Clare Sambrook attended our first writing course in April 1999. Her first novel, Hide and Seek, was published by Canongate in May 2005.

Clare says:

People sometimes say, "I want to write. Where do I start?" I say, start here... a practical, intelligent introduction to the craft.

You can order Hide and Seek from Amazon here.


Dreda Say Mitchell secured the last place on our writing course in September 2001. A few terms later, she joined the advanced course on Saturday mornings, and began working seriously on the book which became Running Hot. Dreda Say Mitchell's debut novel received rave reviews and she has been involved in London-wide literature festivals.

In November 2005 Running Hot won the Crime Writers Association John Creasey Memorial Dagger Award for best first crime novel, an award which launched the careers of writers such as Patricia Cornwell, Minette Walters and Walter Mosley.

Dreda says:

When I came to the class I had a few ideas; four years later I had a major literary award. If you want to learn the ins and outs of fiction writing this is the course for you.

You can order Running Hot from Amazon here.


Karina Morgan attended our course in September 2001 and was runner-up in the 2005 Harper's and Queen/Orange Prize for Fiction Short Story Competition. As runner up, Karina received £500 and copies of the books short-listed for the year's Orange Prize for Fiction.

She says:

The Complete Creative Writing Course showed me how to focus my ideas; tap into the valuable bits and discard the junk. For me, this was an invaluable lesson, and certainly gave me the confidence to take my first steps into fiction writing.


More praise for The Complete Creative Writing Course:


Congratulations... First class: fast, confident, no-bullshit, plenty of content.

-Valerie Mendes, Author, 29.09.02

This has been a mind-blowing, life-altering class... this has been the best, most helpful course I've taken, bar none.

-Evalyn Lee, BBC Journalist, 23.03.03

The Saturday afternoon classes have been the focus of my week for the last ten weeks. I adored the fact that we had homework and also that we had deadlines. My great joy was waking up on Saturday morning (having brewed upon the relevant topic during the week or even the day before) and writing up the topic. You are both fantastic teachers, able to give constructive criticism to us and able to provide us with a place that was safe for us to begin to creep out of our creative shells. I feel that you have given me the tools to get on with this business on my own and that this time around there is no excuse now for not writing. The mix of practical exercises combined with concrete examples is spot on.

-Irene Levin, 3.12.01