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!