12 May 2022

Kirsty Eyre: ‘Allow the reader to read between the lines and draw their own conclusions about what might be funny’

by Katie Smart Author Interviews, From Our Students, Writing Tips

Kirsty Eyre studied on our three-month Writing Your Novel course in 2017. Two years later, she won the inaugural Comedy Women in Print award with her debut novel Cow Girl – which she developed on the course. She has gone on to write further romantic comedy novels under a pseudonym, Ginger Jones. Her latest work […]

11 May 2022

Announcing the Discoveries Prize longlist 2022

by Discoveries Discoveries, Events

We’re delighted to share this year’s Discoveries Prize longlist, comprised of 16 novels-in-progress from unpublished women writers currently residing in the UK and Ireland. Over 2,500 women submitted their works of fiction to Discoveries (up from 2,300 in 2021). We were extremely impressed by the quality of work submitted and would like to thank all […]

10 May 2022

Liz Webb: ‘Write precise, visceral prose that pulls your reader into sensation rather than thought’

by Katie Smart Author Interviews, From Our Students

Liz Webb has studied on six of our online writing courses, including the complete How to Write Your Novel series and our Writing a Psychological Thriller course. Her debut thriller The Daughter, will be published by Allison & Busby later this month. We found out what Liz enjoys about our courses and what inspired her […]

05 May 2022

#WriteCBC tip and task from Abbie Greaves

by Katie Smart Events, From Our Students, Writing Tips

Welcome to our May edition of #WriteCBC. I hope you’re ready to be inspired by our latest writing challenge! If you haven’t taken part in a #WriteCBC competition before, we’re excited to welcome you to our writing community – and you can quickly get up to speed by reading this blog with information about how […]

04 May 2022

Philip Neame: ‘Ideas and solutions will emerge as you write’

by Katie Smart Author Interviews, From Our Students, Writing Tips

Philip Neame studied on two memoir courses with us, including our original six-week online Writing a Memoir course. Philip served for six years in the RAF Regiment and twenty years in the Parachute Regiment. Philip’s debut memoir Penal Company on the Falklands (published by Pen & Sword Books) takes place in 1982 when he was […]

26 April 2022

Abbie Greaves: ‘I’m still surprised by the strands which join together and provide me with original entry points into a story’

by Katie Smart Author Interviews, Writing Tips

We are delighted to welcome Abbie Greaves to the Curtis Brown Creative teaching team, she is the tutor of our upcoming Edit & Pitch Your Novel – Advanced course. Abbie is the author of The Silent Treatment and The Ends of the Earth. Her novels have been translated into over a dozen languages, selected for the Radio […]

21 April 2022

Author Alex Hay & agent Alice Lutyens on The Housekeepers

by Katie Smart Author Interviews, From Our Students, From the Agents, Writing Tips

Alex Hay (pictured left) was a student on our three-month Writing Your Novel course in 2015. So far, 2022 has been a brilliant, monumental year for Alex’s writing journey! He was awarded the 2022 Caledonia Novel Award, for his unpublished debut heist novel The Housekeepers. After winning the award he went on to sign with Caledonia judge […]

14 April 2022

10 books to read this Easter

by Katie Smart From Our Students, Writing Tips

If you’re looking to sit back and relax with a good book (or two) this Easter, you’ve come to the right place! Grab your gold bunnies and crème eggs and get ready to settle down with a real page-turner. This reading list, featuring novels by some of our talented former students and teaching team, has […]

12 April 2022

Photography by Helen Tansey

Amita Parikh: ‘The most fun is when a story is taking shape and I can use my imagination to my heart’s content’

by Katie Smart Author Interviews, From Our Students, Writing Tips

Amita Parikh took our six-month Writing Your Novel course in 2014. Her debut novel The Circus Train has sold in multiple territories, it was published by HarperCollins Canada earlier this year and is already a Canadian bestseller. This magical debut is to be published by Putnam in the US and Little, Brown in the UK. […]

07 April 2022

#WriteCBC tip and task from Bonnie Garmus

by Katie Smart Events, From Our Students, Writing Tips

Welcome to our April edition of #WriteCBC. I hope you’re ready to be inspired by our latest writing challenge! If you haven’t taken part in a #WriteCBC competition before, we’re excited to welcome you to our writing community – and you can quickly get up to speed by reading this blog with information about how […]