Meet Stacey Thomas, our Clare Mackintosh Novel-Writing Scholar
BY Katie Smart
16th Feb 2021
We’re pleased to announce that Stacey Thomas has been awarded the Clare Mackintosh Scholarship for Black Writers for her novel-in-progress The Revels. Stacey has won a fully funded place on our Writing Your Novel – Six Months course taught by Simon Wroe and Cathi Unsworth. Stacey will also receive a bespoke mentoring package created by Clare.
At CBC we were transported back in time by Stacey's gripping narrative. Her novel-in-progress takes place in the 1600s, during the witch trials, and is a tale of accusation, stolen identity and war. We’re thrilled to have her on board for our current online course and can't wait to find out more about the novel she's working on . . .
Please could you tell us a bit about yourself and your novel-in-progress The Revels?
I’m a civil servant and a staff reviewer for Bad Form Review. I’ve always been fascinated by the English witch trials and having read Ronald Bassett’s Witchfinder General I was inspired to write my own interpretation on how the events originally unfolded. Set against the backdrop of the English Civil War, The Revels follows a Tom Ripleyesque character who assumes another man’s identity before apprenticing himself to a witch-hunter judge.
What does winning this scholarship place mean to you?
I’m still in a state of shock that I’ve won, and I don’t think it will sink into until I’ve started the ‘Writing Your Novel’ course. As a long-time admirer of Clare Mackintosh's novels, I'm thrilled by the opportunity to be mentored by her. Overall, I’m honoured to have been chosen as the winner and excited by the chance to shape my story into something I hope people will enjoy reading.
The CBC team are hugely grateful to Clare Mackintosh for her support of our Breakthrough Writers' Programme, an initiative designed to break down barriers to entry for under-represented writers, through this scholarship.
We are dedicated to finding talented writers and helping them get the best out of their novels. It’s very important for us to support writers who would not otherwise have been able to take our courses by offering scholarship opportunities, and we are absolutely delighted that five of our previous scholars have already gone on to get book deals, including Kirsty Capes (her dark and funny feminist debut Careless is set to be published by Orion) and Elizabeth Lee (her bewitching debut Cunning Womenis to be published by Cornerstone). Both novels will be out in spring 2021.
If you're interested in funded writing opportunities and want to study with us, check out The Breakthrough Writers' Programme.