Author Interviews Posts

Michael Mann our took online Writing YA & Children’s Fiction course in 2018. After taking the course he became a client of Curtis Brown agent Stephanie Thwaites. His debut middle grade novel Ghostcloud will be published by Hachette Children’s 7 October. Here Michael draws on the guidance he received during our course as well as his own experiences of […]

Paula Owen was a student on our Writing Your Novel course in 2020. Now her debut historical novel Little Brown Dog will be published by Honno Press 15 September. We caught up with Paula to talk about her time on the course, her approach to research and her move from writing non-fiction to fiction… You […]

Catherine Johnson is an award-winning children’s and YA author. Her book Sawbones won the Young Quills Prize for best Historical Fiction and was nominated for the Carnegie medal in 2015. Her historical middle grade novel Freedom won the 2019 Little Rebels Award for Radical Children’s Fiction. Catherine is also the tutor of our three-month online Writing YA & Children’s Fiction. […]

Melissa Welliver took our online Writing YA & Children’s Fiction course in 2016. Now she has a publishing deal with Agora Books for her gripping dystopian YA trilogy. The first book in the series The Undying Tower will be published this October. Melissa reveals the inspiration behind the totalitarian future portrayed in The Undying Tower, […]

Neil Daws studied with us on a three-month Writing Your Novel course back in 2018. His debut novel A Quiet Place to Kill was published by Thomas & Mercer September 2021. We caught up with Neil to talk about his debut, his time studying with us and what inspired him to pay it forward and […]

Natalie Chandler studied on our six-week online Writing a Psychological Thriller course. The novel she worked on during the course – Believe Me Not – is to be published by Headline Accent in spring 2022. We caught up with Natalie to find out more about her time on the course, her approach to writing and the […]

Earlier this month, we hosted a webinar with Curtis Brown literary agent Lisa Babalis and her client and former CBC student Penny Chrimes. These special webinars are an exclusive component of our Writing YA & Children’s Fiction course, and they give our students the chance to discover more about finding an agent and the publishing process. Since finishing […]

We are thrilled that our brand-new six-week online course – Writing Crime Fiction – is open for enrolment. The course features exclusive teaching videos, notes and tasks from Vaseem Khan, the author of two award-winning crime series set in India: the popular Baby Ganesh Detective Agency series and the historical crime Malabar House series. We caught up with […]

We’re so excited that our brand-new six-week online course – Writing a Romance Novel – is open for enrolment. The course is led by the brilliant Jenny Colgan, author of numerous bestselling novels including the Little Beach Street Bakery and Scottish Bookshop series. We caught up with Jenny to talk about her approach to writing […]

Selali Fiamanya was a student on our inaugural Breakthrough Novel-Writing Course for Black Writers at the start of the year. We were thrilled to hear that his debut novel Between the Train and The Platform will be published by Borough Press following his win of their open submission competition. We caught up with Selali to […]