LATEST COLLEGE NEWS

OUR WRITERS' COLLEGE COURSES FOR 2014

 

Browse our range of courses on offer next year:

 

Southern Africa: SA Writers' College Writing Classes 

United Kingdom: UK Writers' College Writing Classes 

New Zealand and Australia: NZ Writers' College Writing Classes 

 

NEW COURSES 

 

In 2013 we opened the Practical Copy-editing and Proofreading Course to a clamour of new students. This challenging course aims to equip potential proofreaders and editors for working in the proofreading industry.

 

The Grammar for Writers Course opened a few months ago and has been hugely popular. Contact Koos for the course curriculum and details.

 

Our Facebook Community continues to grow as a fun space to like, comment and grow your writing skills. Everyone is welcome. 

 

 

OUR ANNUAL WRITERS' COLLEGE SHORT STORY COMPETITIONS  

 

Congratulations to Jade du Preez who won The NZ Writers College Short Story Award. Read her story and the judges' comments.

 

Carla Lever won the SA Writers College Short Story Competition with her story 'Food for Thought'.  

 

 

MY WRITING JOURNEY COMPETITIONS

 

We ran four 'writing journey' competitions in 2013. The final competition closes on 31 December this year.

 

Read our wonderful winners' stories:

 

Read the February 2013 winning entry here.

 

BURSARIES FOR 2014

Congratulations to Monde Mdodana from Port Elizabeth, South Africa, who has been awarded a place on the Basics of Creative Writing Course.

Well done to Arun Jeram, who will be writing a novel with us in 2014, partly sponsored by writer Carla Lever.

We have two more bursary places available on our short courses and have extended the bursary application date to end January 2014. To apply, please send a covering letter and two writing samples to nichola@nzwriterscollege.co.nz.

 

 

 

Janet Hart completed the Magazine Journalism Course in 2012 and has had several articles published in 2013. Read her lovely success story here.

 

Ann Huston studied travel writing in 2012 and her travel pieces have appeared in the Manuwatu Standard and the Herald on Sunday. Read more here.

 

A graduate of our Literary Short and Flash Fiction Course, writing under a pseudonym and who for personal reasons does not wish to be named, sent in two stories to this year's Golden Baobab Prize and both stories have been long-listed. She also had a story published in the Scottish PEN magazine.  

 

Sheritha Singh completed the Write a Book for Children Course. Her YA novel Cherish has been accepted for publication by Canadian publisher Breathless Press.   

 

Mariska le Grange wrote a book about Pippie Kruger, called Prinses Pippie Verjaar, accepted for publication by Lapa Publishers. Mariska was interviewed by Sarie Magazine - a fabulous read for Afrikaans students who need a bolt of inspiration. Mariska, we are super-proud of you.

 

Christine Wardle completed the Write a Novel and Advanced Write a Novel courses, studying with Sonny Whitelaw. Her novel Beneath the Perfect World is now available on Amazon. It was published by Oceanbooks in New Zealand.

 

Trevor Delaney completed the Web Writing Course in 2011. He has several blogs; here are two samples of the writing he has done since completing the course:

www.homeherbgardens.wordpress.com   

www.chilliesblog.wordpress.com   

 

Past student Trish Nicholson has a new book out on Amazon: Inside Stories for Writers and Readers. 

 

Esta Chappell recently completed the Magazine Journalism Course with Sarah Lang as her tutor. Her article about taxonomy, 'What's in a Name?', is being published in Good magazine.

 

Susan Green is a recent graduate of the Introduction to Poetry Course, working with Owen Bullock. She sent five poems to Blackmail Press, an NZ online journal, and they accepted all five for publication. Well done, Susan.

 

Aaron Ure won our 2011 NZ Writers' College Short Story Competition. His story 'Regrets' is a finalist in the Pikihuia Awards for Māori Writers 2013 - Best Short Story written in English. Congratulations, Aaron.

 

 

Janet Hart from New Zealand completed the Magazine Journalism Course last May. She has had pieces published on the webzine Kiwiboomers. The Nelson, Marlborough lifestyle magazine WildTomato recently published one of her articles. Canterbury's lifestyle magazine Latitude and the Kiwi historical magazine Memories have accepted her work. Two more articles are in the pipeline. Fingers crossed for Janet!

 

Stella Motsatsi completed the Short Story Writing for Magazines Course. She has had a story published in DRUM magazine called 'Gabisile the Gang Buster'.

 

Liz Robbertze recently completed the Magazine Journalism Course. Her articles 'Those were days my Comrades' and 'A Durbanite Home for the Holidays' are featured in the online magazine www.durbanzone.com. She had another article accepted for publication in a local magazine in Westville, Durban called 'Crime Zero'.   

 

 

Ansie de Kok's first novel Haar naam is Maria was published by Naledi Publishers.

 

Suzanne Main wrote an adventure story for boys (9-11 years old) and it will be published by a New Zealand publisher in March 2013.

 

Ayesha Ally on the Short Stories for Magazines Course has had a story published in ALI - an e-zine for the Ido language.

 

Tracy Brooks completed the Magazine Journalism Course in 2012, and sent us an update. She had an article on artist Tamar Mason published in Lowveld Living magazine, an article accepted by Food and Home magazine on locavores, and another article on locavores accepted by Lowveld Living. Tracy is responsible for publishing her son's school newsletter, and has also started two blogs: www.foreverbabies.weebly.com and www.lightly green.blogspot.com.

 

Charl Bezuidenhout completed the Creative Writing Course with Carina Diedericks-Hugo. He is now a published author. Read an Afrikaans interview with Charl here. 

 

 

NEWS ABOUT YOUR TUTORS

 

What your tutors were up to in 2013....

 

Write a Children's Book tutor Helen Brain  and one of her ex-students, vet Nicky Webb, have teamed up to write a series for tweens based on the escapades of a vet's family. The first book will be published in South Africa in the new year. They're co-writing using Scrivener software and Dropbox to share their files, as they live 1 000 km apart.

 

Philippa Werry has had two books published this year. Anzac Day: the New Zealand story (New Holland, March 2013) describes the history of Anzac Day and how it is celebrated today. Lighthouse family (Scholastic, November 2013) is a children's historical novel, part of the My New Zealand story series which takes an episode from NZ history and retells it in diary format. This novel is set in 1941-42 during World War Two, at a time when many people were worried about a possible Japanese invasion, and takes place on a remote (fictional) lighthouse off the north Auckland coast.  

 

Philippa also continues her committee work for the New Zealand Society of Authors (Wellington Branch) and the Wellington Children's Book Association, and has recently joined the committee of the Wellington Writers Walk.  

 

Di Smith is currently on the author team of three Natural Sciences textbooks and two Life Sciences textbooks that have all been published and are now being supplied to schools.  

 

 

 

 

Sarah Lang wrote features, reviewed films and TV, and was runner-up for Best Travel Story about New Zealand in the Cathay Pacific Travel Media Awards. She co-edited Scoop Review of Books, reviewed fiction for North & South and the NZ Listener, started a classic-book group, and became books writer for Wellington magazine Capital. But the highlight was being researcher/writer for Next magazine's Woman of the Year awards.

 

This year Don Pinnock won the City Press Non-fiction Award to write a book on Cape gangs. It's a cash prize that, he says, will force him to spend the next 18 months travelling to less-than-beautiful places and encountering beings far more dangerous than lions. He was also part of the formation of the Conservation Action Trust which supports journalists working on elephant matters - mainly anti-poaching and lobbying to stop the ivory trade. So he's been wandering around Africa for a while writing about and photographing grey, beautiful beasts. His big canvasses of elephants can be seen at a permanent exhibition in Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens (at Moyo) in Cape Town.

 

2013 was a busy year for Louis Greenberg. The third of the Downside trilogy, The New Girl by S.L. Grey, a collaboration between Louis and Sarah Lotz, was published in the UK and Commonwealth in October. Sarah and Louis signed a deal with PanMacmillan for their fourth and fifth novels, which has allowed him to take time off to write full time for the next couple of years. Their next novel, Underground, will be out in 2015. Louis also edited The Ghost-Eater and Other Stories, a showcase of fresh South African literary talent, with Diane Awerbuck, and completed his new solo novel, Dark Windows, a Johannesburg-based literary thriller, which will come out in April 2014. He's currently working on his next solo literary thriller.

 

Lisa Lazarus and Greg Fried (under the name Greg Lazarus) have just signed a publishing contract with Kwela for the publication of their second novel, Paradise. They have also had two short stories accepted for publication in two anthologies. These include a crime story, 'Mapping the Interior', which appeared in Bloody Satisfied (Two Dogs, 2013) and 'Where is the Tenderness', which will appear in Feast, Famine & Potluck (Short Story Day Africa, 2013).

 

SOME PARTING WORDS FROM YOUR TUTORS IN 2013

 

 

THE TOP CREATIVE WRITING EXCERPTS OF 2013

Read these latest articles on our college webzine:
 
Q & A with Travel Writer Don Pinnock

Donna Dailey's dream job: travel writing - by Candice Stephen

Spotlight on Scriptwriter Karen Jeynes

Celebrity writer profiles:

Louise Thompson: Life Coach, Yoga Instructor and Wellbeing Writer

The Writing Life of Author, Annelize Morgan

 

 

 

 

Tips for writers:  

Time Management for Journalists: from an Ayurvedic Perspective - by Malaika Davies

10 Ways To Please Your Editor (Through Good Web Writing) - by Esta Chappell

Effective Time Management for Journalists - by Namrata Nanda

DON'T FORGET TO ENTER!  

This competition aims to acknowledge excellence in creative writing in the Short Story genre. The contest is open to any beginner writer in South Africa who has had fewer than four stories/articles published in any format (print or digital).