MA Creative Writing graduate Sasha Callaghan wins Emerging Writer Fellowship in USA

A Public Space - cover of Winter 2015 edition

A 2015 graduate from the Creative Writing MA programme at Edinburgh Napier has been selected as an Emerging Writer Fellow by A Public Space, an independent magazine of literature and culture published in New York.

Sasha Callaghan was one of three winners for this prestigious accolade, selected from more than 1100 entries submitted by writers around the world - the other two winners were from California and Botswana.

Each of them will receive mentoring from an established writer and contributor to A Public Space magazine, $1000 and their prize-winning stories will be published in a future issue.

Sasha's entry - A List of Some Things That Martin Knows - was originally written as homework for the First Person Narrative module at Edinburgh Napier, and developed into an assessment submission.

"I was amazed to find out that a story I'd written ... was one of the winners," Sasha says. She had submitted with few expectations, having been turned down for other mentoring opportunities closer to home in the UK. Sasha takes this as proof that persistence pays off: "Just keep going."

A part-time student on our Creative Writing MA, she graduated with a Distinction and also received the Edinburgh Napier University medal for her outstanding results. Since then Sasha has continued work on her major project, a graphic novel about the short but remarkable life of Adelaide Foltinowicz and her relationship with decadent poet Ernest Dowson.

Massive congratulations to Sasha - we can't wait to see what you do next!

@EdinburghNapier MA Creative Writing graduate Dee Raspin wins science fiction prize

Edinburgh Napier MA graduate Dee Raspin

Congratulations to one of our MA Creative Writing graduates on winning her first writing competition. Dee Raspin took first prize in a contest run by Shoreline of Infinity, a groundbreaking Scottish magazine devoted to innovative science fiction stories and illustration.

Entrants were challenged to craft a tale that took its inspiration from specially commissioned images by Scottish artist Stephen Pickering. Dee won for her story The Great Golden Fish, which Shoreline of Infinity calls 'an enchanting blend of Scottish folk tale and science fiction'.

Dee graduated as part of the 2013-14 cohort on the MA Creative Writing programme at Edinburgh Napier University. You can follow her on Twitter, and read her prize-winning story in Shoreline of Infinity #3, due out next month in PDF and print formats.