More success for MA students and alumni

Students and alumni from Edinburgh Napier's MA Creative Writing programme are breaking new ground in the literary world. A new arrival has just won a national contest, while a recent graduate has been selected for a prestigious mentoring scheme.

Catherine Simpson only graduated from the course in September, but has certainly been keeping busy. She's among 39 writers shortlisted from more than 700 for the Asham Award, a short story contest that publishes the top twelve entries alongside established authors in an anthology.

It's just been announced that Catherine is one of ten people receiving a New Writers Award from the Scottish Book Trust [SBT]. She will get a grant of £2000, mentoring with an experienced author and much more. Catherine's the first graduate from our course to receive this much-prized award.

"I feel like Cinderella after her fairy godmother turned up," Catherine told the SBT website. "It's wonderful to know I'll be supported for the next year and the writing life will be a less lonely place."

Anni Telford only joined the course in September as a first-year part-timer but her writing is already gaining plaudits. Her flash fiction, The Pauli Exclusion Principle, won the Stork Press Mini Short Story Competition. You can read her winning entry here.

The abstract Christmas story was Anni's first contest submission since starting the MA. "It's only wee, but fingers crossed may be the first of many," she said on course Facebook page. "Huge thanks to Sam [Kelly, the MA programme leader], her advice on the edit was superb."

MA Creative Writing: ...hello Merchiston

 

Today the MA Creative Writing programme at Edinburgh Napier University moved into its new home at the Merchiston campus. Above you can see D68 - the shared office of programme leader Sam Kelly and part-time lecturer David Bishop - waiting to be unpacked. Below, all the crates.

Below, the office ready for action. Under that, Sam gives writer-in-residence Ken McLeoda tour of the new accommodations. At the very bottom, the view out the office window of historic Napier Tower which stands in the middle of the Merchiston campus...

MA Creative Writing: Goodbye Craighouse...

Today was the MA Creative Writing programme's last at the Craighouse campus of Edinburgh Napier University, so I took some photos of rooms we were vacating. [Above is my office, below are two views of the Writers' Room and beneath them is the office of programme leader Sam Kelly.]

Hard to believe it's four years since Sam and I were hired to invent the programme, get it validated, market the course to prospective students and open our doors to the first cohort - all in 2009. Since then we've taught three full-time cohorts and two part-time cohorts.

Come Monday we'll be based at the Merchiston campus, in refurbished digs. It'll take us a while to get used to the new digs, no doubt, but change is a constant so we'll be embracing that. In the meantime, it's a fond farewell to Craighouse. You served us well...

Student and alumni success stories

We're pleased to applaud successes by several of our students and recent alumni - in fact, we're having trouble keeping up with them on this blog.

Second-year part-timer Frances Hider has been rubbing shoulders in print with Liz Lochhead, Alisdair Gray, Alexander McCall Smith and our first writer-in-residence, James Robertson. All of them have contributed to My Favourite Place, a project by BBC Radio Scotland and the Scottish Book Trust celebrating beloved locations in Scotland.

Frances Hider reads at the West Port Book Festival, photo © chrisdonia

Frances had her piece about Edinburgh's Waverley Railway Station selected from hundreds of entries for inclusion in the book. She gave a reading of it during the West Port Book Festival and even found herself giving an impromptu Q&A about the project. Frances developed the piece through her mentoring sessions on the MA course - you can read it for yourself here.

Recent alumni Barbara Melville is the new writer-in-residence at the MRC Centre for Regenerative Medicine, a world leading research centre in Edinburgh that studies stem cells, disease and tissue repair to advance human health and acts as a centre for public engagement.

"I'll be there three days a week," Barbara says, "writing, researching and reflecting on my own work. I'l l also be participating in creative outreach projects to help communicate science to the general public."

Recent graduate Laura Denham made her print fiction debut in Scottish magazine Octavius with a short story written in our Genre Fiction module. Reviewer Calathumpian says Laura's story Mockingbird "gets under the very skin of its reader, creating a dreamscape of damp unease that perturbed me for hours after", while Scots Whay Hae! describes it as "rich as anything I've read this year".

Intrusion longlisted for Wellcome Prize

Edinburgh Napier's new writer-in-residence Ken MacLeod has been longlisted for the £25,000 Wellcome Trust Book Prize, awarded to fiction or non-fiction work on the theme of health, illness and medicine.

Intrusion is one of only five novels among fourteen books on the longlist. Others include crime writer Peter James and bestselling author Rosie Tremain.

Wellcome Trust director of Medical Humanities and Engagement, Clare Matterson, describes the longlist as an excellent, extremely diverse selection.

"These books challenge and entertain the reader in equal measure, and crucially make us reflect on the impact medicine has on our lives."

Ken's reaction to the news? "Well chuffed," he said via Twitter.

The shortlist is being announced October 11, and the winner on November 7th. Everyone on the Creative Writing MA has their fingers crossed for Ken!

Read about the longlist here, and about the Wellcome Trust Book Prize here.

Ken MacLeod is our new Writer in Residence

Ken MacLeod photo © Chris Scott

Multi-award winning author Ken MacLeod aims to inspire the next generation of genre fiction writers after being appointed Writer in Residence at Edinburgh Napier University.
 

The science fiction specialist, described by one critic as the ‘modern day George Orwell’, will provide guidance and advice to students on the university’s innovative MA in Creative Writing course.

“I’m delighted and honoured to be chosen for this amazing post,” says MacLeod. “Over the years I have been hugely impressed with the quality and commitment of the creative writing students, and by the theoretical depth, practical focus and wide knowledge the lecturers and course leaders bring to it.”

One of the most respected authors in British science fiction, MacLeod has won three Prometheus Awards and numerous accolades from the British Science Fiction Association. 

His thirteen published novels have ranged from hard SF space operas like The Star Fraction (1995) to his much-acclaimed new novel Intrusion (2012), described as ‘thoughtful, plausible and scary’ by the Sunday Telegraph and as a ‘disturbingly real socialist dystopia’ by the Guardian. 

Former literary agent Sam Kelly - who runs the MA course alongside acclaimed screenwriter and author David Bishop - says MacLeod’s appointment is perfect: “Ken has tackled many of the biggest ethical and political dilemmas of our age, through artistically ambitious speculative fiction. His work closely reflects our commitment to intellectual radicalism and genre writing.”

She adds: “The role of the writer-in-residence is to challenge and inspire the teachers as well as the students and it’s a great privilege to be able to house our chosen influences on campus.”

The year-long writer in residence role was created in 2010, with Scots novelist James Robertson first in the job, following a major funding gift from The Binks Trust. MacLeod will succeed Doctor Who writer Robert Shearman, who has described his year in the post as one of huge pride.

“My principle joy at Edinburgh Napier has been watching how the writers interact,” says Shearman, “seeing how the enthusiasm for one person’s project can inspire someone else’s. I’ve watched the students grow in confidence and can’t wait to see what the new friends I’ve been working with are going to write next, next week and in the years to come.”

MacLeod, who was born in Stornoway, says it’s a pleasure to be next in line: “James Robertson and Rob Shearman have left me giant footprints to step into. I look forward to the journey with trepidation and excitement.”

The novelist will spend an average of two days a week at Edinburgh Napier mentoring MA Creative Writing students. The course was the first in Britain to offer a specialist module in writing for graphic fiction. It also embraces genre writing, especially science fiction, fantasy, horror and crime writing. 

Edinburgh Napier takes an innovative approach to the training and support of Creative Writing MA students, replacing traditional workshop-based teaching with one to one mentoring. The Times called the programme ‘a radical departure in creative writing’. The course also has a unique reader-in-residence post, currently held by Scottish literary editor and author, Stuart Kelly.

Students and graduates appearing at the 2012 Edinburgh International Book Festival

Students and graduates from Edinburgh Napier's innovative Creative Writing MA are making multiple appearances at the Edinburgh International Book Festival this month.

Four of them will be featured in Story Shop, a showcase for new writing talent where local authors read their work on stage from 4pm at the Spiegeltent in Charlotte Square. Recent graduate Matt Nadelhaft appears on Tuesday August 14th, while fellow graduate Ever Dundas is on Wednesday August 22nd. Current student Sean Martin reads the next day on Thursday August 23rd, with fellow student Catherine Simpson appear at the final Story Shop showcase on Monday August 27th.

Last year graduates from Edinburgh Napier's Creative Writing MA formed Illicit Ink, a group that hosts regular themed prose nights across the city. Now Illicit Ink will be making its book festival debut in the late night Unbound strand, also in the Spiegeltent. Graduate Ariadne Cass-Maran will be among the writers performing Magic Words, an evening of readings, storytelling and stage magic that starts at 9pm on Wednesday August 15th.

Best of all, the Story Shop and Unbound strands are free! Go here to find out more about attending the festival.