Marian Keyes to fund Curtis Brown scholarship for budding author
thebookseller.com – Tuesday May 15, 2018
Bestselling author Marian Keyes is funding a £2,600 place on Curtis Brown’s online six-month writing course for one “talented writer with limited financial means”.
Keyes is providing financial support for the place on Curtis Brown Creative’s (CBC) next novel-writing course starting in September.
The scholarship will be awarded on the basis of quality of material – applicants fulfilling the eligibility criteria should send in the opening 3,000 words and one-page synopsis for the novel they would like to work on during the course.
New Literary Agency Listing
firstwriter.com – Tuesday May 15, 2018
Handles: Fiction; Nonfiction
Areas include: Autobiography; Biography; Business; Cookery; Culture; Current Affairs; Finance; Health; Historical; Lifestyle; Music; Mystery; Politics; Psychology; Romance; Self-Help; Sport; Suspense; Thrillers; Women's Interests
Markets: Adult; Children's; Youth
Preferred styles: Commercial; Mainstream
Send query by email only to one agent only. See website for individual agent interests and email addresses. No submissions by post.
Writing for the improbable bookshelf
thebookseller.com – Monday May 14, 2018
I make stories for improbable bookshelves. I once came across this term in an Italo Calvino essay and I’ve held on to it ever since, as it so closely describes the way I work.
I recently wrote a new version of the Persephone myth, but it can’t be found in a bookshop or online. Persephone’s Footsteps is an altitude-responsive story and map that has to be carried on a journey through a city. As Persephone climbs higher – first to escape the Underworld and then to escape the polluted city streets – the listener must climb higher to reveal more of her story. At the moment, there is only one version of this work in existence. Is it scalable? Perhaps, but my real hope is that it’s my approach to writing that’s scalable – that writers might be inspired to explore new ways of writing, bringing enlivened approaches to literary forms.
How to write a book: 11 tips on creating a bestseller from published authors
cosmopolitan.com – Monday May 14, 2018
While it's easy to romanticise writing a novel on the side, knowing how to actually write a book and where the F to start can be a little daunting. Here, 11 published authors, who will be at Hay Festival between 24 May - 3 June, share their tips and tricks for starting your next masterpiece. And who knows? It might end up being a bestseller.
Amazon Publishing launches non-fiction arm
thebookseller.com – Monday May 14, 2018
Amazon Publishing is breaking into non-fiction in the UK through imprint Little A.
The retailer's publishing arm has been “keen to explore quality non-fiction from UK authors for some time”, according to editorial director Laura Deacon, and is calling on agents to submit a broad range of titles ranging from history, science, lifestyle and popular culture. Agents The Bookseller spoke to have greeted the news with enthusiasm.
Amazon Publishing currently publishes fiction under four imprints in the UK: Thomas & Mercer, Lake Union Publishing, Montlake Romance and 47 North. In the US, Little A publishes literary fiction and non-fiction, but in the UK it will currently just focus on non-fiction.
New Magazine Listing
firstwriter.com – Monday May 14, 2018
Publishes: Fiction; Nonfiction; Poetry;
Markets: Adult;
Preferred styles: Contemporary; Dark; Experimental; Light; Literary; Mainstream; Progressive; Traditional
An online journal. We gravitate towards work that is quirky, accessible, and unconventional. An ideal piece might cover a subject few people write about or cover familiar subjects from an unexpected angle.
What makes good writing good? It’s all in the ear
prospectmagazine.co.uk – Sunday May 13, 2018
Poetry, according to one definition, is “memorable speech.” That may be my favourite definition—because it addresses the original orality of the form. Even in free verse, it’s the sound that does much, perhaps most, of the real work and no explication of symbol and metaphor captures how a poem works if it ignores that. It’s for that reason that James Fenton’s 2002 An Introduction To English Poetry—with its attention to prosody—seems to me one of the best available.
Prose may be “memorable speech” too. As I found when researching my recent book on style and usage, neuroscience tells us that even when reading silently, we use the parts of the brain associated with hearing. That affirmed my conviction that, though prose cadence—being harder to talk about analytically than poetry—is little discussed, what we think of as “good writing” almost always seems so because it sounds right.
Elena Ferrante: ‘If you feel the urge to write, there’s no good reason to put it off’
theguardian.com – Saturday May 12, 2018
If you feel the need to write, you absolutely should write. Don’t trust those who say: I’m telling you for your own good, don’t waste time on that. The art of discouraging with kind words is among the most widely practised. Nor should you believe those who say: you’re young, you lack experience, wait. We shouldn’t put off writing until we’ve lived enough, read sufficiently, have a desk of our own in a room of our own with a garden overlooking the sea, have been through intense experiences, live in a stimulating city, retreat to a mountain hut, have had children, have travelled extensively.
Publishing, yes: that can certainly be put off; in fact, one can decide not to publish at all. But writing should in no case be postponed to an “after”. When writing is our way of being in the world, it continuously asserts itself over the countless other aspects of life: love, study, a job. It insists even when there’s no paper and pen or anything, because we’re worshippers of the written word and our minds dictate sentences even in the absence of tools with which to set them down. Writing, in short, is always there, urgent, and distances even the people we love, even our children who ask us to play.
New Literary Agency Listing
firstwriter.com – Friday May 11, 2018
Handles: Fiction
Areas include: Mystery; Romance; Thrillers; Women's Interests
Markets: Adult
Preferred styles: Commercial; Contemporary; Light; Mainstream; Niche; Popular; Progressive; Satirical; Serious; Traditional
A full-service boutique agency providing hands-on guidance throughout each and every part of the publishing pursuit. OTLA is single-minded and fully dedicated to getting you on the right track to launch your career or progress to the next level. From honing manuscripts to be their very best, to identifying the right market for placement, through contract advisement and negotiation, to crafting promotional campaigns to help grow your audience, the prime objective is to help you achieve your goals. Currently seeking completed works with vibrant, fresh voices in these genres: romance, women's fiction, mysteries, and young adult.
New Magazine Listing
firstwriter.com – Thursday May 10, 2018
Publishes: Fiction; Poetry;
Areas include: Short Stories;
Markets: Adult;
Preferred styles: Literary
Annual student-edited literary magazine. Send 3-5 poems or short stories up to 1,500 words by post or by email. Submissions from contributors outside the university are considered between October and February each year.
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