Are you writing but could do with some inspiration to help you along? Are you looking for writing advice to help hone your craft? Do you want to find out more about the publishing process - from securing literary representation to signing a book deal?
We're partnering once more with the Open University, this time over two evenings in June for How To Get Published, an online incarnation of our successful pre-pandemic conference format. Which means business as usual, and a line-up of debut authors, commissioning editors and literary agents on hand to offer tips on the writing process as well as invaluable insight into the world of publishing. You will find out how to develop your manuscript and how you can take your writing to the next level.
Schedule
Monday 6th June
6pm: Introduction to the event (house-keeping rules, a bit about W&A, a bit about OU, and associated materials)
6.10-7.10pm: Creating Your Cast of Characters with Kirsty Capes, author of Careless
7.10-8.10pm: The Art of Editing
Panel discussion with Sara Starbuck, freelance editor and writer, and Emily Bedford, Commissioning editor at Canelo
Tuesday 7th June
6pm: Introduction to the event (house-keeping rules, a bit about W&A, a bit about OU, and associated materials)
6.10-7.10pm: Writing Your Story with Kasim Ali, author of Good Intentions
7.10-8.10: Agents on the Rise
Panel discussion with junior literary agents actively looking to build their list
Eli Keren, Associate Agent at United Books, Gyamfia Osei, Junior Agent at The Good Literary Agency,
Kasim Ali works at Penguin Random House and has previously been shortlisted for Hachette’s Mo Siewcherran Prize, longlisted for the 4th Estate BAME Short Story Prize, and has contributed to The Good Journal. He comes from Birmingham and now lives in London. Good Intentions is his debut novel.
Kirsty Capes works in publishing and is an advocate for better representation for care-experienced people in the media. She holds a PhD from Brunel University London; her thesis investigates representations of the care experience in contemporary British fiction, and was completed under the supervision of 2019 Booker prize-winner, Bernardine Evaristo. Her first novel, Careless, was longlisted for the Women's Prize 2022. Her second novel Love Me, Love Me Not is out in July. Kirsty lives in Slough with her golden retriever, Doug.
Eli started his publishing career at Curtis Brown before joining United Agents as Sarah Ballard's assistant in 2016. Now an associate literary agent, he continues to work on Sarah's list while actively building his own. Before he started working in books, Eli was a research scientist designing and synthesising novel drugs (white coat and everything), and science books remain a particular passion of his. He is also looking for LGBT-themed books in both fiction and non-fiction.
In non-fiction, he is particularly interested in smart and engaging popular science. His own background is in chemistry, but he's fairly omnivorous and happy to look at any non-fiction that grips him, be that science, history or something else. He enjoy books by writers completely obsessed with a niche subject who are skilled enough communicators to make the rest of the world fall in love with their passion too, whatever that passion might be. He is interested in any book that will change the world for the better, but is probably not the right agent for books with aspects of religion or spirituality.
In fiction, Eli is happy to look at commercial, literary and anything in between across genres. He doesn't typically work with science-fiction or fantasy, but is open to some grounded speculative fiction and magical realism. He doesn't work with holocaust novels.
Gyamfia has a BA in Ancient History from the University of Exeter. She began her career in publishing working as a Bookseller at Waterstones, before joining Caskie Mushens as Literary Assistant to Juliet Mushens and Robert Caskie. She returned to the U.K. after living in Amsterdam for two years, where she managed international sales for The Pepin Press and held the role of Editor for Plural Magazine.
She is now a Junior Agent at The Good Literary Agency.
Gyamfia believes that the books on our shelves should represent the streets that we walk down, and so is extremely passionate about finding new and diverse talent. Her favourite books include If I Don’t Have You by Sareeta Domingo, Captain Corelli’s Mandolin by Louis de Bernières, Grown Ups by Marian Keyes, Get a Life, Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert, Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz and Brit(ish) by Afua Hirsch.
Sara Starbuck has spent over twenty years working in UK trade book publishing. She has had experience as a commissioning editor, desk editor and development editor, and also as an author’s agent. She currently works as a freelance book editor, proofreader and writer, specialising in fiction, YA and children’s books. Sara is the author of eight published works so far, including the non-fiction memoir Breakfast Epiphanies (Atlantic Books, 2006); the children’s adventure novels, The Dread Pirate Fleur and the Ruby Heart (Random House, 2009) and its sequel, The Dread Pirate Fleur and The Hangman’s Noose (Random House, 2010); The Fairythorn Tales series under the pseudonym, Lara Faraway (Templar Publishing, 2013); and most recently two non-fiction books for children, Lions (Hachette Publishing Group /Born Free Foundation, 2015) and Leopards (Hachette Publishing Group/Born Free Foundation, 2016).
Sara is passionate about storytelling and working with writers. She has a keen eye for a good story and the ability to hone it.
Emily Bedford is Senior Commissioning Editor at Canelo. She is looking to publish contemporary fiction, with an eye on romance and historical fiction in particular. She has previously worked at Bloomsbury as well as Taylor & Francis in editorial roles.
The price for this event is £35.
If you have a discount code, please enter this on our checkout page. Students studying on the Open University Creative Writing course can only use their discount code in conjunction with this combined price page.
Bookings can be made by either clicking on the 'Book' buttons at the top and bottom of this page, or by calling 0207 631 5985.
Price inclusive of standard VAT.
Event materials will be made available to attendees for a time-limited period after the event at the author's discretion.
Please note that payment instalment plans are available for all W&A events, writing courses and editing services. Contact W&A Admin on writersandartists@bloomsbury.com so that we can find a payment schedule that works for you.
Accessible to All
It’s of real importance to Writers & Artists that our events and courses remain accessible to all.
- Writers & Artists has made up to three bursary places available for this event as part of our accessibility scheme. Please visit our bursaries page for further information about how to apply. All bursary applications must have been submitted for consideration by 8th May.
- At the author’s discretion, event materials will be made available to attendees after the masterclass.
- A link to a recording of the masterclass will be circulated after the event. This will be made available to event attendees only, and for a time-limited period.
- This event will include written text and visuals. Please contact us in advance so that we can make arrangements to be sure all documents appear in a format that works for you.
- If you’d like to attend but have any questions or concerns regarding accessibility, then please email AccessWA@bloomsbury.com
