Tag: writing community (page 1 of 8)

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Aaron Payne is a Short Story Writing alumnus and unpublished writer who lives in South London.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: 3rd in the ‘Behind the scenes with our featured tutors series’; Introducing Katy Darby

February 27, 2025 / / 0 Comments
by Rebekah Lattin-Rawstrone

The City Writes Spring Event on Wednesday 26th March at 6.30pm in Northampton Square is going to be a bumper evening of storytelling and creative writing insights. Alongside Goldsmiths’ Prize shortlisted author, Han Smith, there will be readings from four of City St. George’s Short Course tutors: Jem Bartholomew, Katy Darby, Caroline Green and Martin Ouvry. Joining them on stage will be this term’s competition winners, taken from students and alumni of City St. George’s short courses. You can find out more about the competition here.

In this blog, we are very excited about introducing Short Story Writing and Writers’ Workshop tutor, Katy Darby. As with the other tutors, I had three questions to ask Katy who, alongside her writing, is co-founder and Director of the brilliant live fiction event, Liars’ League. It will be a treat when Katy steps up to the microphone on the 26th March! She is also a much loved tutor, whose students have gone on to write some truly magical things—Han Smith is one of her former students, as is Imogen Hermes-Gowar, author of The Mermaid and Mrs Hancock.

Author and Lecturer Katy Darby

I began by asking Katy to introduce us to her work: ‘I mostly write historical fiction, and my novel The Unpierced Heart, a Victorian Gothic tale of love and betrayal, is available in Penguin paperback. Some of my contemporary short stories appear in the anthology Five by Five from Arachne Press, or are linked from my website katydarby.co.uk. Most recently, I’ve had several new Sherlock Holmes stories published in anthologies from Belanger Books, mostly in the Year of Mystery series (covering the years 1881-1888 so far): there are three more forthcoming this year, including Into the Fire, edited by Margie Deck.’

With her clear passion for teaching, I was intrigued to find out what excited Katy most about teaching. ‘It’s the sheer variety and originality of the stories people tell: whether they are drawing on their own personal experience or just on pure imagination, I am always amazed by how you can give the same prompt to a class of 15 writers and get 15 completely unique and totally different responses to it. I also love introducing short stories I love (for example, Tobias Wolff’s “Bullet in the Brain”) to students who’ve never read them before and hearing their fresh takes on the characters, the writing and the meaning of the piece. Watching people encountering new possibilities in fiction, whether reading it or writing it, is a thrill that never gets old.’

Finally I asked Katy for that all important ‘one piece of advice’ she would offer to aspiring writers and her answer was an inspiring one. ‘OK, everyone will say “read widely” and of course that’s true—but I’d also say “write widely”. Don’t restrict the genres, styles or stories you explore in your writing any more than you do when it comes to reading books. If you’ve never read sci-fi before, pick it up—equally, if you have an idea for a sci-fi story, write it down! It may not be perfect (spoiler: no first draft is) but if the idea excites you and you have fun writing it, that’s an immense reward. Having fun and experimenting with voice, structure, subject, anything, should be the whole of the law when it comes to writers just setting out, especially short story writers.’

If that’s not encouragement enough to pick up your pen and give it a go, I don’t know what is. For more of this great advice and to hear Katy read from her work in person alongside the other tutors, Han Smith and the competition winners, don’t forget to book your seat 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.

Keep an eye on this space for the fourth and final post in the ‘Behind the scenes’ series with our final tutor, Jem Bartholomew. Looking forward to seeing you at the The City Writes Spring Event on Wednesday 26th March at 6.30pm, Northampton Square.

 

 

City Writes Spring Event 2025: Behind the scenes with our featured tutors

February 12, 2025 / / 0 Comments

By Rebekah Lattin-Rawstrone

This is the first in a series of blog posts looking into the writing and teaching lives of the tutors reading at the City Writes Spring Event 2025, Wednesday, 26th March, 6.30pm in Northampton Square. I’ll be asking each featured tutor the same three questions about their work and their teaching, hoping to entice you to sign up for the event and submit your own work to the City Writes Competition and be able to join them, Han Smith, and the other competition winners, on stage in March.

What a joy to start off this series promoting City Writes Spring Event 2025 by introducing Visiting Lecturer and writer, Martin Ouvry who teaches the Novel Writing and Longer Works course here at City St George’s. Not only do the course reviews rave about Martin’s teaching as ‘first rate’ and ‘excellent’, his answers to my questions reveal a teacher and practitioner firmly grounded in his practice as well as diligent and generous in his approach to his own and others’ work.

I began by asking Martin where readers could find his work and what they might expect to read. ‘Expect the unexpected,’ he replied. ‘My novels and short stories are psychological dramas with mysteries at their heart and, often, a touch of the surreal. I’m proud to have been published in a range of anthologies – e.g. New Writing (Picador) and A Little Nest of Pedagogues (British Council) – and magazines including the globally-renowned Esquire and the world’s oldest literary journal, The London Magazine. My article ‘How creative writing courses benefit a writer’ first appeared in the Writers’ & Artists’ Yearbook 2023 and has been reprinted in the 2024 and 2025 editions. My novel The Cost of Loving was completed with the support of a grant from those lovely, lovely people at Arts Council England. More information, and audio extracts, can be found on the Writing page of my website.’

City Novel Writing tutor and author, Martin Ouvry

I went on to ask Martin what excited him most about teaching. ‘I love the sheer diversity of both new and practising writers who beat a path to my door at City St George’s, and the range of their projects, whether already begun when they come to me or existing – at that stage – purely in the realm of ideas. I love witnessing twelve individuals coming together as a group. I’m also excited by the ever growing number of success stories – with agents and publishers, or in writing competitions – from those who have come to Novel Writing and Longer Works – although I’m equally moved by the successes of those who have simply made strong progress and feel proud of the work they have produced.’

Having gleaned Martin’s inclusive approach to the rigours of the writing life, my final question sought one piece of advice he thought most important for aspiring writers. His response was invaluable: ‘Learn from others but be yourself. Individual talent is a precious and often delicate thing. Every writer, whatever their level of experience, has the opportunity to bring something different and valuable into the world.’

For your chance to hear Martin read a passage of his work and engage in debate about writing with the other tutors and Han Smith, do sign up for City Writes Spring Event, 6.30pm on Wednesday 26th March, 2025. This term the event will be in person for the first time in many years and promises to be a bumper celebration of City St George’s literary talent. Book your tickets here.

You can also enter the competition to share the stage with Martin and others. The competition is open to all current students and alumni of City St George’s short creative writing courses. You need only send your best 1,000 words of creative fiction or non-fiction to rebekah.lattin-rawstrone.1@city.ac.uk with details of your name and the short course you took, or are taking, by Friday 28th February. Full details and submission guidelines are here. Whilst we accept YA, we don’t currently accept children’s fiction, poetry or scripts. There will be five competition winning slots available and we can’t wait to read your submissions.

Book tickets here, check out the City Writes Competition submission guidelines here, and watch this space for the next in the series of ‘City Writes Spring Event 2025: Behind the scenes with our featured tutors’.

 

City Writes Springs into 2025 with an Exciting in-person Literary Extravaganza

January 17, 2025 / / 0 Comments

City Writes Springs into 2025 with an exciting in-person literary extravaganza and submissions are open.

City Writes, the showcase for all the creative writing talent coming from the short creative writing courses here at City St. George’s, is back and supercharged for Spring. We will be holding the event in person in Northampton Square, 7pm 26th March, and we have a bumper line up.

Not only do we have the amazing Short Story Writing alumna Han Smith, a 2024 Goldsmiths Prize shortlisted author coming to read from her debut novel, Portraits at the Palace of Creativity and Wrecking, we also have readings from some of our incredibly talented tutors: Jem Bartholomew, Caroline Green, Katy Darby and Martin Ouvry. More details of all four tutors will be forthcoming over the next few weeks, so do keep an eye on your inbox.

Han Smith grew up in Japan, Russia, the UK and elsewhere. A queer writer, translator and adult literacy teacher, Han is the recipient of a 2019/2020 London Writers Award, and has been shortlisted/longlisted for the 2019 Mslexia Novella Award, the Bridport Prize, the Desperate Literature short story prize, and the Brick Lane short story prize. She has also been published by Lunate, Five Dials, Cipher Press, Versopolis, Litro, The Interpreter’s House and the European Poetry Festival. She lives in London. Portraits at the Palace of Creativity and Wrecking is her debut novel and was shortlisted for the 2024 Goldsmiths Prize.

We couldn’t be more delighted by her visit to City Writes. She’ll be reading from Portraits at the Palace of Creativity and Wrecking and taking part in a Q&A with tutor and City Writes host, Rebekah Lattin-Rawstrone. We’ll then be asking our tutors to join us on stage for a broader Q&A with the audience.

Joining this stellar line up will be our competition winners. This could be you!

For your chance to read your work on stage, in person, with Han Smith, Jem Bartholomew, Katy Darby, Caroline Green and Martin Ouvry, all you need to do is send the best 1,000 words of creative fiction or non-fiction to rebekah.lattin-rawstrone.1@city.ac.uk with details of your name and the short course you took, or are taking, by Friday 28th February. Full details and submission guidelines are here. Whilst we accept YA, we don’t currently accept children’s fiction, poetry or scripts. There will be five competition winning slots available and we can’t wait to read your submissions.

In the meantime, don’t forget to save the date for the event. It is free and doors open at 6.30pm for drinks and nibbles. Book your place for City Writes Spring 2025 at Northampton Square, 7pm, 26th March. The booking link is here. And as an extra bonus, all attendees get 10% off their next Creative Writing Short Course, as long as you book by 30th March.

City Writes Spring 2025 needs to be in your diary now!

City Writes Autumn 2024 – A Cracking way to Kick off the Festive Season

December 13, 2024 / / 0 Comments

By Rebekah Lattin-Rawstrone

You know you’re on the way to a great festive season when it begins with a night of stories, and the City Writes Autumn 2024 event on the 11th December was a storytelling extravaganza. We had six brilliant competition winning stories, read by their authors, and a reading and Q&A with the wonderfully funny, Novel Studio alumna and debut author, Jo Cunningham. You can enjoy the whole event here, but do read on for further details.

We kicked off with Joanna Bawa’s ominous story about a death prediction app, ‘DeathDefy’. Joanna is an alumna of the Writing the Memoir course. Her story is a powerful reminder of human greed and laziness in the face of climate change and began a theme around predictions and algorithms that Jo Cunningham’s novel, Death By Numbers, would complete.

Writers’ Workshop alumna, Aditi Parekh, was next, reading from her novel, with the working title The Sabbatical. We were transported to The Netherlands following one woman’s attempts to find friends through a very different app. What she found was not a friend exactly, but the meeting was one that provoked much response from the audience. I think we all know someone who thinks a conversation is great when they’ve done all the talking…

We travelled to Northern Ireland next as Short Story Writing alumnus, Robin Sheeran read his story, ‘Summer Job’. A beautifully observed story set in a cemetery, with some very creative grave-digging, ‘Summer Job’ was a treat to listen to.

From fiction to non-fiction, we were in for another very different treat next as Doug Kessler shared an extract from his book-length project, Adam in 20 Snapshots. An alumnus of Narrative Non-Fiction, Doug’s moving reading about an absent brother with Downs Syndrome really captured the audience. Told, as the title suggests, through descriptions of photographs, the extract moved several listeners to tears. This is a book that has an eager audience awaiting its completion.

We were swept back into the world of fiction next with the surprising, shocking and funny story, ‘To Crazy Shane’ written and read by Tunde Oyebode. Tunde is a Writers’ Workshop alumnus, and veteran City Writes competition winner. This story is a riot of observation and action with incisive social commentary spread throughout.

This brilliant story was followed by our last competition winner, Audrey Madden, another Writers’ Workshop alumna. Audrey read an extract from her novel, Matriarchal Lines, taking us right into the heart of a family reunion with a feisty grandmother winning at cards, and two little toddlers running off with a set of pretty knives. We were gripped. It was a fabulous reading to end a series of incredibly inspired and inspiring writing from the competition winners. They definitely were showcasing the talent of City’s short creative writing courses.

Luckily, we had Jo Cunningham as our published guest to follow these wonderful tales with two brilliant and hilarious readings from her cosy crime novel, Death By Numbers.

Author and guest alumna Jo Cunningham

 

Death By Numbers is a wonderfully funny book about actuary Una whose numbers on predicted deaths in seaside resorts are all wrong. There are some unusual deaths that don’t fit her predictions. Imagine her worry when she discovers they are happening in her mum’s home town and to friends of her mum and her mum’s new boyfriend, soon to be husband… This is a must read for the festive season.

If you haven’t read it already, this is the novel you need to escape into after all that food and drink. Jo generously answered questions from host and audience on her writing journey, how to write comedy, how to research and plan (if not in the way you might expect), and the challenges of writing a series. The next one is out in August of 2025 and is set around the Supreme Cat Show (crufts for cats). I for one, can’t wait!

Thanks to all the readers, our wonderful guest Jo Cunningham and the audience. Click here for a video of the event, here for an interview with Jo, and do look out for further information on next term’s City Writes. City Writes Spring 2025 is going to be special. An in-person event with competition winners, the supremely talented alumna, Han Smith as our author guest, and readings from tutors. Watch this space for more.

Announcing the City Writes Autumn 2024 Competition Winners!

December 3, 2024 / / 0 Comments

 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

Announcing 2024’s Novel Studio Literary Agent Competition Winners!

November 22, 2024 / / 0 Comments

We are delighted to announce the winners of the 2024/2025 Novel Studio Literary Agent Competition: Merveille Ondekane, Connor Maxwell, and Madison Silverman.

The Novel Studio is City St George’s flagship short course for aspiring novelists, offering 15 writers dedicated time and support to hone their craft. The competition is a rare opportunity for students to bypass the typical manuscript submission process and connect directly with literary agent Lucy Luck, agent at C&W Agency.

Merveille Ondekane, Connor Maxwell, and Maddie Silvs were chosen from a pool of exceptionally strong entries. Course Director Emily Pedder noted, “We’re very excited by these three writers and can’t wait to see their novels progress this coming year.”

 

Winner Merveille Ondekane

Merveille Ondekane’s journey as an aspiring novelist began with City University’s An Approach to Creative Writing course, where she discovered her passion for bringing the worlds and characters in her imagination to life. In her own words:  “As a newcomer to the literary world, I wanted to deepen my understanding of novel crafting, which led me to the intensive Novel Studio course—a year-long experience I was fortunate to join after being awarded a scholarship. Winning the Novel Studio Literary Agent competition, especially among such a talented group of writers, is an incredible honour, and I’m looking forward to connecting with Lucy Luck at C&W Agency as I continue to develop my novel.”

Winner Connor Maxwell

Connor Maxwell is a Program Officer at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, where he is working to advance a $460 million initiative to increase upward economic mobility and opportunity in the United States. He has served as a Senior Policy Advisor at the White House, an Economic Policy Advisor on the Biden-Harris Transition Team, a Policy Analyst on the Biden-Harris Presidential Campaign, and as a Senior Policy Analyst at the Center for American Progress. Born and raised in the District of Columbia, he received his Bachelor of Arts and Master of Public Policy from the University of Virginia. Currently living and working in London, he enjoys reading and writing fiction that sheds light on lesser-known historical events and perspectives. He completed the City, University of London Novel Writing and Longer Works short course before joining the Novel Studio.

Maddie Silvs is a debut novelist with her coming-of-age novel, Stardust. She is a Penn State graduate with a bachelor’s degree in public relations. A Philly girl at heart, she currently resides in the sunshine state in Delray Beach, Florida. Working as an Events Manager for Cambridge University Press, the written word has always been her safe space. She googled funny author bios, but really couldn’t come up with much to say about herself other than, “go birdz baby.”

Winner Maddie SIlvs

The Novel Studio has a strong track record of published alumni, including recent bestsellers and award winners such as 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, It Ends At Midnight and A Lesson in Cruelty.

Congratulations to Merveille, Connor, and Madison! We look forward to supporting them and their fellow students as they develop their novels over the next year.

Writing Short Course News Roundup 2024

October 8, 2024 / / 0 Comments

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 Copywriting, Writing 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.

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.

Interview with Jo Cunningham, author of debut novel Death by Numbers

July 29, 2024 / / 0 Comments

Next week sees the launch of debut cosy crime novel, Death By Numbers, written by City Novel Studio alumna Jo Cunningham. Jo took time out of her busy schedule to answer our questions ahead of publication day. Read on for her answers and for more details about the book.

 

  1. When did you first realise you wanted to be a writer?

Glossing over my dubious childhood poetry and notebooks full of random jottings, I didn’t start writing ‘seriously’ until my early thirties. I went on a beginners Arvon course for a week, with no expectations, and by the end of the course I was hooked. One of the tutors on the course recommended the courses at City University for novice writers and…

 

  1. Who are you currently reading?

I have just finished reading The Misadventures of Margaret Finch by Claire McGlasson which is a beautifully written novel about a young woman in 1930s Blackpool who questions how she observes others, and herself. Next up, is Kala by Colin Walsh – I’m going to hear him speak about the book soon, so that’s exciting. And after that on my TBR pile is Monumenta by Lara Haworth – after hearing Lara’s amazing talk at the recent City Writes event, I had to get her book!

 

  1. You’ve studied creative writing and also worked hard at the craft of writing on your own. What’s been the most useful thing you’ve learned about writing a novel?

Yikes – just one thing? At the moment, I’m in an editing phase, and as I re-read each scene, I ask myself ‘Does this scene earn its keep?’ – is there enough happening to keep it – does it push the story and the characters forward? If the answer is ‘No’ then I either need to rework the scene or ditch it.

 

  1. What kind of qualities does a writer need?

Persistence and resilience.  It took me many years from starting to write novels to reach the publication stage. The main thing you must do is finish the novel. I know that sounds glib, but not everyone does. The next thing is dealing with rejection. I wish had some words of wisdom on that. Rejection hurts, but you somehow have to get over it and keep going. Even now I’m at the publication stage, I know there will be more of that to face in the future but… you only need that one person to say ‘yes’!

 

  1. What made you write a cosy crime novel? What is it about the genre that appeals to you?

Back in 2017, I’d just put another novel in the ‘bottom drawer’ and wanted to start something new. I’d been reading Douglas Adam’s Dirk Gently detective novels and was inspired to start on a humorous detective book. I read and watch a lot of cosy crime – there’s something oddly comforting about knowing everything will be resolved and usually there’s a good dose of humour included.

Author Jo Cunningham

  1. Can you tell us about your path to publication?

I’d describe it more as an obstacle course where I created some of the obstacles. For my first three novels, I didn’t bother with looking for an agent or publisher – I didn’t think they were of a good enough standard and perhaps I was trying to put off being rejected… they went straight in the bottom drawer. But the fourth novel I did send round to five or six agents. I got a couple of personal replies in amongst standard rejections and tumbleweed. I think I should have been a bit more persistent at this stage – please see my own advice about writer qualities above. Anyhow… when it came to the fifth novel, Death by Numbers, I decided I would really go for it. I sent the novel out in small batches to agents. I started to get full-read requests which boosted my confidence – this is when the agent has enjoyed the excerpt that you’ve sent and now wants to read the whole manuscript. Eventually I got an offer from my amazing agent Marina de Pass at The Soho Agency – from sending in a submission to the ‘slushpile’ – so yes, it can happen.

 

  1. What advice would you have for someone starting out writing a novel?

I’ve benefitted enormously from taking courses, getting feedback at workshops, and reading books to help improve different writing skills – structure, character, productivity. But there were times when I had step back and work out what was going to work for me. I guess my advice is that you have figure it out so that you create your own advice for yourself.

 

  1. What are you working on now?

I’m currently finishing off a batch of edits on the second book in the cosy crime series featuring Una, an actuary and a detective. It’s called Pet Hates and is due to come out in August 2025. Writing the next book in series has been a learning curve, as it has to be standalone but still have some touches that make it feel there’s some continuity for anyone who’s read the first one.

Thanks so much, Jo! We can’t wait to read the novel!

Death by Numbers will be published on 1 August and you can order a copy here.

Jo will also be our guest at next term’s City Writes. Full information on how to enter the competition or how to come along and listen to Jo read from her novel will be available on the website soon.

For more information about our writing short courses, visit our website here, or come along to the virtual open evening in September. Full information on the free taster sessions available and how to register can be found here.

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