Congratulations Judy Croome
Well done to Judy Croome who recently finished our online Creative Writing Course. She is about to publish a novel, “Dancing in the Shadows of Love” (Release Date May 2011, Aztar Press). It was also very gratifying for us to learn that a short story she wrote while doing our course, The Place of the … Read more
Book Lounge
We firmly believe that independent bookshops have an important place and a strong role to play in our society (and, as writers, in our hearts). Here is the first in a series of posts on our best-known and most loved independent shops. Please let us know if you have a favourite bookshop you would like … Read more
Genre doesn’t dictate quality
I recently saw this brilliant response to a criticism of chick lit. Michelle Gormon is a chick lit writer herself, published by Penguin. Her article appeared in The Guardian. “Critics cite many reasons in their dismissal of the genre, reasons that ostensibly aren’t rooted in literary snobbery. ‘The problem’ with chick-lit, I’m told, is that … Read more
McEwan on suspense
I found an interview with the fabulous British fiction writer, Ian McEwan, in the New Yorker. He’s one of my very favourite writers, so I was excited to find the following extract on the subject – and to see that he also believes that suspense stems from withholding information, rather than giving too much.
Why do we write?
Why do we write? This is a complex question with no easy answers. Do we enjoy it? Colm Toibin says he doesn’t like it very much. AL Kennedy and Amit Chaudhuri both admitted to decidedly mixed feelings on the subject, in a piece in The Guardian UK. According to Kennedy: “The joy of writing for … Read more
