Congratulations! The past few weeks have been marvellous ones for writers I know personally and I want to congratulate (in alphabetical order): Vanessa Gebbie – who has beaten literally thousands of writers to be one of five finalists in the Telegraph Novel Competition Bunny Goodjohn – whose novel, Sticklebacks and Snowglobes, has been picked up […]
Choosing material for a reading It’s not something that gets taught anywhere, as far as I can gather, and yet for most writers a reading is both a terrifying and an important experience. Out there in the audience are friends and family, but also people who may well have influence – editors, publishers, agents, arts […]
The Dilemma Here’s the cover of Bravado – isn’t it stylish? I think this illustration sums up all that the Bravado Collective, in New Zealand, wish to express and achieve in their journal. And in this edition they published Galanthus, one of the last of the Green Thought in an Urban Shade stories to find […]
Reading aloud for grown-ups … Tales of the Decongested Friday 25 May, 2nd Floor Gallery Space, Foyles, Charing Cross Road, London at 7pm. Paul and Rebekah say, ‘It’s May and we’ve got some wonderful writers for you to dance attendance to and around: Emily Bromfield Sara Hiorns Dariush Alavi Leslie Mapp Katy Darby’ Tickets Entrance […]
If you want to be a writer … Focus on new opportunities. Every so often a writer gets to hear about some new publishing initiative – most of them remain just that, ‘things you get to hear about’ because the hard work and determination required to get even the smallest literary project off the ground […]
If you want to be a writer … Learn the rhythms of the literary world. Like now: May and June are the months all writers can expect an avalanche of rejections as editors of USA magazines clear their decks for the summer break, as agents clear theirs in preparation for their holidays, and as autumn-based […]
Ren ascending … My science fiction and horror persona is fighting back. His/her short story has been reviewed here: http://ozhorrorscope.blogspot.com/ and he (or she) has a horror story that can be downloaded as a free podcast here: http://www.latelateshow.net/ It won’t last, but right now, Ren is definitely on a roll!
Admission of guilt Regular readers are probably wondering if I have any neuroses at all, as I seem to always be declaring that this, that or the other writer’s problem is not my problem. So it’s time to come clean. Becoming a finalist in the University of Hertfordshire Writing Award brought my biggest neurosis to […]
The University of Hertfordshire Writing Award is a joint initiative of UHArts, UH Press and the University’s School of Humanities, celebrating creative writing and supporting new writers. U H Writing Award We are pleased to announce that the following entrants have been selected as finalists in the UH Writing Award. Please note that finalists are […]
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