St Mary’s Attracts Leading Authors for New Masters Programme

Costa Book Award winner Nathan Flier and Sunday Times Best Seller Anna Hope have been secured as visiting authors on the new MA in Creative Writing: First Novel programme at St Mary’s University, Twickenham. The postgraduate programme in the School of Arts and Humanities, will welcome its first cohort of students in September 2014 and has been created to help budding authors on their journey to writing and publishing their first novel. Taught by authors and St Mary’s lecturers David Savill, Dr Scott Bradfield and Dr Russell Schecter, the programme has attracted the two award winning writers to deliver guest lecturers during the year. Nathan Filer who won the 2013 Costa Coffee Book of the Year Award for his first novel The Shock of The Fall, written whilst working as a mental health nurse, will be inaugurating the course in its first year with a question and answer session for students. Meanwhile Anna Hope whose debut novel Wake, listed as a Sunday Times top ten hardback title and one of publisher Transworld Book’s biggest launches for 2014, will also be offering students advice during a guest talk. The programme was launched following the popularity of St Mary’s Creative and Professional Writing undergraduate course. It offers a more specific route for those who are currently working on their first novel. In the past, St Mary’s has attracted authors such as Booker Prize nominee Hisham Matar, Christie Dickinson and Ben Aaronovitch, author of the international bestselling Rivers of London series. Applications for September 2014 entry are being taken now. For more information about the programme please contact David Savill on david.savill@stmarys.ac.uk.