Writing course.

For your chance to hear all of these wonderful stories alongside the work of Han Smith and four of our fantastic tutors here at City St George’s register for the City Writes Spring Event 2025, Wednesday, 26th March, 6.30pm in Northampton Square here. We can’t wait to see you there.

City Writes Spring Event 2025: Behind the scenes with our featured tutors series; Introducing Jem Bartholomew

March 13, 2025 / / 0 Comments

Author and Lecturer Jem Bartholomew

By Rebekah Lattin-Rawstrone

This is the last in our series of blog posts exploring the writing and teaching of City St George’s short course tutors reading at The City Writes Spring Event on Wednesday 26th March at 6.30pm, Northampton Square. It’s going to be an unprecedented night of storytelling from tutors, students and alumni followed by a Q&A with Goldsmiths’ Prize shortlisted author, Han Smith, and four of our wonderful writing tutors: Jem Bartholomew, Katy Darby, Caroline Green and Martin Ouvry.

This week we are introducing the fantastic narrative nonfiction writer, Jem Bartholomew. Jem teaches Fact-based Storytelling here at City St George’s and as an award-winning freelance reporter has a wealth of experience to share with students and readers alike.

When asked to introduce his work, Jem launched into a description of his current project. ‘I’m currently writing a narrative nonfiction book about UK poverty, called Threading The Needle. The book follows a year in the life of four communities — a food bank in southern England, courier drivers in London, a former coal-mining village in South Yorkshire, and a young MP’s journey to Westminster — as they battle against the rocketing cost of living, push for change, and strive for meaning in an insecure world. The book is nonfiction, but through immersive reporting in these communities it adopts a novelistic lens to capture where our country is, and where it’s going, following in the footsteps of George Orwell’s The Road To Wigan Pier and Down and Out in Paris and London. My shorter-form freelance reporting can be found in the Guardian.’

With such an impressive resume I wanted to find out what Jem found exciting about teaching at City St George’s. He said it was ‘the capacity to be constantly surprised by the writers who take my class. Short courses attract people at all different stages of their lives and writing journeys — I’ve had cohorts in which retired people and teenagers are swapping notes, reading each other’s work. It’s this multiplicity in class that fuels surprise, innovation and freshness on the page. When teaching, as well as outlining some of the techniques I feel are worth knowing, I strive for my classes to resemble a seminar rather than a lecture. Participants have just as much to teach me, and teach each other, than vice versa, and active, constructive discussion is central.’ No wonder former students speak of Jem’s ability to facilitate discussions and grow writers.

So, what one piece of advice would Jem give to aspiring writers? His answer is wonderfully practical: ‘Details are important. The small details are what brings a scene to life, what tells the reader who a character is, what sticks in the audience’s mind after they’ve put your story down. Don’t forget to capture the particulars: What’s the dog’s name? What kind of shoes was that man wearing? Did that person thank the waiter? And people love to read dialogue. Getting your characters talking to each other is a surefire way to inject some energy into your scenes. But above all, don’t wait for someone to ask you to write, or wait until you’re in the right job to start telling stories — you don’t need permission, just make writing a part of your life, start producing quality work, and people will want to read it.’

To hear more of Jem’s advice and listen to a passage of his work-in-progress, don’t forget to register for the The City Writes Spring Event on Wednesday 26th March at 6.30pm, Northampton Square. There will be refreshments, a chance to hear more about the short creative writing courses at City St George’s and a special 10% discount for all attendees who sign up for a creative writing course.

We can’t wait to see you on the 26th of March, in person, with refreshments in hand and mind sparking with new ideas.

 

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