Category: News (page 12 of 12)

City Writes launch

April 2, 2016 / / 0 Comments

by Novel Studio alumnus, Arun Das

The inaugural City Writes event was held on 29th March 2016. Along with author of Owl Song at Dawn, Emma Claire Sweeney, four writers, alumni and students from City’s creative writing short courses read out their work. Each writer was chosen through a competition run by creative writing tutor Rebekah Lattin-Rawstrone.

First to read her story was Evleen Mann, with a piece developed as part of the Novel Studio course. Titled Elvis and the Bear, Evleen fictionalised a humorous but poignant conversation between Rock ‘n’ Roll star Elvis Presley and a bear. Evleen is working on a novel as part of the Novel Studio programme.

Eileen Church Riley, a 2010 graduate of the Novel Studio read an extract from her novel The Tumbledown. Set in Western Nevada, United States, The Tumbledown follows Screeching Eagle and Delicate Bird, members of the Paiute-Shoshone Native American Indian tribe.

Lesley Jones, presented an extract The Worst Day, from a supernatural YA novel. Lesley is also working on a fantasy adventure novel for 9 to 12 year-olds and is a current student of the Novel Studio.

C. G. Menon, who’s pursuing an MA in Creative Writing at City, University of London read the short story I see you in Triplicate. Menon has been published in two short story anthologies, Fugue Press’ Siren II and Dahlia Publishing’s Love Across A Broken Map. Menon has also won the Bare Fiction short story prize, the Asian Writer prize, The Short Story award and the Winchester Writers Festival short story prize. She’s been shortlisted for a number of others, including the Fish short story award, the Short Fiction Journal prize, the Willesden Herald prize and two Words and Women awards.

Emma Claire Sweeney read extracts from her novel Owl Song at Dawn. Published by Legend Press in 2016, Owl Song at Dawn, her debut novel, was inspired by her sister who has cerebral palsy and autism.

Emma is a Novel Studio tutor. Her forthcoming book, A Secret Sisterhood: The Hidden Literary Friendships of Jane Austen, Charlotte Bronte, George Eliot and Virginia Woolf, is a non-fiction book, which she has co-written with her friend and Novel Studio colleague, Emily Midorikawa. With a foreword by Margaret Atwood, the book will come out in June 2017 with Aurum Press in the UK and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt in the USA.

City Writes will run every term and will return in the summer on Wednesday 12th July to showcase more of City’s short courses creative writing talent. The deadline for submissions for the summer term is Friday 16th June and readers will be joined by Novel Studio alumna Luiza Sauma who will be reading from her novel Flesh and Bone and Water published by Viking in February 2017.

Arun Das spent ten years working as a journalist and television producer. He moved to England to join his wife and is currently working on a novel as part of the Novel Studio programme.

Winners of City Novel Studio competition 2015 announced

October 2, 2015 / / 0 Comments

We are delighted to announce the winners of 2015’s City Novel Studio Competition.

In association with Christine Green Author’s Agency, the competition was open to unpublished novelists writing in any fictional genre for adults, but not non-fiction or fiction for children. Course Director, Rebekah Lattin-Rawstrone, and Novel Studio Tutor, Kirstan Hawkins, sifted through the numerous entries and have now made their final decisions. The winners are:

  • Hannah Begbie
  • Louise Beere
  • Jen Glyn

“There were some very strong contenders for the Novel Studio Competition this year,” said Rebekah. “Each of the finalists produced writing with a skill and authority that left me eager to read more. I have high expectations of what this year’s Novel Studio students will go on to achieve in the future.”

Commenting on the finalists, top literary agent Christine Green said: “I enjoyed each one of them hugely – they are very different pieces but each has a strong voice and each one left me wanting more. Without hesitation I can say that I’d love to see more from each of them…Three very talented women.”

Congratulations to Hannah, Louise and Jen.  A terrific start to their Novel Studio year!

Getting your book noticed online

November 25, 2014 / / 0 Comments

by Emily Pedder

Last month short courses took part in a panel event on marketing your book online as part of 2014’s Inside Out Festival. Novel Studio Course Director Emily Pedder chaired a lively panel discussion to a sell out crowd.

The panel experts included Polly Courtney, author of six novels and a regular commentator on TV and radio. Polly is famous for walking out on Harper Collins in protest at the chick lit branding assigned to her books and has been successfully self-publishing ever since.

Also on the panel were Chris McCrudden, Head of Technology and New Media at Midas PR and author of the Guardian book Digital and Social Media for Authors; and City’s very own Novel Studio alumna Justine Solomons, founder of Byte the Book, CCO at Autharium and Publisher in Residence at Kingston University.

Tips for authors trying to market their book online included the following:

  • Make sure your cover design, title and blurb all reflect your book’s genre.
  • Target your readers: find out what readers of your particular kind of book listen to, like, follow online and start communicating with that audience.
  • Develop your author brand – talk about the issues you cover in your book, or whatever it is that makes you unique, and make it newsworthy so that journalists have an angle to write about.
  • Don’t write a press release about your book. The book’s publication is the least interesting thing about your book: find a particular peg to hang it on.
  • Use social media to be a reflection of yourself and your book.
  • Build your platform BEFORE you publish.
  • Set up your own website.
  • Curate yourself – readers don’t need to know everything about you, just the bits that are relevant to your author profile.
  • Write a blog. Keep it current. Follow up quickly and courteously on comments.
  • Keep a database of contacts. Add to it whenever you meet someone new. Follow up within 24 hours.
  • Hand out business cards: professionalize yourself as a writer.
  • Use marketing in its truest and most resonant form, i.e. sharing something you’re passionate about with other people who are passionate about the same thing

Afterwards several members of the audience expressed their gratitude for the event, while one tweeted ‘brilliantly useful panel discussion’. For more events like these don’t forget to follow our updates on twitter.

Winners of City Novel Studio competition 2014 announced

October 3, 2014 / / 0 Comments

We are delighted to announce the winners of our inaugural City Novel Studio Competition 2014.

In a rare opportunity to bypass the slush pile, all applications to the Novel Studio this year were automatically considered for our City Novel Studio Competition, in association with Christine Greene Author’s Agency. The competition was open to unpublished novelists writing in any fictional genre for adults, including literary fiction, women’s fiction, science fiction, young adult fiction, chick-lit, fantasy, crime fiction, thriller, historical fiction, but not non-fiction or fiction for children. Course Director, Emily Pedder, and Novel Studio Tutor, Emily Midorikawa, sifted through the numerous entries have now made their final decisions. The winners are:

  • Giles Anderson
  • Tara Basi
  • Meera Betab

The judges commented on the ‘high standard’ of the applications this year and the difficulty in choosing the top three. However, the best three entries stood out for their ‘originality, style and distinctive voice’. They have now been passed on to Natalie Butlin, a top agent at Christine Green Authors’ Agency, with a view to representation. Congratulations to Giles, Tara and Meera!

City hosts inaugural CPD Forum Conference

June 8, 2014 / / 0 Comments

City, University of London hosted the CPD Forum Conference ‘Professional Best Practice: Past, Present and Future’ on 20th June, in partnership with Central Saint Martins, King’s College London and Imperial College London.

The event was a great success, with an unprecedented attendance rate of 96% and delegates coming from as far afield as Cork to listen to keynote speakers and take part in group workshops.

Speakers included Professor Stephanie Marshall, Chief Executive of the Higher Education Academy; Dr JoEllyn Prouty McLaren, Director of Cass Executive Education; and Professor Yvonne Hillier, Professor of Education at the University of Brighton, covering topics such as development of executive education and the future of lifelong learning.

The afternoon workshops, hosted by the conference organisers, received fantastic delegate participation, and revealed common issues faced with CPD programmes in various institutions, including marketing, administration and international CPD. The workshops aimed to find solutions to challenges highlighted by delegates, but the recurring themes illustrated the need for future CPD conferences.

The conference was “very useful from both a professional knowledge-enhancing perspective, as well as from a networking perspective,” said one delegate.

Bill Richardson, Manager of CPD Programmes at City, University of London, and one of the CPD Forum organisers, said “the forum materialised initially through a need for London higher education institutions (HEIs) to engage and share experiences and best practice for delivering CPD and short course programmes. We are delighted that our mutual interests now extend beyond London and we were extremely please to welcome a wide variety of institutions from across the UK.

“We hope that this is the start of an annual event, bringing all professionals together to transform the future delivery of CPD programmes.”

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