Announcing the Marian Keyes Novel-Writing Scholarship
BY Katie Smart
15th May 2018
We are completely thrilled to announce that the globally-bestselling and greatly-loved author Marian Keyes is personally sponsoring a fully-funded scholarship place for one talented writer with limited financial means to take up a place (worth £2600) on the next Curtis Brown Creative six-month online novel-writing course, starting in September. The scholar will join 14 other aspiring writers from across the world for an intensive online course featuring writing workshops, one-to-one tutorials, in-depth teaching on key topics and special day-long events where the agent teams of Curtis Brown and its sister agency C+W answer questions and offer advice on the all-important pitch letter. The course tutor will be Commonwealth-Book-Prize-winning author Lisa O’Donnell. Students will have the opportunity to show their work to Curtis Brown and C+W literary agents at the end of the course. 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’d like to work on during the course. For details, information on eligibility criteria, and to apply - visit the Marian Keyes Novel-Writing Scholarship page. Marian has chosen to sponsor this online course rather than one of CBC’s London-based courses because she would like the opportunity to be as potentially far-reaching and inclusive as possible. She says, “I didn’t have a degree in English, I didn’t feel interesting or important enough to be a writer, but I was wrong. I’d love to convince someone out there who has the desire to write but feels held back by a lack of entitlement, to give it a go. Everyone matters and their stories matter. It would be wonderful if we could discover an authentic new voice this way.” Jonathan Lloyd – President of Curtis Brown, and Marian’s long-standing agent, says: “This award is typical of the person that is Marian Keyes . While she takes her own writing career seriously she is so generous with her time to mentor and encourage other writers. She is a wonderful champion of good writing and we are thrilled that she is such a supporter of CBC.” Anna Davis – Founder and Managing Director of Curtis Brown Creative, says: “We at CBC are honoured that Marian Keyes is offering this generous decision to support a new writer – and our courses. We’re keen to promote diversity, and would like to encourage people from under-represented backgrounds to apply for this opportunity.” If you have a burning desire to write a novel, a great idea – and a low income – take a look at the full details and eligibility criteria for the Marian Keyes Novel-Writing Scholarship, applications close Sunday 29th July. Take a look at further coverage of this scholarship in The Bookseller. We are always thrilled to be able to offer scholarship places for those of limited financial means - you can read about our most recent scholar who gained a fully-funded HW Fisher scholarship place on our current 3-month London-based course. Find out more about the scholarships we offer here. And check the blog next week or sign up for our newsletters to read an exclusive new interview with Marian Keyes.