Faber & Faber

Course begins on 26 January 2010

The Cornerhouse, Manchester (tbc)

Price: £3,000

Writing a Novel, a six-month course offered by the Faber Academy in Manchester, will begin in January 2010. Designed to develop a wide range of novel-writing skills, the weekly evening workshops progress from the first conception of an idea, through such topics as character, finding a voice, style, structure, and redrafting. The course will also examine aspects of the craft of short story writing, a starting point for many novelists. In addition to the Tuesday evening workshops, there will be 6 full day Saturday sessions.

The majority of the sessions will be run by Course Director Jane Rogers, but there will also be a number of well-known writers, agents and publishers who will conduct guest seminars including M.J. Hyland, Lesley Glaister and Sean O’Brien.

The course requires commitment and work between the sessions. It sets out to help new writers reach a point where they have sufficient material and know-how to work towards completing a first draft. For some it is an opportunity to pursue, at a serious pace, an ambition to learn how to go about writing a novel. For others it is an opportunity to accelerate the pace at which a novel they have already begun is progressing.

The final weeks of the course are designed to bring students into contact with editors and agents, and to give them a sense of how to move on towards submitting their work.

The course will be selective, and accommodate a maximum of 16 students.

Course Programme

The course consists of 21 two-hour evening sessions and 6 full-day sessions. All evening sessions will take place on Tuesdays from 7pm-9pm. Full-day sessions will take place on Saturdays from 10.00am-5.00pm.

Please note: There is a two-week Easter break between sessions 11 and 12.

The subject matter of sessions as listed below is a guide only. The exact course content will be finalized according to the experience and interests of the group and guest speaker availability. The detail of the course content is at the discretion of the Course Director and the Faber Academy.

About the Course Director

Jane Rogers has written eight novels including Mr. Wroe's Virgins (which she dramatised as a BBC TV serial);  Promised Lands, (Writers’ Guild Best Novel Award 1996); Island (1999, Arts Council Writers Award, currently in development as a film); and The Voyage Home (2004). She also writes for radio, most recently 'Dear Writer' (Afternoon Play). Her short stories have been broadcast on radio and published in anthologies, most recently by Comma Press. She has also edited Oxford University Press' Good Fiction Guide. She is currently working on some short stories, and on a radio 4 Classic Serial adaptation of The Custom of the Country.

She is Professor of Writing at Sheffield Hallam University where she teaches Novel and Short story on the MA in Writing, and Course Leader in Writing at the Open College of the Arts.

www.janerogers.org


How to Apply

There are 16 places available on Writing a Novel, Manchester 2010. Applicants should write a letter of application and return it to c/o Patrick Keogh at the Faber Academy, Bloomsbury House, 74-77 Great Russell Street, London WC1B 3DA or email it to patrickk@faber.co.uk no later than Monday 14 December.

The letter should state briefly their writing experience and why they wish to attend this Faber Academy writing course. In addition, they should include:
1. A sample of their prose fiction no longer than 1,000 words. Please do not send your only copy as this will not be returned.
2. If applying by post, a stamped addressed postcard if they wish their application to be acknowledged.
3. If applying by post, a stamped addressed envelope for receipt of the results of their application.


Participants will be selected at the discretion of the Course Director and the Faber Academy.
 

The Faber and Faber Fellowship

One place on the course will be allocated free of charge. These places will be chosen at the discretion of the Course Director and the Faber Academy, and will be based on merit and not financial circumstances.

Disclaimer

The Course Director and Faber and Faber take no responsibility for lost or damaged applications and no correspondence will be entered into with unsuccessful applicants, although they may be invited to apply for future courses.

Successful applicants will be asked to pay a non-refundable deposit towards the course fees of £1,000 by 6 January 2010. The balance of the course fee, a further £2,500, will be payable in four further installments of £500 on 6th February, 6th March, 6th April and 6th May 2010 respectively. No refunds will be given to students who miss sessions or drop out of the course once the full fee has been paid.

The subject matter of course sessions is subject to change due to the level of experience and interests of the group and availability of guest speakers. The content of the programme is determined at the discretion of the Course Directors and the Faber Academy.

Although the Faber Academy is run by Faber and Faber publishers, admission to the course does not guarantee publication by them or any other publisher.
 

How to Contact the Faber Academy

For further information and booking details:

Contact Patrick on either patrickk@faber.co.uk or tel. +44 (0) 20 7927 3822.

Alternatively write to:


Patrick Keogh
Faber and Faber Ltd
Bloomsbury House

74-77 Great Russell St
London WC1B 3DA