Mahi Cheshire studied with us back in 2018. She is represented by Curtis Brown agent Isobel Gahan and her debut thriller Deadly Cure is out now from Harvill Secker. Mahi has been shortlisted in two categories at this year’s Dead Good Reader Awards! Deadly Cure has been nominated for The Cold as Ice Award for Most Chilling Read and The Dead Good Recommends Award for Most Recommended Book. Find out more and vote for Mahi here. Voting closes Mon 18 July. We spoke to Mahi about how her work as doctor helped inspire the hospital setting of her debut thriller and her advice for aspiring authors. You ..read more

Welcome to our July edition of #WriteCBC. I hope you’re ready to be inspired by our latest writing challenge! If you haven’t taken part in a #WriteCBC competition before, we’re excited to welcome you to our writing community – and you can quickly get up to speed by reading this blog with information about how to play. It’s a lot of fun, and you might just win a free place on one of our six-week online writing courses. This month’s special guest is award-winning short story writer and former student Sean Lusk. Sean’s brilliant debut novel The Second Sight of Zachary Cloudesley is out ..read more

Sarah Daniels studied on our six-month online Writing Your Novel course in 2017. Now she’s represented by Curtis Brown literary agent Felicity Blunt and she has an exciting book deal for her dystopian YA duology with Penguin Random House Children’s, the first book in the series The Stranded will be published later this month. We spoke to Sarah about her time studying with us, the surprising joy of sharing your work with others for the first time and the inspiration behind her debut. You took our six-month online Writing Your Novel course in 2017. How did your time on the course impact your app ..read more

Stephanie Merritt (S J Parris) is the author of the number one bestselling historical thriller series about Giordano Bruno. The sixth book in the series Execution is out now, with the seventh instalment to be released in 2023. She is also the tutor of our six-week online Writing Historical Fiction course. The below tips have been adapted from Stephanie Merritt’s Writing Historical Fiction course material. Originally posted as a blog for Historia magazine, which you can read here. Every historical novelist will have a different approach to how much research they do before wr ..read more

Esme King took our three-month online Writing Your Novel course in 2018. Esme is a former news journalist and award-winning short film director. Her debut novel Reasons to Go Outside was published May 2022 by Hodder & Stoughton. We spoke to Esme about her time on our course, where she finds the inspiration for her characters and her approach to writing… You studied on our three-month online Writing Your Novel course in 2018. How did your time on the course impact your approach to writing? The course was the encouragement I needed to adopt a proper writing routine. Previously I’d planned ch ..read more

Joanne Clague studied with us on a six-month online Writing Your Novel course led by tutor Suzannah Dunn in 2017 – now Joanne is one of five students from her group with a debut out this year! Joanne’s debut historical fiction novel The Ragged Valley was published earlier this month by Canelo. We caught up with Joanne to find out more about her time studying with us and the Great Sheffield Flood that inspired her debut. You studied on our six-month online Writing Your Novel course in 2017. How did your time on the course impact your approach to writing? I had zero experience of the publishing ..read more

Sean Lusk took our London-based Writing Your Novel course in 2015. He has gone on to become an award-winning short story writer, winner of the Manchester Fiction Prize, the Fish Short Story Prize and runner-up in the Bridport and Tom-Gallon Trust prizes. He has lived in Greece, Pakistan and Egypt, working variously as a gardener, speechwriter and diplomatic official. He now lives near Forres on the Moray Firth. His debut novel The Second Sight of Zachary Cloudesley is out now from Transworld (Doubleday). We caught up with Sean to find out more about his tightknit group of CBC friends and the i ..read more

We’re delighted to announce the winner of this year’s Discoveries Prize selected by our judging panel from the 2,500+ unpublished women that submitted their works of fiction. The winner of the prize is Sui Annukka with her compelling novel-in-progress Thursday. As the winner of Discoveries, Sui recieves an offer of representation by Curtis Brown Literary Agency, a cash prize of £5,000, and the opportunity to workshop her manuscript with an Audible commissioning editor. We are also very pleased to announce that Nikki Logan has been chosen from the shortlist of six writers as the Discoveries Sch ..read more

We’re delighted to share this year’s Discoveries Prize, shortlist comprised of six novels-in-progress from unpublished women writers currently residing in the UK and Ireland. Over 2,500 women submitted their works of fiction to Discoveries (up from 2,300 in 2021). Sixteen authors were initially longlisted by a judging panel that included chair of Chair of judges Kate Mosse, international bestselling novelist and Founder Director of the Women’s Prize, and her judging panel: esteemed writers Ayisha Malik and Irenosen Okojie, Curtis Brown literary agent Lucy Morris, and&n ..read more

Nicola Masters studied on our three-month Writing Your Novel course with Laura Barnett. Her debut novel, Happy Happy Happy, will be published by Lake Union Publishing on 19 May. We caught up with Nicola about the inspiration behind her novel and her writing journey so far… You took our three-month Writing Your Novel course in 2019. How did your time on the course impact your approach to writing? Getting accepted onto the course gave me permission to take writing seriously. Not that anyone should need permission, but it made me think that I might actually be onto something, and it could be wor ..read more