In this free online reading three graduates of City, University of London’s MA programme will talk about their experience on the course, and their approach to creative writing, as well as reading from their work.
The panel, which, like the MA, encompasses fiction, genre fiction and non-fiction, will be chaired by senior lecturer Jonathan Gibbs, who will also introduce the redesigned degrees – now a suite of MA and MFA degrees in Creative Writing.
Catherine Menon graduated from the MA in 2018. Her debut novel, Fragile Monsters, is published by Viking on the day of the reading itself.
A spellbinding story set between World War II and contemporary Malaysia, it has been described as “supple, artful, skilful storytelling” by Hilary Mantel, while Colm Toíbín called it “a brilliant novel about homecoming and the layered unstable pat that haunts and hurts”.
Catherine is Australian-British with Malaysian heritage. As well as holding her MA in Creative Writing from City, she holds a PhD in Pure Mathematics and lectures in robotics.
Laura Shepherd-Robinson graduated from the MA in 2015. Her debut novel, Blood & Sugar (Mantle, 2018) won the Historical Writers’ Association Debut Crown and the Specsavers/Crimefest Best Debut Novel prize, and was a Waterstones Thriller of the month and Guardian & Telegraph Book of the Year.
Her second novel, Daughters of Night, is out now, and was called a “deeply satisfying novel” by The Observer and “the best historical crime novel I will read this year” in The Times. Laura worked in politics for nearly twenty years before re-entering normal life to complete the City MA in Creative Writing.
Anne H Putnam graduated from the MA in 2011. She is a writer and editor with a special interest in mental health, body image, and relationships (basically anything involving an awkward amount of vulnerability).
Her first book, Navel Gazing: One Woman's Quest for a Size Normal, was published in 2013 by Faber & Faber.
Her essays have appeared in Catapult, PS I Love You, The Good Trade, Heartland Society of Women Writers, HerStry, and A Practical Wedding. Anne lives on the northwest coast of the US with her husband and their cat, Bismarck.
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