Tag: literary (page 1 of 6)

Back to School: Expand Your Horizons with City’s Online Short Courses

September 16, 2024 / / 0 Comments

As the autumn leaves turn to brown, that familiar ‘back to school’ feeling settles in. But who says learning is just for kids? It’s never too late to expand your knowledge, develop new skills, or explore a passion you’ve always wanted to pursue.

This autumn why not embrace the spirit of lifelong learning and enrol on one of our online short courses? Whether you’re looking to advance your career, indulge a creative interest, or simply challenge yourself, we have something for everyone.

Diverse Course Offerings

City’s online short course program spans six subject areas:

  1. Business and Management: From entrepreneurship to project management, gain the skills to thrive in today’s competitive business world.
  2. Computing: Dive into the digital realm with courses on programming, cybersecurity, and data analysis.
  3. Creative Industries: Unleash your artistic potential with courses in Music Business, Event Management, and more.
  4. Languages: Open doors to new cultures and opportunities by learning a new language or improving your existing skills.
  5. Law: Explore the complexities of the English legal system, learn about specific areas of law, or enhance your understanding of legal principles and practices.
  6. Writing: Whether you dream of penning the next bestseller or want to enhance your professional writing, our courses will help you find your voice.

Flexible Learning for Busy Lives

Our online courses are delivered over zoom or teams so that you can join from home and fit education around your work and personal commitments. With expert instructors, interactive content, and a supportive community, you’ll have all the tools you need to succeed.

Invest in Yourself

In today’s rapidly changing world, continuous learning isn’t just an option—it’s a necessity. By enrolling on one of our short courses, you’re investing in your future, opening new doors, and keeping your mind sharp and engaged.

So why wait? Embrace the ‘back to school’ spirit and take the first step towards your next achievement.

Ready to start your learning journey? Explore our courses or email our friendly short course team on shortcourses@city.ac.uk. Your next learning adventure is just around the corner.

Celebrating Literary Dreams: The Captain Tasos Politis Scholarship Empowers Aspiring Novelist

September 3, 2024 / / 0 Comments

Scholarship Winner Merveille Faila

We are thrilled to announce that Merveille Faila will be 2024’s recipient of the Captain Tasos Politis Scholarship. This generous scholarship, supported by City Alumni Ambassador George Politis, provides a fully funded place on our prestigious year-long Novel Studio programme, aiming to provide opportunities for talented, aspiring novelists from low-income households.

The Novel Studio offers a structured and supportive environment for writers to learn about the craft of novel writing and to develop their own novels over the course of a year.  The course has built a reputation for spotting and nurturing emerging novelists and has a very strong track record of published alumni. Through the Captain Tasos Politis Scholarship, we are able to open doors for talented individuals who might otherwise face financial barriers to pursuing their writing ambitions.

This year’s scholarship recipient, Merveille Faila, has said:

“It is a great honour to be the recipient of the Captain Tasos Politis Scholarship. As someone aspiring to develop my voice as an emerging writer, the scholarship provides the resources to do so in a structured and supportive environment. I’m incredibly grateful for the opportunity to gain greater exposure to the literary world, and to learn and grow in my experience of crafting a novel.”

This sentiment embodies the very essence of what the scholarship and the Novel Studio programme aim to achieve – fostering new voices, building confidence, and providing the tools and connections necessary for success in the literary world.

George Politis has said:

“It is such a great honour to support literature and talent.  I try to follow in my dad’s footsteps, always curious.  That’s why we launched the FinTech. Lab at Bayes, all about innovations and technology.  Progress requires creativity and imagination.  The Novel Studio is all about that, training our future inspiring novelists. Congratulations to Merveille, eager to hear your voice!”

We are hugely grateful to George Politis for his visionary support. By funding this scholarship in honour of his late father, Captain Tasos Politis, George is investing in the future of literature.

The Captain Tasos Politis Scholarship also represents City’s commitment to diversity in literature and our belief in the power of storytelling to shape our understanding of the world. We look forward to being part of Merveille’s writing journey as she embarks on her Novel Studio year.

For anyone interested in City’s writing short courses, join us for our online open evening on Wednesday September 11 where you will have a chance to try one of our free taster sessions. Full details avaiable here.

Summer Term 2024 at City Short Courses

April 2, 2024 / / 0 Comments

 

Thank you to all who attended our Short Courses Open Evening last week. We had a great time meeting new students and introducing them to what we do here at City Short Courses. Many students took advantage of our free  taster sessions, which ranged across our six subject strands:  Business and Management; Computing; Creative Writing; Creative Industries; Languages; and Law. There were tasters in everything from Learning Python to Italian, Business Writing to Major Event Management.

If you didn’t have a chance to join us, never fear! There’s still time to browse our full range of 120 courses and book on for the summer term. Why not try Presentation Skills, or brush up on your French in time for holidays. Or you could consider applying for our year-long Novel Studio programme and finish that novel you’ve always wanted to write! Whether it’s personal development or adding a new skill to your CV, we have something for everyone here at City Short Courses.

If you’d like further information before making your decision, just email our team at shortcourses@city.ac.uk. If they can’t answer your questions, they’ll contact the relevant tutors and make sure you get the answer you need.

Your short course journey starts HERE. We can’t wait to welcome you.

 

City Writes Spring 2024 Competition Open for Submissions

February 12, 2024 / / 0 Comments
By Rebekah Lattin-Rawstrone

 

City Writes, the showcase event for all the wonderful writing coming from our Creative Writing Short Courses at City, is only weeks away. This term’s City Writes is Wednesday 27th March at 7pm and we’re delighted to have two Novel Studio alumni, Laurence Kershook and Katharine Light, as our headline double act.

For your chance to join Laurence and Katharine and read your work on the online stage, the City Writes Competition is open for submissions and you need only send your best 1,000 words of creative writing (fiction or non-fiction but no poetry, drama or children’s fiction) to rebekah.lattin-rawstrone.2@city.ac.uk by midnight on the 1st March 2024 along with details of your current or previous Creative Writing short course. Full submission details can be found here.

The Broygus by Laurence Kershook came out in March 2022 and is an evocative exploration of the history of a Jewish East End family not to be missed. Katharine Light’s Like Me came out in November 2023. Her novel turns an adult school reunion into a possible rekindling of teenage romance. You can find out more by reading fantastic blog articles for Katharine and Laurence – simply click on their names. This will be a fantastic night full of tantalising tales and excellent writing advice.

Book your ticket here and send us your work. We look forward to your submissions!

City Writes Autumn 2023 Open for Submissions

October 5, 2023 / / 0 Comments

City Writes Autumn Deadline 10 November 2023

By Rebekah Lattin-Rawstrone

With a new academic year comes more fantastic writing from the short courses at City with our showcase event, City Writes, this term on Wednesday 13th December at 7pm on Zoom. We are delighted to announce that our published author this time is the brilliant writer and tutor, Caroline Green. Not only does Caroline write fiction for young people and adults, she is also the much valued and acclaimed teacher of the Crime and Thriller Writing short course and Crime and Thriller Writing Summer School here at City. From YA, through psychological thriller, to supernatural detective fiction, Caroline Green is an inspirational powerhouse. Register here to save your spot for the night.

Crime writer and City Writes Autumn 2023 guest, Caroline Green

If you would like to read your work in front of a supportive audience and share the virtual stage with Caroline on the 13th December, all you need to do is submit your best 1,000 words of fiction or creative non-fiction (we accept YA but sadly NOT poetry, drama or children’s fiction) to rebekah.lattin-rawstrone.2@city.ac.uk by midnight on Friday 17th November. Please check the full submission details here.

 

Don’t forget to sign up for the event on the 13th December here.

 

We can’t wait to read your submissions! Good luck.

Top Ten Tips for Writing Crime Fiction

September 19, 2023 / / 0 Comments

By Caroline Green

Crime fiction is booming right now. If you have ever wondered if you could write for this thriving, thrilling genre, here are ten things you should know:

  1. Understand who you are writing for. Read widely within the genre and decide what type of crime fiction you love to read. (Frankly, if you don’t get excited about reading it, why do you want to write it?)
  2. But after you’ve read all those lovely books, don’t try and second guess the market. No one saw the likes of Girl On The Train. The most important thing is to know the genre but write what you want to write.
  3. Watch quality drama as well as reading books. Programmes such as Happy Valley or Line of Duty can teach budding crime writers a lot, despite being delivered via a different medium.
  4. Aim for living, breathing, characters, not cardboard cut-outs. If you are writing another alcoholic PI or police investigator make sure they are so well-rounded they could step right off the page. What is their back story? What made them who they are?
  5. Don’t be afraid to delve into your dark side. Your own imagination is more powerful – and has more twists – than all the CGI in the world. Tap into it and never shy away from those big, bold ideas that make you think, ‘Dare I…?’.
  6. The best twists don’t come hurtling out of nowhere. The really satisfying ones make such perfect sense, you can’t believe you didn’t see them coming.
  7. Remember that conflict is the engine of story-telling. Try to weave some form of conflict into every single scene, every conversation, every plot line.
  8. Think about the ‘why-dunnit’ and not just the ‘who’. The reason psychological thrillers have taken off so much – and helped cause that boom in sales – is that the psychology behind dark deeds makes for a gripping read.
  9. Vary your pace. Sometimes readers need space to breathe, and others they need to be sent hurtling towards the thrilling climax of your story.
  10. Let your setting do some of the heavy lifting when it comes to creating atmosphere. A creepy atmospheric setting can really help rachet up tension.

 

Caroline Green writes best-selling thrillers as Cass Green and teaches City’s Crime and Thriller Writing Short Course.

Book now for the autumn term, starting 3rd October 2023.

Novel Studio 2022/3 Literary Agent Competition Winners Announced

July 11, 2023 / / 0 Comments

We are delighted to announce the winners of 2022/3’s Novel Studio Literary Agent Competition are Sonia Hope, Marc-Anthony Hurr and Charles Williams.

The competition is a key feature of City’s flagship short course the Novel Studio, which offers a select group of 15 aspiring novelists the dedicated time and support to hone their craft. The competition is a rare opportunity to bypass the slush pile of manuscript submissions to literary agents, and is run this year in  conjunction with Lucy Luck, literary agent at C&W Agency.

Sonia Hope’s stories have appeared in magazines, including Ambit and Ellipsis Zine, and in anthologies: Best British Short Stories 2020, and The Untangling: Jerwood/Arvon Anthology Volume Nine. She was a Jerwood/Arvon mentee (fiction) for 2019/20 and shortlisted for The Guardian 4th Estate Prize 2019. In 2022 she was the recipient of the Novel Studio scholarship. Sonia is an Art Librarian working on her first novel, The Archivist.

Born in New Zealand to a British father and French mother, Marc-Anthony Hurr has dedicated his professional career to assembling from scratch a large international financial services startup in white knuckle fashion. He was shortlisted in December 2022 by Liar’s League, and in May 2023 won their Heroes & Villains competition. Marc is developing his debut novel, The Millennials.

Charles Williams has been a professional writer for twenty years, covering every topic under the sun, from policing and international aid to body image and mental health. He’s published obituaries in The Times, written and directed a play about world mythology at the Edinburgh Fringe, and contributed a story to a Doctor Who audiobook. He lives in south London.

Emily Pedder, Course Director of the Novel Studio said: “The three winners are all writers with strong, distinctive voices and we’re incredibly excited to see how their writing careers progress from here.”

Alumna Hannah Begbie, an early winner of the agent competition, published award-winning novels Mother and Blurred Lines following her graduation, and fellow winner Louise Beere was shortlisted for the Lucy Cavendish Fiction Prize.

The Novel Studio was established over a decade ago and has a very strong track record of published alumni. Recent bestselling and award-winning novels include Deepa Anappara’s Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line, Anna Mazzola’s  The Unseeing, The Story Keeper, The Clockwork Girl,  and The House of Whispers, and Harriet Tyce’s Blood Orange, The Lies You Told and It Ends At Midnight.

Sonia Hope

Marc-Anthony Hurr

Charles Williams

 

City Writes Competition Deadline is midnight this Friday 9th June

June 9, 2023 / / 0 Comments

Don’t forget to submit your best 1,000 words for the City Writes Competition this term. The City Writes Summer 2023 event will host the fantastic prize-winning author and journalist, Emma Grae. For your chance to join her on the virtual stage on the 5th July 2023 on Zoom at 7pm all you need to do is send in your most gripping 1,000 words of creative fiction or non-fiction (no poetry, drama or children’s fiction – though we do accept YA) along with details of your City Creative Writing Short Course to rebekah.lattin-rawstrone.2@city.ac.uk You can find full submission and event details here. The deadline for submissions is midnight on Friday 9th June. That’s this Friday!

Emma Grae is a Scottish author and journalist from Glasgow. She is a passionate advocate of the Scots language and breaking the stigma around mental illness. She has published fiction and poetry in the UK and Ireland since 2014 in journals including The Honest Ulsterman, From Glasgow to Saturn and The Open Mouse. Her debut novel, Be Guid tae yer Mammy, was published by Unbound in August 2021 and was awarded the Scots Book of the Year at the Scots Language Awards 2022. Her second novel, The Tongue She Speaks was published by Luath Press in October 2022. As a journalist, she writes under her birth surname, Guinness, and has bylines in a number of publications including Cosmopolitan, the Huffington Post and the Metro.

City Writes guest, author Emma Grae

Enter the competition and you could be reading alongside Emma on the 5th July! If you’d rather just listen, do register for the event now.

We look forward to reading your work!

Canongate buy Novel Studio alumna Lara Haworth’s debut novel Monumenta

April 28, 2023 / / 0 Comments

Lara Haworth

We are beyond excited to announce that Novel Studio alumna Lara Haworth has sold her debut novel, Monumenta, to Canongate. World rights were acquired from Lara’s agent, Jo Bell, at Bell Lomax Moreton and the book will be published in June 2024.

Lara is a writer, filmmaker and political researcher who specialises in the UK’s move to become carbon zero by 2050. An extract from Monumenta that she turned into a short story won a Bridport Prize, and her poem ‘The Thames Barrier’ was awarded a prize in the Cafe Writers Poetry Competition. Lara was an exceptionally talented member of the Novel Studio 2018/19 and we could not be more delighted with her publication success. Watch this space for more about the book and Lara’s development as a novelist.

For anyone interested in finding out more about the course Lara took at City, The Novel Studio is now open to applications with a deadline of 30 May 2023.

For all our writing short courses visit HERE.

City Writes Competition Deadline is midnight tomorrow, 3rd March!

March 2, 2023 / / 0 Comments

City Writes Spring 2023 Deadline Approaching

City Writes, City’s Showcase for the fantastic creative writing coming from the Short Courses at City is fast approaching. This term’s virtual event on the 29th March features the brilliant author and alumna, Hannah Begbie, whose award-winning novels Mother and Blurred Lines are both published by Harper Collins.

Hannah Begbie

For your chance to read alongside Hannah at this zoom event, you need only send in your best 1,000 words of creative fiction or non-fiction to rebekah.lattin-rawstrone.2@city.ac.uk by midnight this Friday 3rd March. That’s just one more day to send in your work!
You can find more information on submission details and how to book for the event, here.
We look forward to reading your work. Good luck!
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