Meet Hanna Tatschl, winner of the Breakthrough Scholarship for Memoir Writers
BY Katie Smart
14th Sep 2021
We are pleased to announce that Hanna Tatschl has been awarded the Breakthrough Scholarship for Memoir Writers for her memoir-in-progress Relentless. Hanna has won a place on our inaugural three-month online Writing Your Memoir course. We are extremely grateful to the Curtis Brown Literary and Talent Agency for providing this scholarship, and for their support of our Breakthrough Writers' Programme.
The CBC team were hugely impressed by Hanna's raw and engaging voice. We particularly love the way Hanna honestly portrays friendships and relationships in Relentless, and we are very excited to welcome her to the course later this month.
Please could you tell us a bit about yourself and your memoir-in-progress Relentless?
I’m 32, originally from Dublin, but I currently live in Glasgow. I love both cities because they’re really rich in characters and stories! During the pandemic I found myself in a position where I was working remotely. This allowed me to move to Glasgow and continue working while I completed an MA in TV Fiction Writing at Glasgow Caledonian University.
Relentless is a collection of stories from my life, focused on a particularly chaotic, and destructive time when I was living in Dublin in my twenties.
I wrote it in secret as I tried to detangle myself, and understand my messy relationships with girls. It was a way to escape the poverty I was living in. More then anything, it was a way to face myself and my reality without flinching. I put the manuscript away, but now with some time and space I’m ready to take it out of 'the drawer' and Curtis Brown and this scholarship will allow me to that.
What does winning this scholarship place mean to you?
Winning this scholarship grants me an opportunity I couldn’t have accessed otherwise. Having the chance to work on my story in a structured, and supportive environment means the world to me. When I heard about the Breakthrough Scholarship for Memoir Writers, and who Curtis Brown wanted to hear from, I felt seen. I can’t emphasise enough how important opportunities like this are for writers of limited means.
If you're a writer from an under-represented background and want to study with us, check out the Breakthrough Writers’ Programme. This is our exciting programme of free courses, mentoring and scholarships for under-represented writers, funded by Curtis Brown Literary Agency and partners.
Current opportunities include our nine-month Breakthrough Mentoring Programme for disabled writers (apply by 19 September) and The HW Fisher Novel-Writing Scholarship, which will award one talented writer of limited financial means a free place on our three-month Writing Your Novel course (apply by 24 October).