Mentor Award Scheme for Emerging Writers of Colour
The Royal Society of Literature are joining forces with Sky Arts to launch a new set of Awards to celebrate and nurture British writers of colour at the beginnings of their careers. Five … Continue reading
Magic Realism: it’s not just a fairytale moment – Salman Rushdie QUOTES FOR WRITERS
When people use the term magic realism, usually they only mean ‘magic’ and they don’t hear ‘realism’, whereas the way in which magic realism actually works is for the magic … Continue reading
BRIGHTON’S REGENCY HOUSEKEEPER flies in the face of CONVENTION when it comes to MARMALADE (and other important matters)
Mrs Finnegan, housekeeper of The Regency Town House and advice giver to multitudes, does not actually court controversary, but does ask it to wipe its feet and sit down. BREAKFAST is … Continue reading
How to wash a Handkerchief and other important questions – ANSWERS from MRS FINNEGAN the celebrated Brighton housekeeper from the 1830s
An email flooded in this week from a London “milkman” and Mrs Finnegan, the Celebrated Authority in affairs of the HEART and HOUSEHOLD MANAGEMENT, isn’t entirely sure what to make … Continue reading
Be Paid to Write about Your Own Experiences of Food Poverty in Britain
Jack Monroe, the award winning food writer and anti-poverty campaigner is putting together a book on austerity and hunger in Britain, focusing on the last ten years. She and the … Continue reading
Getting back to basics with your story – Joanne Harris QUOTES FOR WRITERS
Keep thinking about what’s most important in your story. Is it a character, an incident, a relationship? Whatever it is, it should feature in your story’s opening. You’re taking the … Continue reading
A screenplay…is merely the scaffolding for a building someone else is going to build – John Irving QUOTES FOR WRITERS
There is no (literary) language in a screenplay. (For me, dialogue doesn’t count as language.) What passes for language in a screenplay is rudimentary, like the directions for assembling a … Continue reading
“When I start writing the first sentence…” Anna Mocikat QUOTES FOR WRITERS
Since I used to be a screenwriter before I started publishing novels, I’m an enthusiastic plotter. When I start writing the first sentence of a novel, I know exactly how … Continue reading
Read Iris Murdoch on words: “the ultimate…stuff of our moral being” QUOTES FOR WRITERS
THERE IS NO DOUBT which art is the most practically important for our survival and our salvation, and that is literature. Words constitute the ultimate texture and stuff of our … Continue reading
Why I read – Zadie Smith QUOTES FOR WRITERS
I am fascinated to presume, as a reader, that many types of people, strange to me in life, might be revealed, through the intimate space of fiction, to have griefs … Continue reading
Half Day Writing Workshop in the home of a bestselling novelist – only £40 if you book early
This is a big, bold advertisement – as big and as bold as I get anyway – because I wanted to let you know that we are offering a 20% … Continue reading
Everyone has a story to tell – discover how to tell yours
I’m excited about a new memoir/family history workshop I’m running over four Saturday mornings in November in a wonderfully atmospheric historic building. And I’m not doing it on my own. … Continue reading
Why Writers Should Work Out….QUOTES FOR WRITERS
I find that the hardest work of my writing is done in my subconscious brain, somewhere in the back of my skull far out of the reach of my control. … Continue reading
Saturday Afternoon Writing Workshop with lunch (and early bookers get a free copy of my writing guide)
This is a first. I’ve taught in all kinds of places: art galleries and university lecture theatres, under a Mediterranean sun and in cold church halls, but never before in … Continue reading
