London Writing Workshops » News About Past Participants

Shortlisted for the Harry Bowling Prize

Vicky — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 10:10:58 +0000

Congratulations to Bren Gosling, who attended the Novelists Club in 2010. His novel, Sweeping up the Village, has been picked as one of five shortlisted titles for the 2012 Harry Bowling Prize, an award dedicated to novels set in London. The prize is backed by the publisher Headline, and administered by the literary agency MBA.

Novel synopsis: “At 14 in Kosovo his dreams of becoming a professional basketball player were shattered by war. Fast forward to 2002; Almir is 21, newly arrived in London and working as a Walthamstow street sweeper. One day his broom strikes a pair of discarded women’s sandals, triggering a series of crippling flashbacks which threaten his sanity. When he is moved onto a quieter beat – sweeping up Walthamstow’s village – Almir finds himself attracted to an older man with issues of his own. In the weeks surrounding the Queen’s Golden Jubilee celebrations, Almir struggles to rebuild his life. Can he conceal the guilty secret tormenting him? Sweeping up the Village is a novel about lost identity, love and the need to belong.”

To follow the fortunes of Bren’s book, visit his blog: Evolution of my novel. Bren is interested in hearing from literary agents and can be contacted at: .

Brittle Star issue 28 launches at Barbican Library

Vicky — Mon, 28 Feb 2011 17:46:49 +0000

Brittle Star is a great little magazine of poetry and short fiction published three times a year – without a penny of subsidy – by an indefatigable team of editors, among them Louisa Hooper who took part in last year’s Novelists’ Club. They will be launching issue 28 on Wednesday 30 March 2011 at the Barbican Library, Silk St, London, EC2Y 8DS.

There will be readings of poetry and short stories, refreshments, a chance to meet the editors, and – most importantly – the opportunity to get the latest copy hot off the press. The event is free, but you need to book tickets through the Barbican Library (020 7638 0569) as numbers are limited.

New Story by Annemarie Neary in Litro 103

Vicky — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 09:32:39 +0000

Congratulations to Annemarie Neary – who took part in Microfictions in 2008 and the first Novelists’ Club in 2009 – for her fine story in February’s edition of Litro.

Annemarie’s work has been shortlisted for the Bridport Prize for the past three years and she was a prizewinner in 2009. She was a prizewinner in the Fish and Bryan MacMahon short story competitions (Ireland), and had an Honorable Mention in the Lorian Hemingway contest (US). Her stories have been published in anthologies, including, in 2010, 50 Stories for Pakistan, Ways of Falling and Stories of Loss and Deception. Click here to read her story ‘Endless’ in The Litro Anti-Love Edition

Friday 11 Feb: an evening of live art at the Freud Museum

Vicky — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 09:51:47 +0000

Camila Fiori, who attended the workshop Writing People & Places in 2009, has let me know that she’s taking part in an evening of interactive performance called ‘Objects of Desire’ on Friday 11th February, at the Freud Museum. It’s described as ‘an immersive evening of live art, performance, intervention, installation and film, inspired by the notion of the self-portrait, set in the unique surroundings of Sigmund and Anna Freud’s final home’.

The evening is part of ‘Objects in Mind’, a project with the National Portrait Gallery who have loaned Maggie Hambling’s self-portrait to the museum. More info and tickets available from the Freud Museum.

Jane Rusbridge talk: ‘Get Published!’ 21 Sept, 2pm

Vicky — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 10:51:51 +0000

Jane Rusbridge’s haunting debut novel The Devil’s Music was published by Bloomsbury in 2009, and was picked to be this year’s Bridport Literary Festival’s Big Read. She will be talking about the road to publication on Tuesday 21^st September at the HIGHGATE AND HAMPSTEAD LITERARY FESTIVAL together with literary agent Barbara Levy and Pam White, an experienced book publicist.

Jane took part in this year’s the London Writing Workshop’s Novelists’ Club, and also attended the workshop on Dialogue in 2009.

To book for this event click here. For more about the Hampstead & Highgate Literary Festival click here.

‘Writers’ Workout’ falls on 2nd anniversary!

Vicky — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 13:23:06 +0000

I’m offering places for The Writers Workout at a 15 % discount to celebrate the fact this workshop falls almost exactly on the two-year anniversary of the very first London Writing Workshops event (pictured left), which took place on May 24, 2008 . Since then, there have been another 12 workshops, attended by more than 100 people in total, quite a few coming back more than once.

I’ve learned an enormous amount in these two years and I’ve met some lovely people, some of whom have subsequently had short stories published, one has been longlisted for the Bridport Prize, and another has secured a literary agent. But for me this comment – from someone who came on the short story workshop last September – really sums up what it’s all about: ‘Somehow, seeing the variety and quality of what other people – and you yourself – can come up with on the spur of the moment, restores one’s faith in the human ability to be immensely creative’. Hear, Hear, to that!

Annemarie Neary – a Bridport prizewinner in 2009

Vicky — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 13:18:10 +0000

Congratulations to Annemarie Neary. Having been short-listed for the 2008 Bridport Fiction Prize, she is now one of eleven supplementary prizewinners of the 2009 Fiction Prize. This means that her story ‘Siren’ will be published in the forthcoming Bridport anthology. Annemarie attended the Microfiction workshop in 2008 and took part in the first Novelists’ Club in 2009, although we can’t claim any credit for her success – ‘Siren’ was written before the course started. The 2009 Bridport Fiction prize was judged by Ali Smith.