Speakers

A selection of the many authors, agents and publishers who have presented workshops for us since 2009

Christine, who writes under the pen name of C.M Stephenson, was formerly an HR consultant and Executive Coach. Her debut novel, a psychological suspense thriller was released in 2018 and made the top 100 best selling Amazon Kindle list. Christine is represented by Jenny Savill of Andrew Nurnberg Associates

Andrea Harman is a regular contributor to Writing Events workshops. She has had a career in teaching as well as editing and proof reading. Andrea has a particular interest in psychological thrillers and we enjoy her darkly comic sense of humour.

Debby Holt is a best-selling author of popular women’s fiction. She started writing when her five children were small and her first novel The Ex-Wife’s Survival guide was published in 2006. Since then she has written eight more including Love Affairs for Grown Ups and the Dangers of Family Secrets.

 Mary Griese is a farmer, artist and author. Mary won second place in the Bath Short Story Award, and was third in the prestigious 2017 Fish Short Memoir Contest. Her debut novel is currently in the hands of the publishers. Mary is a regular speaker at the workshops

Rachel Ward’s first novel, Numbers, was published in January 2009, and was shortlisted for the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize, longlisted for the Carnegie Medal and won regional prizes in the UK and German among others. The Chaos, was published in 2010, and the final book in the trilogy, Infinity, in 2011. My fourth book, The Drowning, was published in 2013 and The Cost of Living in 2017.

 

Tracy Darnton: Originally a lawyer, Tracy graduated from Bath Spa MA Writing For Young People course with a distinction in 2016. Tracy was shortlisted for the 2016 The Times/Chicken House Children’s Fiction Competition. Her debut YA thriller, The Truth About Lies was published by Stripes in 2018 and was shortlisted for the Waterstones children’s book prize 2019

Christine Macfarlane has had a working life in education in the South West. Having finished MA in creative writing, Bath Spa, she is currently writing more poetry (published) than fiction but also seeking publication for two children’s novels. Her poetry has been shortlisted in the prestigious Bridport Poetry prize

James Ellis was our guest speaker in our Get into Print series in February 2017.  James’ book The Wrong Story is published by Unbound and he explained how this innovative crowd-funded publishing venture works and his personal reasons for choosing it. Prior to his talk Alex and Jude focussed on writing the perfect covering letter to lit. agents and looked at what makes a great first page.

Tom Wentworth led a whistle-stop introduction to script writing in March 2016 at Hall and Woodhouse Cafe in Bath. Our twelve enthusiastic participants went away with the bones of a convincing situation and the beginnings of a script.

Tom Wentworth is a playwright and audio producer. His recent work for theatre includes: Heart of Hearts (Graeae Theatre Company). Mouth (National Theatre of Wales Seed Commission)

In October, 2015 literary agent Juliet Pickering from Blake Friedman Agency heard 18 authors pitch their novels and non-fiction books and gave them feedback and information on how to present the best submission packages to agents

In November 2014, Lucy Luck, literary agent at Aitken Alexander Associates  heard 18 authors pitch their novels and gave invaluable feedback.

In October, 2015 literary agent Juliet Pickering from Blake Friedman Agency heard 18 authors pitch their novels and non-fiction books and gave them feedback and information on how to present the best submission packages to agents – In November 2014, Lucy Luck, literary agent at Aitken Alexander Associates  heard 18 authors pitch their novels and gave invaluable feedback.

Tricia Wastvedt ran a workshop for us on dialogue and editing in March 2013 Tricia is author of The River, (long listed for the Orange Prize) and The German Boy and a tutor on the Bath Spa MA in Creative Writing.

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Anne Williams

Anne Williams – Literary agent at Kate Hordern Literary Agency and ex commissioning editor at Michael Joseph and Headline  heard  20 authors pitch their novels in 2012.

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imogen cooper
Imogen Cooper

Imogen Cooper ran a ‘Pitching ‘ workshop for us in June 2013. She is a Senior Editor at the small but innovative children’s publishing Chicken House and  also Director of Golden Egg, a team of children’s publishers and creative writing professionals who have links to the industry and are highly respected for their ability to spot new talent.

Mimi T
Mimi Thebo

 

Dr. Mimi Thebo ‘Thinking Big’ workshop in January 2012 took us through the stages of planning a novel from the big idea to the end. Mimi Thebo is an American novelist and young adult writer who also teaches on the Bath Spa MA in creative writing. She also ran three workshops on our Advanced Course, Finish that Novel, in 2013.

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Jenni O’Connor

Jenni O’Connor  shared her expertise on how to publish on a kindle in 2011. She has successfully published her novel ‘Reach for A Different Sun’ and reached the quarter finals of the Amazon breakthrough novel prize.She also taught Alex (deserves a medal!)  how to publish six short stories on Kindle. See our Books For Sale page

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Kylie Fitzpatrick

Kylie Fitzpatrick – Ran a morning workshop in October on writing Historical Fiction, inspiring and informing writers how to mine history for ideas. Kylie is author of Tapestry and The Ninth Stone and  also works as  a manuscript editor and  a writing tutor.

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Helen Corner

Helen Corner Director of Cornerstones Consultancy led a workshop for us  on Unearthing your Inner Editor in July 2012 with her colleagues Kathryn Robinson and Ayisha Malik. We  love Cornerstones – many of our workshop participants have gone on to get feedback on their work and we recommend using them  for feedback on your first few chapters right through to your finished novel. novel. www.cornerstones.co.uk/  In July 2012,  Kathryn and Ayisha led another workshop on how to write a ‘grief-free’ Synopsis.

Emma Newman
Emma Newman

Emma Newman author of dark short stories, science fiction and urban fantasy  ran a workshop on social media for writers in October 2011.

 

Rob Magnuson-Smith, lecturer in Creative Writing and English at Exeter University and author of two novels The Gravedigger 2010 and Scorper 2015, ran two workshops for our ‘Finish that Novel’ series in 2013, the first on dialogue and the second on endings.

Sarah Duncan
Sarah Duncan

Sarah Duncan, novelist, award-winning script-writer and writing tutor ran a workshop on plotting for us in 2010.

Victoria Finlay
Victoria Finlay

Victoria Finlay author of  the acclaimed book Colour: Travels through the Paint Box,  ran a workshop on Writing a Proposal for a Non-Fiction book for us in 2010.

Alan Summers
Alan Summers

Alan Summers, haiku and renga poet, ran a workshop for us on writing Haiku in 2010

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Gerard Woodward award-winning novelist, poet and tutor on Bath Spa MA in Creative Writing ran a workshop for us in 2010 on creating suspense in fiction.

Andy Hamiton
Andy Hamilton

Andy Hamilton author of Booze For Free and other best-sellers ran a workshop for us on how to create a successful blog to promote your writing work in 2011

Steve Voake
Steve Voake

Best selling children’s author and tutor on Bath Spa MA, Steve Voake ran a workshop on writing for children for us in 2011

Alison Clink

Alison Clink, novelist, memoirist short story writer and former organiser of the long-running Frome Short Story Competition ran one of our first author events in 2009 – a workshop on writing for competitions and commerical magazines.