Tag: short stories (page 1 of 4)

Announcing the City Writes Autumn 2024 Competition Winners!

 By Rebekah Lattin-Rawstrone

Congratulations to Joanna Bawa, Doug Kessler, Audrey Madden, Tunde Oyebode, Aditi Parekh and Robin Sheeran, this term’s winners of the City Writes competition! From complex family histories, through childhood summer afternoons, airport queues, befriending apps and graveyards all the way to AI envisioned futures, this term’s selection of writing has it all. You can hear these fantastic stories being read by their authors alongside debut crime writer Jo Cunningham, at this term’s City Writes event on the 11th December at 7pm on Zoom. Register here to come along and read on for more information on our wonderful winners.

Joanna Bawa is a professional and creative writer, currently working as a ghostwriter. This complements her work as a cognitive behavioural therapist, combining an appreciation of the power of words and the complexity of human nature. She belongs to a local writing group where her fiction and poetry has won awards, and her first novel was longlisted in the 2019 Mslexia novel competition. She is working on a second novel, and her piece for City Writes, ‘DeathDefy’, may become a third. Joanna is an alumna of the Writing the Memoir course.

Doug Kessler is an expat Yank who’s lived and worked in London for the last 34 years.
He’s a marketing copywriter and agency founder but pretty new to narrative non-fiction, short stories, and poetry. Adam in 20 Snapshots is his first book-length project, of which he will be reading an extract. Doug is a Narrative Non-Fiction alumnus.

Audrey Madden is currently writing her first book while working in the not for profit arts and culture sector. She has a degree in English & Comparative Literature from Goldsmiths University. Her work is inspired by nature and the different environments that exist across the United States and the UK. A Writers’ Workshop alumna, Audrey will be reading an extract from her novel, Matriarchal Lines.

Aditi Parekh is an aspiring writer and student of Writers’ Workshop. She is interested in human psychology, particularly the dark triads and group dynamics. She is currently working on a novel, with the working title The Sabbatical, which describes a woman’s struggle with drug addiction and her descent into madness. She will be reading an extract from the novel.

Tunde Oyebode is a Nigerian-British architect and writer based in East London. Drawing inspiration from everyday life, his fiction explores human relationships and African diaspora experiences. His work has been featured in Stylist Magazine, Obsidian, and Solstice Literary Magazine. A finalist for the 2023 London Independent Story Prize and the 2024 Solstice Literary Magazine Prize, he was also nominated for Best of the Net. Tunde is currently looking to publish a collection of interconnected short stories. Outside writing, he enjoys cycling and photographing architecture. A Writers’ Workshop alumnus, Tunde will be reading ‘To Crazy Shane’.

Robin Sheeran is a native of Belfast. He studied Film and Literature at Warwick University and is a former BBC journalist. Robin is interested in producing stonking characters and crackling dialogue. His work uses dark humour to examine how we relate to each other. Robin is the current holder of the international Piazza Grande Religion Journalism Award for his writing for New Humanist. He ghostwrote Going the Distance, the autobiography of endurance cyclist Joe Barr, published by Gill Books in 2021. A Short Story Writing alumnus, Robin will be reading his story, ‘Summer Job’.

Just from reading their biographies you get a sense of the night of stories that awaits on Wednesday 11th December at 7pm over Zoom. Alongside these wonderful competition winners will be our cosy crime author and Novel Studio alumna, Jo Cunningham, whose novel Death By Numbers came out earlier this year. Register here to listen to all these authors on 11th December at 7pm. Can’t wait to see you there!

Guest alumna Jo Cunningham, author of Death by Numbers

Writing Short Course News Roundup 2024

Whether you’re taking a course with us this term or were a student in the past, we want to inspire your writing with the latest news from our short course alumni and tutors.

The Novel Studio 

Alan Gray (also alumnus of WW and SS) has been awarded the Sonny and Gita UK Scholarship to complete his MA in creative writing at UEA.

Kathrine Bancroft has had one of her poems longlisted for the 2024 Aurora Prize. She is also a London Independent Story Prize Poetry Finalist.

Katy Darby’s Writers’ Workshop and Short Story Writing alumna Isabel Blake has been accepted on the Creative Writing MA at UEA, while Erica Buist has just completed her Cambridge MSt in Creative Writing, has been longlisted for the BBC’s annual callout for scripts and is now teaching Creative Writing at City Lit.

Peter Forbes’ Narrative Non Fiction alumna Melissa Cornet has had her firstEnglish piece published in July in the London Review of Books, about her work in Afghanistan on Gender apartheid. She is also confirmed to publish a piece in the Guardian this month.

Tutor News

Anna Wilson has two books out this autumn: Be Back Soon is a picture book about swallow migration, illustrated by Jenny Bloomfield and published by Andersen Press and A Story of the Seasons, a large-format non-fiction picture book about seven habitats throughout the seasons, illustrated by Carolina Rabei and published by Nosy Crow and the National Trust. Both books have been translated into other European languages including French, German and Danish.

One-day Courses

There are plenty of options for anyone keen on one-day writing courses: our ever-popular Introduction to Copywriting with Maggie Richards is available monthly; while our Writing the Memoir course is now taught by the brilliant Anna Wilson (see above). And the dynamic duo of Anna Tsekouras and Pete Austin, aka Anon Agency, run our Intro to Branding course. This term we are also introducing a brand new course, Content Writing, taught by the fabulous Tamsin Mackay.

Opportunities

City Writes

City Writes is City, University of London’s termly writing event, showcasing the best of City Short Courses writing talent.

Hosted by longstanding short courses tutor, Rebekah Lattin-Rawstrone, and into its seventh year, City Writes provides an opportunity for the best new writers from the City Short Courses community to read an extract of their work, sharing the stage with one of our published alumni or tutors reading from their new or award-winning publication.

This term’s guest alumna will be debut cosy crime author and Novel Studio alumna, Jo Cunningham. Jo’s novel, Death by Numbers, was published by Constable in August this year. This delicious crime has had rave reviews and who could resist a novel about an actuary investigating a spate of deaths in Eastbourne? Hilarious and gripping, this is the perfect novel to see you through the cold winter nights. Buy your copy ahead of the event here.

To join Jo on the virtual stage, all you need to do is submit your best 1,000 words of creative fiction or non-fiction (we do accept young adult fiction but don’t currently accept children’s fiction) on any subject to rebekah.lattin-rawstrone.2@city.ac.uk with details of the City short course you are taking or have taken by midnight on Friday 15th November. Competition and submission guidelines can be found here. 

We can’t wait to read your submissions and if you are keen to secure your place for the night, you can register for the event here. Good luck!

Key Dates:

Our Writing for Social Impact course continues to offer a scholarship for one young student (18-25) from an underrepresented background and/or facing financial difficulty. Please contact the tutor, Ciaran Thapar, for more information on this opportunity.

All current students of Introduction to CopywritingWriting for Business and Narrative Non-Fiction courses are eligible to submit an idea for a blog post for short courses. If the idea is accepted, and the written piece meets our standards, it will be professionally edited and published on our blog.

The annual Book Edit Writers’ Prize is open for submissions until 15 October 2024. Judged this year by Novel Studio alumna Lara Haworth and run in association with Legend Press, this is a fantastic (and free) opportunity for any unpublished novelist from a community currently underrepresented in UK publishing. What’s up for grabs? Chance to share your work with top agents. A mentoring session with a Legend Press Commissioning Editor. A supportive community of talented writers and tailored advice from industry experts. For more details please click HERE.

Open Evening

And finally, we are running an open evening with taster sessions on 11th December. Details will be available soon but watch this space or check the website for links to registration.

That’s all for now. Keep on writing and keep your stories coming into us. And huge congratulations to all our alumni and tutors.

Writing Short Courses Summer News Roundup 2024

We hope you’re all having a great summer and continuing to write and create wonderful stories. Here’s our latest short writing course alumni and tutor news to spur you on…

The Novel Studio

Lara Haworth’s debut novel Monumenta was published earlier this month with Canongate and is already receiving rave reviews. You can read an interview with Lara on our blog here.

Jo Cunningham’s debut cosy crime novel Death by Numbers will be published in early August with Hachette. You can pre-order here.

Anna Mazzola’s latest novel, The Book of Secrets, was a Times Historical Novel of the Month in March. Anna’s previous novel, The House of Whispers, won the Historical Novel of the Year at the Fingerprint Awards 2024.

Marta Michalowska has a piece published in Strings Mag.

Darren Wimhurst, who has just graduated from The Novel Studio, was shortlisted for the Writers Rebel Flash Fiction competition 2024.

 

Other Writing Short Course Alumni

Caroline Green’s Crime Writing alumna Tania Tay has published her debut thriller, The Other Woman, with Headline Accent. You can buy a copy here.

Author Tania Tay

Tania is also the author of the Spellcasters middle grade series, in collaboration with Storymix Studio and has written a screenplay, developed with BBC Writersroom London Voices. You can read an interview with her on our blog here. And find out about the festival she’s organising in our opportunities section.

Katy Darby’s WW and SS writing alumni have been as prolific as ever. Bestselling alumna Natasha Brown’s second novel, Universality, has been sold to Faber in a six-way auction. The book will be published in 2025.

Peng Shepherd has published her fourth novel, All This And More, and has been on a whistle-stop book tour in the US appearing on national television. You can follow her travels here, and buy her book here.

Author Peng Shepherd

Fiona Keating’s debut Smoke and Silk has been sold to Mountain Leopard Press, an imprint of Headline Hachette. The hardback is scheduled for March 2025

 Han Smith published her debut novel Portraits at the Palace of Creativity & Wrecking with John Murray Originals this month. Richie Jones’s short story “Curriculum Vitae” was shortlisted and published in the Scratch Books Summer ’24 A4 Competition for 1000-word stories. Hugh Todd published his first book, a novel-in-stories/linked short story collection called It Happened in Clissold Park, in June 2024.

Peter Forbes’ Narrative Non Fiction alumnus Ed Morgan has sold his book: Chasing Mallory’s Dream – How 1930s British and German climbers competed to overcome the Himalayan Giants to Bodleian Library Publishing, due out in 2025. In a rather lovely virtuous circle, Ed’s editor will be Janet Phillips who was one of our Novel Studio graduates several years back. Another alumna Susanna Morton has been longlisted for the Observer/Burgess prize.

Holly Rigby’s Narrative Non Fiction  alumna Nicole Gleeson has had an article published in Shado Mag on the back of doing the course.

 

Martin Ouvry’s Novel Writing and Longer Works alumna Philippa Dunn has just signed a deal with children’s/YA super-agency Darley Anderson.

 

Jem Bartholomew’s Fact Based Storytelling student Pamela Welsh, was one of the winners of City Writes for a piece she wrote for the class.

 

Tutor News

Narrative Non Fiction  tutor Peter Forbes has a new book coming out in May called Thinking Small and Large: How Microbes Made and can Save our World, due to be published with Icon Books in May 2025.

Martin Ouvry’s article ‘How creative writing courses benefit a writer’ has been reprinted for a second time in the 2025 edition of the Writers’ & Artists’ Yearbook. (WAYB 2023, 2024, 2025)

 

One-day Courses

There are plenty of options for anyone keen on one-day writing courses: our ever-popular Introduction to Copywriting with Maggie Richards is available monthly; while our Writing the Memoir course is now taught by the brilliant Anna Wilson. And the dynamic duo of Anna Tsekouras and Pete Austin, aka Anon Agency, run our Intro to Branding course. Next term we will also introduce a brand new course, Content Writing, taught by the fabulous Tamsin Mackay.

 

Opportunities

Novel Studio alumna Flora Tonking has shared this opportunity for a writing residency in Paris which sounds amazing!

Our Writing for Social Impact course continues to offer a scholarship for one young student (18-25) from an underrepresented background and/or facing financial difficulty. Please contact the tutor, Ciaran Thapar, for more information on this opportunity.

All current students of Introduction to CopywritingWriting for Business and Narrative Non-Fiction courses are eligible to submit an idea for a blog post for short courses. If the idea is accepted, and the written piece meets our standards, it will be professionally edited and published on our blog.

Crime writing alumna Tania Tay is running an East and SE Asian author literature festival at SOAS on 14th September with some mentoring sessions and feedback sessions from agents and an editor. There is also a crowdfunding page for the festival for anyone who would like to support this great initiative.

Holly Rigby is running a writing retreat here with a 50% bursary for low income writers.

Open Evening

And finally, we are hosting a virtual open evening on Wednesday 11 September, 18:00 – 19:30 (BST) giving you the opportunity to take part in free taster sessions in writing courses such as:

Along with other sessions in other subject areas from business to computing, to graphic design and languages. You can register for the event here.

 

That’s all for now. Keep on writing and keep your stories coming into us. And huge congratulations to all our alumni and tutors.

 

City Writes Summer 2024: A Monumental Event

By Rebekah Lattin-Rawstrone

While half the country were on the edges of their seats watching football, us lucky few were treated to a night of storytelling, imagination and the excitement of hearing the inner world of consciousness burst out from the page.

 

City Writes is a termly event set up to showcase the best talent from City’s creative writing Short Courses. It’s a game of two halves (I couldn’t resist): readings from competition winners, students and alumni of City’s creative writing short courses who enter their best 1,000 words of fiction or creative non-fiction into the termly competition; and a visit from a published alumni or tutor and this term we managed to score the wonderful Lara Haworth, whose debut Monumenta came out with Canongate on the 4th July.

 

We began the night with the competition winners and Dee Miller, recent Novel Studio alumna, kicked things off with an extract from her Middle Grade novel, Between Wind and Water. We were enthralled as Geal, guardian of Spring, discovers all the people and animals of their local village are gone, leaving only footprints, paw marks and hoof prints behind. It was easy to imagine a young audience being gripped by this fantastical and energetic tale.

 

We heard from An Approach to Creative Writing alumna, Emily Edwards next as she read her multi-perspective story, ‘Laurie’. Who was this rather wild woman and what happened that night? A story that leaves the central character absent but all over the text, it was a thrilling and eerie listen. The audience were left wanting more in all the right ways.

 

Moving from one dark scenario to another, Flora Tonking read her story, ‘The Playing Field’ next. Another recent Novel Studio graduate, Flora’s story was inspired by events in her mystery novel, Chosen Family, and certainly proved her expert turn of phrase and her ability to leave bodies bleeding in the dark. A very haunting and moving story. Bring on the novel!

 

From fiction to creative non-fiction, we were treated to a wonderful portrait of Constance Markiewicz next as Fact-Based Storytelling alumna, Pamela Welsh, read her piece, ‘A Countess in Combat’. Constance’s life from riches to revolution was inspiring and a wonderful advertisement for Pamela’s book project on women in conflict. That’s a book I think we’ll all be eager to pick up.

 

Another Novel Studio alumna and City Writes veteran, Jill Craig read next. Her story, ‘Estrangement’, took us onto a boat ride with her main character, on her way to see her estranged mother with a new boyfriend, desperate to reach out to her sister, the one who remained her touchstone of safety. So full of emotional turmoil and laced with lyrical writing, the audience were putty in Jill’s hands.

 

Next, we heard from Margaret Rogerson, our final competition winner and another recent Novel Studio graduate. Margaret read an extract from her novel, I Was, Once. She transported us into those delicate teenage years, fourteen and eager to find excitement in life. Her character found herself on holiday in a campsite surrounded by an aunt preoccupied with ‘that stupid baby’ and a whole host of men hungry to watch her cartwheel. Let’s hope Margaret publishes soon so that we can read the rest of this story with such a compelling and funny voice at its heart.

 

After such a stellar set of competition winning readers, it was a good thing we had multi-talented artist, filmmaker and now writer, Lara Haworth as our guest speaker. A Novel Studio alumna who read an early extract from Monumenta at City Writes back in 2021, Lara is a phenomenal writer dear to our hearts. Her debut, Monumenta is a book that examines how we remember collectively and in private. The Guardian says it  ‘fizzes with ideas’ and Bookmunch say it ‘Deserves a place on awards shortlists’ and the City Writes audience couldn’t agree more. Over the next half an hour or so Lara introduced us to the book through her answers to my questions and some wonderful short readings from a small novel that really packs a punch.

Author and City alumna Lara Haworth

Set in Belgrade, the novel opens with Olga Pavić receiving a letter from the government. It tells her that her house is being requisitioned in order to turn it into a monument for a massacre. But which one? No one seems to know. It’s a novel that explores memory in all its present, personal and civic interpretations. It was such a delight to speak with Lara and you can hear her readings, our conversation and all of the competition winners by clicking on this link to the video of the night. It really was a monumental night. Buy your copy of Monumenta here.

 

Thank you, Lara, thank you competition winners, thank you audience members and Emily Pedder for supporting this event. It truly is a showcase for the talent coming from the short creative writing courses at City and what talent there is. Next term, City Writes returns with alumna Jo Cunningham as our guest. Jo’s debut, Death by Numbers comes out with Hachette this August. It’s a seaside comedy crime that will have us burning on our beach towels. Listen to the event HERE and watch this space for details of City Writes Autumn 2024.

Winners of 2024 City Writes Summer Event Announced

By Rebekah Lattin-Rawstrone

We’re delighted to announce the six winning authors of our City Writes Summer 2024 competition who are now due to join Novel Studio alumna and published author, Lara Haworth on the 10th July at 7pm over Zoom. Read on to find out more about these wonderful winners.

Jill Craig for her story ‘Estrangement’.

Originally from Northern Ireland, Jill now lives and works as a secondary school teacher in the North-West. Before that, she lived and worked in London, Paris and a tiny town in Greece. She has had stories published on LiterallyStoriesEgg + FrogFreckle Ltd. and this is her second reading at CityWrites. Fresh from the Novel Studio, she is currently working on a novel about how climate change affects a couple’s plans to have a family.

Emily Edwards, An Approach to Creative Writing alumna, for her story, ‘Laurie’.

Emily Edwards is from North Wales but now resides in London after spending seven years living in Paris. She currently works in finance but also has a background in voluntary work in Asia. She has been an avid reader from an early age, when she started many stories that all remained unfinished. She had to drop out of her course in 2015 due to emergency surgery but picked up her pen again this year. This is the first short story that she has ever completed.

Dee Miller for an extract from her novel, Between Wind and Water.

Dee Miller is a recent graduate of the Novel Studio. Originally from the enchanting Highlands of Scotland, she now calls Hertfordshire her home, where she works as a consultant. A keen storyteller and a reader of maps, Dee’s heart beats for children’s literature. Her imaginative world will win the hearts of young readers, and she is now engrossed in the creation of her second novel.

Margaret Rogerson, Novel Studio alumna, for her extract from her novel, I Was, Once.

Margaret is originally from Leeds and now lives with three time thieves in South East London. A feature film she co wrote and directed is currently playing on Amazon Prime (Soundproof – shameless plug) and she intends to turn her first book ‘I Was, Once’ into a screenplay. She is interested in fiction that is unafraid to tackle thorny subjects.

Flora Tonking, Novel Studio alumna, for her story, ‘The Playing Field’.

Originally from the U.K., Flora now lives in Paris, where she manages the English-language bookshop, Shakespeare and Company. A bookseller by trade, she is passionate about introducing readers to powerful stories that have the possibility to transport, delight and remind us of our shared human experience. Mystery and crime novels are her lifelong love, and she is currently working on her own first book (a mystery, of course) having just completed the Novel Studio.

Pamela Welsh, Fact-Based Storytelling alumna, for her non-fiction piece, ‘A Countess in Combat’.

Pamela Welsh is a recovering journalist who used to work for the Manchester Evening News. She now works in marketing and communications for a national education charity. Originally from Northern Ireland, Pamela’s now made Manchester her home, and was heavily involved in the response to the 2017 Manchester Arena terrorist attack. Pamela has long been fascinated by women’s history, and is working on a book project on women in conflict.

With a diverse range of stories from activists to accounts of accidental murder all the way through to the complexities of intimate family reconnections, the prize-winners alone promise a wonderful night on Wednesday 10th July. To top off their fantastic pieces, we will hear from debut novelist, Lara Haworth, barely a week after the publication of her novel, Monumenta, already bringing in fantastic reviews. The Observer called it ‘a deeply political work’ that ‘fizzes with ideas’. Sign up to hear from Lara and our competition winners here. We’ll see you there on Wednesday 10th July at 7pm on Zoom. We can’t wait!

City Writes Autumn 2023 Winners Announced

By Rebekah Lattin-Rawstrone

As the showcase creative writing short courses event approaches, we’re delighted to announce the competition winners who will be reading their work at 7pm on the 13th December with the brilliant tutor and author, Caroline Green. With stories of mystery, murder, mayhem, the complexities of identity and the disappearance of all women, this will be a night you won’t want to miss. You can register for the event here.

This term’s winners are: Mike Clarke, Martin Corteel, Cathie Mullen, Emma O’Driscoll, Tunde Oyebode and Vasundhara Singh. Read on to find out more about these brilliant short creative writing class alumni.

Mike Clarke studied the Novel Studio (when it was the Certificate in Novel Writing), Writers’ Workshop and Caroline Green’s Crime and Thriller Writing Course at City University. He also has an MA in Creative Writing from Manchester Metropolitan University. Several of his short stories have been read in different parts of the world by the renowned Liars League. His non-fiction writing on pubs is regularly featured in the national press. He also dabbles in performing stand-up comedy and is just finishing a novel.

Martin Corteel worked as an editor in London book publishing houses for more years than he would care to mention, and during this time he wrote and anonymously had published a number of books of very little substance. The novel he’s writing, entitled Dover Souls, recounts apocryphal family tales of skullduggery set amongst battling publicans at the outset of the First World War. He recently completed several creative writing courses at City University, including the Writers’ Workshop, and lives in North West London.

Cathie Mullen is from Ireland but has lived in Germany for many years. Until recently she was head of an international school. Her writing has been published by The Educational Company of IrelandWriter’s Forum and The Mersey Review. She’s currently working on a memoir. Authors whose work has recently inspired her include Octavia Bright, Claire Keegan and Sinéad Gleeson. Her passions include theatre and swimming (in all seasons). Cathie is an alumna of the Approach to Creative Writing course.

Originally from Dorset, Emma O’Driscoll lives in Brussels where she works as a press officer for the EU. She is currently writing a crime novel inspired by her love of golden-age detective fiction from the 1920s and 1930s. Emma is an alumna of the Crime and Thriller Writing Summer School and a student on the Novel Writing and Longer Works course. Aside from writing, she enjoys running, painting, and walking her border terrier, Karenin.

Writers’ Workshop alumnus Tunde Oyebode is a London-based architect and writer who explores the intricacies of everyday societal dynamics and relationships in his fiction. His work has appeared in Stylist Magazine, Obsidian Issue 48.1 and the 2021 Michael Terrence Anthology and also pending publication in LISP Anthology 2023. Some of his other stories have been shortlisted and longlisted in competitions like Chester B Himes Memorial Fiction Contest, Exeter Short Story Prize and the Bristol Short Story Prize. He aspires to publish a collection of his short stories.

Vasundhara Singh is a graduate of Journalism from Kamala Nehru college, Delhi University. Alumina of City University of London’s Novel Studio programme, she is one of the winners of City Writes Spring 2021.

With writers of this quality reading alongside tutor and writer extraordinaire, Caroline Green, City Writes Autumn 2023 promises to be an evening you won’t want to miss. Register for the event at 7pm on the 13th December on Zoom here. See you there!

Final Call for Submissions to City Writes Autumn 2023 – DEADLINE THIS FRIDAY, 17th NOVEMBER

Deadline 17 November 2023
Want to join brilliant author and tutor, Caroline Green on the virtual stage of City Writes, the showcase for the best creative writing coming from City’s Short Creative Writing Courses, on Wednesday 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. That’s just 5 days away!

You will get to read your work in front of a supportive audience alongside Caroline who writes wonderful fiction for young people and adults and is the fantastically 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 now to save your spot for the night.

City Writes guest, author and tutor Caroline Green

To share the virtual stage with Caroline on the 13th December, don’t for get to submit your best 1,000 words of fiction or creative non-fiction to rebekah.lattin-rawstrone.2@city.ac.uk  Please check the full submission details here.

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

Get submitting and good luck!

Autumn 2023 News from our Writing Community

Happy Autumn! Here’s the latest news from our fantastic writing short course alumni and tutors…

 

Alumni News

Author and City short course alumna Deepa Anappara

Oneworld have acquired The Last of Earth, the second novel by Novel Studio alumna Deepa Anappara. The novel will be published in hardback as a lead title in March 2025. An historical novel set in mid-19th century Tibet, Juliet Mabey at Oneworld said ‘I’m delighted to be working with such a bold and unique storyteller.’

 

Katy Darby’s Writers’ Workshop and Short Story Writing students have had more astonishing success. Rupert Dastur has sold his debut novel Cloudless to Penguin. Richie Jones was shortlisted for the London Magazine Short Story Prize. Sean Hannaway, as S. P. Hannaway, recently had a short story published in Stand (‘This or That or Any Other Thing’) and one is forthcoming in The Pomegranate (‘Exit Pye, with Cushion’). Sean was also shortlisted for the Bristol Prize in 2021 for his short story ‘Love, Hunger’.

Peter Forbes’ Narrative Non Fiction alumni have been as busy as ever!

Narrative Non Fiction Alumna Claire Martin’s debut, Heirs of Ambition

NNF alumna Claire Martin published her debut book Heirs of Ambition: The Making of the Boleyns in September with History Press. Ed O’Brien’s article ‘Hardcore Landscaping: how to grow a garden on sand, gravel and concrete’ was published in The Guardian on 28 July 2023; and Alice Kent’s memoir  ‘And Those are Stars’ was published in Hinterland, Issue 13, 2023.

Amal Abdi, graduate of Holly Rigby’s Narrative Non Fiction course, has been commissioned to write a new play for London’s Rich Mix theatre venue. The play will run for two dates on Tuesday 24th and Wednesday 25th October and can be booked here.

Susan Grossman’s Travel Writing Student, Yvette Cook, has had successful travel journalism commissions from The Independent, The Slovenia Tourist Board and BBC Sky at Night.

Competitions

City Writes, City’s termly writing competition for all past and present City short course writing students, is open for submissions. This term’s event is on Wednesday 13th December at 7pm on Zoom and the published guest author will be writer and City 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 here at City. From YA, through psychological thriller, to supernatural detective fiction, Caroline Green is an inspirational powerhouse. Register here now to save your spot for the night.

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 10th November. Please check the full submission details here.

 The Book Edit Writers’ Prize 2023 is open for submissions. Judged this year by Deepa Anappara, and in association with Legend Press, the prize is free to enter and open to all British or UK-based unpublished, unagented novelists from communities currently underrepresented in UK publishing. For more details visit the prize page here. Deadline 23 October.

 Scholarships

We offer a fully-funded place for a young adult (18-25) from an underrepresented background and/or facing financial difficulty on our Writing for Social Impact course. To apply, please contact the tutor Ciaran Thapar explaining why you’d like to attend. This course is now offered monthly to reflect the increased demand.

 Tutor News

Author and Short Course Tutor Katy Darby

Short Story and Writers’ Workshop tutor Katy Darby has three new historical short stories coming out in anthologies in November, with Belanger Books.

Writing for Children tutor Bryony Pearce’s new Mid-grade novel, Hannah Messenger and the Gods of Hockwold, was published in June, and her short story is in a new sci fi anthology Parsec in Print.

Writing the Memoir tutor Anna Wilson’s picture book Grandpa and the Kingfisher was shortlisted for the Wainwright Nature Prize, illustrated by Sarah Massini.

And finally, we have a new Writing for Business tutor on Monday evenings, Tamsin Mackay. Welcome, Tamsin! And huge thanks to Jenny Stallard, who Tamsin is replacing, for her brilliant teaching the past few years.

Happy Writing Everyone. and congrats to all our brilliant alumni and tutors.

Novel Studio 2022/3 Literary Agent Competition Winners Announced

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 Summer 2023 Event: A Braw Night to Remember

By Rebekah Lattin-Rawstrone

There’s nothing like an evening of readings from brilliant writers to make a summer evening special and this term’s City Writes on the 5th July was a festival of writing filled with moments of tension, terror and tenderness.

 

We kicked off the evening with the first of our competition winners, Novel Writing and Longer Works alumnus, Richard Hastings, who read from his novel-in-progress. The extract, ‘Jumble’, took us into old boxes in his character’s mother’s cupboard where it turns out she’d kept the right half of several pairs of his old childhood shoes, right down to one tiny little wellington boot. The whole audience were drawn into that moment of connection between mother and son.

 

From the importance of one set of objects to the embodied resonance of a piano, we took a step into memoir and the importance of the matrilineal connection of music next with Novel Studio alumna, Helen Ferguson, who read from her memoir-in-progress. We were lucky enough to see, in the background of Helen’s screen, the very piano her extract, ‘My Grandmother’s Piano’, spoke so eloquently about. The words were music to our ears and we look forward to hearing more about this project.

 

We took a step into the dark and unpredictable world of the social media alias next, in an extract from another Novel Studio alumna, Lana Younis, reading from her revenge comedy, Play The Long Game. The chat buzzed with delight at the northern, scathing voice of the protagonist as she went over her day and discovered some salacious news in her evening bath with her glass of merlot. This is another novel-in-progress we’re eager to read more of.

 

We stepped away from the horrors in one mind, to the dangers of airport security next with an emotionally taut and affecting short story by Introduction to Copywriting alumna Camille Poole, ‘Brown Male’. Along with Camille the whole audience were moved by sharing the character’s experience of watching her brave, young superhero son face the humiliation of institutional racism, whilst shaming herself for daring to call it out. Such a powerful story that there was a real sense of pause before we could move on.

 

Novel Studio alumna, Emily Shamma had the difficult task of following Camille, but she took us on her own emotional journey in her piece, ‘Kate’, an extract from her novel-in-progress, The Complicit. The extract followed Kate as she navigated the complexities of a miscarriage that was initially an unintended pregnancy turned from happy uncertainty to grief.

 

Our audience were certainly on a rollercoaster of feeling that our final competition winner and Novel Studio alumna, Kate Henderson, refused to let us get off. She read her short story, ‘What Happened at Judith’s’, a masterful account of a young girl’s afternoon play date that ended with a painful revelation and a broken arm. Told in spars

e and meticulously navigated prose, it was a fabulous way to end the readers from this extremely talented bunch of City’s Creative Writing short course alumni.

 

Luckily, we had the joy of hearing from Writers’ Workshop alumna and prize-winning writer, Emma Grae next. Emma read short extracts from both her novels: her Scots Book of the Year 2022 debut, Be Guid tae yer Mammy, published by Unbound in 2021 and her second novel, The Tongue She Speaks published by Luath Press in October 2022.

 

Emma’s writing is rich with Scots and it was brilliant to get the chance to hear the writing come alive in her voice. Following these extracts, we were treated to a Q&A in which Emma explored not only the inspirations behind her work, but also her publishing journey. Teasing out the importance of valuing all voices and entering into the publishing industry with one’s eyes wide open, Emma gave us much to think about. She also shared great news about her new works, a book in Scots for children and a third novel. We can’t wait to read them.

 

City Writes Summer 2023 Event was a braw night indeed. If you missed it, you can watch the event HERE. And don’t forget City Writes is a termly event. Find out more and watch out for competition dates on this blog. If this term is anything to go by, the work at City Writes goes from strength to strength.

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