Centre for Adult Education celebrates alumni success

City’s Centre for Adult Education is celebrating the success of three of its former creative writing students.

Kirstan Hawkins, who studied City’s Certificate in Novel Writing in 2006/2007, has accepted an offer from Hutchinson/Windmill for publication of her first novel, Dona Nicanora’s Hat-Shop. The book is set in a small South American town and described as "a captivating and bittersweet tale of dreams frustrated and fulfilled, with an irresistible love story at its heart".

Publisher Little, Brown has acquired world English language rights to a debut novel by Penny Rudge called The Life and Loves of Taras Krohe. Penny was a student on City’s Certificate in Novel Writing course in 2005/2006. Jenny Parrott, editorial director at Abacus bought the rights for the book describing it as "wonderful and blackly comic".

Penny says: “The Certificate in Novel Writing course at City will certainly get an acknowledgement from me in the book! It is an excellent course, and I have told many people about it.”

Keren David, who studied the Writing for Children evening course, has has since signed up with an agent and has a two-book publishing deal. Her book, When I Was Joe, is about a boy who witnesses a crime and has to go into police protection.

Keren says: “I did the Writing for Children course with Amanda Swift and then the Writing for Children Workshop course straight afterwards. I found both courses really fun and inspiring and Amanda is a great teacher - always encouraging and very perceptive.”

Laurence Solkin, Head of Adult Education says: “We are enormously proud of the growing list of alumni whose novels have been or are about to be published by leading UK publishing houses. It is a tribute to the talent and the commitment of our students and their tutors.”

Courses for Adults offer a flexible, value-for-money alternative or prequel to longer courses of study.

Spencer Ball

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Date of Article: 19/01/2009