Your novel. My other passion project. And a giveaway.

Okay, so I can't promise you'll become a Sunday Times bestselling crime author of five novels, nor that you'll be a star on Traitors, like one of our illustrious alumni. But I can promise a year of outstanding teaching and support to develop your novel alongside a group of fellow writers who'll become more important to you than you might expect.

As well as running The Book Edit, I'm the founder and director of the Novel Studio at City St George's, a year-long programme for writers who are serious about their novel and serious about giving it the best possible chance. We have spaces available for our September 2026 start, and I'd love to see some of you there.

Our alumni track record speaks for itself. Alongside bestselling author of five crime novels, Harriet Tyce, Janice Okoh (last year’s Writers’ Prize judge) has just recently won an emerging talent BAFTA for her screenwriting; Deepa Anappara published her second novel, The Last of Earth, to great critical acclaim earlier this year; and Lara Haworth was shortlisted for the Nero Book Award for her debut, Monumenta.

The deadline has been extended, and there's a giveaway

We've extended our application deadline to 30th June, and to celebrate, we're offering something a little extra. The next ten people to apply will receive a free ticket to our end-of-year showcase — online or in person, your choice — where current Novel Studio students will share their work with an audience of invited industry guests. It's a great evening, and a real taste of what the community is all about.

To apply, email me at Emily.Pedder.1@citystgeorges.ac.uk with 2,000 words of your fiction and a CV detailing any writing experience.

Not quite ready to apply? Come and meet us first.

If you'd like to experience the Novel Studio before you commit, we're running a free one-hour taster session on Thursday 18th June, 12.30–1.30pm BST, via Zoom.

Dr Rebekah Lattin-Rawstrone will lead a mini session on reading like a writer, while Dr Kiare Ladner will explore the art of endings in fiction. There'll also be an overview of the programme and time for your questions.

It's free and online.

Your novel won't write itself, but this course can very much help.

Look forward to seeing some of you at the taster session!

E.L. Norry at City Writes — and a Novel Studio deadline to note

E.L. Norry is one of those writers who just keeps delivering, and we can't wait to celebrate her latest, Outlaws, out this July.

E.L. Norry’s latest novel, Outlaws, out this July

Norry is a multi-published author of middle-grade fiction and non-fiction, including Fablehouse and Fablehouse: Heart of Fire (Bloomsbury 2023 and 2024) and Runaways (Bloomsbury 2025). She is also an alumna of both the Book Edit Story Within and the Novel Studio, and this July she takes to the City Writes virtual stage to celebrate the publication of Outlaws (Bloomsbury), her latest middle-grade novel.

Author E.L. Norry

For those who don’t know, City Writes is City St George's termly showcase of new writing talent, founded and hosted by Dr Rebekah Lattin-Rawstrone and now in its seventh year. The event takes place on Wednesday 15 July at 7pm on Zoom and you can register here.

Alongside Norry, competition winners from the City St George’s Short Writing Courses community will also read their work live. If you are a past or present City St George’s Writing Short Course student, you are eligible to enter the competition. All you need is 1000 words of fiction or creative non-fiction. There is no set theme: all genres and reading ages are welcome (apart from picture books). The deadline is midnight, 12 June. Email your submission to: rebekah.lattin-rawstrone.2@city.ac.uk stating which course you took or are taking.

And for anyone who’s inspired to follow in E.L. Norry’s footsteps, the deadline for 2026/27 Novel Studio applications is fast approaching. If you're ready to write your novel, this is the programme I'd encourage you to look at seriously. I’m co-founder and course director of the programme at City St George's, and have seen firsthand, over the past twenty years, how helpful the course has been in guiding writers on that path towards publication..

It's a year-long, intensive programme – 30 weeks, two evenings a week – available in-person in London or fully online. Over three terms you’ll develop your novel from concept to completed submission package, workshopping in progress with peers and tutors, building craft across plotting, character, voice and narrative drive, and gaining access to agents and publishers in Term Three. Your work will be included in a professionally edited anthology distributed to all UK literary agents, and one-to-one tutorials and an industry showcase are all part of the year.

Two fully funded places are available via the Captain Tasos Politis Scholarship, open to talented writers from low-income households. Applications close 31 May. To apply or find out more, get in touch here.

Hope to see some of you at City Writes in July to celebrate E.L. Norry and the competition winners, and to read some applications to the Novel Studio before the May 31 deadline!

For anything else editing, mentoring or book coaching related, do get in touch.

Beyond the Prize: Bernie McQuillan's Remarkable Year

When Bernie McQuillan won the Book Edit Writers’ Prize in 2024, she was quietly working on not one but two pieces of fiction. Fast forward to today, and her short story has been broadcast on BBC Radio 4, her debut novel The Lobster Pot is days away from publication with Indie Novella, and her prize-winning caving story has been shortlisted for the Farnham Book Festival First Five Pages competition. I was delighted to ask Bernie about juggling projects, the road to publication, and what it really means to keep believing in your work.

1. Hearing your work read aloud on Radio 4 is a milestone many writers only dream of. What was it like to listen to Caoimhe Farren bring ‘He Who Conquers Himself Is the Mightiest Warrior’ to life, and did her interpretation surprise you in any way?

Bernie: Being on Radio 4 is nerve-racking and brilliant at the same time. I went for a walk by the river listening to my Warrior story on my headphones the way I always listen to BBC Short Works. I wanted to see if it engaged me as much as other stories I liked and it did. Caoimhe brought a gravitas to the story, drawing out Erin’s thoughts about how to proceed with the return of her breast cancer while learning more about the relationship between her doctor and his wife. The story isn’t without humour as the truth unfolds and Caoimhe drew that out beautifully. Her reading reminded me again of the importance of keeping to a small number of different voices on radio so that the listener doesn’t get confused. Coincidentally, during Feb/March, Caoimhe was in the play ‘Consumed,’ the Karis Kelly theatre production in The Lyric Belfast, and she was wonderful.

2.  The story centres on a woman navigating the tension between medical authority and personal knowledge. Can you tell us a little about the origins of the story?

Bernie: My background is in health and social care, and I wanted to draw out the nuances of hierarchy that exist in the medical profession and between hospital roles. Everyone is equal but some are more equal than others and that reflects in Doctor McEvoy’s belief that he knows best, the way he decides on Erin’s treatment without full discussion. He also thinks his wife’s practice should be limited to exercise classes, he calls her holistic approach ‘mumbo-jumbo’. And yet, the doctor and Erin are both under Michelle’s spell. Erin sees that now, but Doctor McEvoy does not, he is preparing to go rescue his wife rather than rescue himself. Doctors, like everyone else, delude themselves about their attributes. Perhaps, in the end, good doctors are those who recognise that treatment is about the physical (medicine, chemo, diet) and the psychological. 

3.  Your debut novel The Lobster Pot publishes with Indie Novella at the end of April – congratulations! Can you tell us a little about the book and what readers can expect from it?

Bernie: The Lobster Pot is a Donegal-based literary mystery, set in the fictional village of Rathmore. It’s the story of one village curse, two missing lads (Tommy and Finn), and three women (Kitty, Isabel and Alannah) searching for answers to their disappearance over four decades. A ‘gripping novel of passion, rivalry, and the dangerous weight of unrequited love’ (Indie Novella). An early draft of the novel was longlisted by the Caledonia Novel Award, shortlisted by the Watson Little & Indie Novella Prize and highly commended in the Irish Novel Fair.

The story emerged during my many visits to Glenveagh Castle in County Donegal, looking out onto the beautiful Lough Veagh and the rolling Derryveagh Mountains. The estate’s history includes John Adair’s 1861 eviction of 244 tenants from the grounds to make way for more profitable land use. The tenants cursed his family and future owners of the estate, promising no more children would be born in Glenveagh. And none have been. Another owner, Professor Kingsley Porter disappeared close to the estate in 1933, his body was never found. I began to think about the likes of the Adairs running a children’s home and wondered if those children might overcome their difficult start in life? Would it destroy them or would the children, as one of the villagers says, learn to be as devious as their masters?

Here's what Bernie McGill (winner of the Edge Hill Short Story Prize) said about The Lobster Pot: ‘Rathmore is a small Irish seaside village with big world problems: fraud, misplaced loyalties, clandestine meetings, hidden desires. The Lobster Pot is a riveting family saga of high drama and tension, of intrigue, lies and suspense.’ And Malachi O'Doherty, journalist, said: ‘At its simplest, this is a story of a young woman's effort to keep a promise to her dead mother that she would protect a brother too easily led astray but it is so much more, a profile of a community and a generation. 

4.  I think I’m right in saying you were writing The Lobster Pot at the same time as your caving story, which went on to win the Book Edit Prize. How do you manage working across very different projects simultaneously, and do they feed each other creatively?

Bernie: I am a writer who loves the landscapes of the west of Ireland, and the less well-known western counties of Northern Ireland. While the themes of The Lobster Pot were bubbling away, I was also reflecting on my earlier life as a caver in the border counties (Fermanagh, Cavan & Leitrim). Many people visit the Marble Arch Caves (where I was a guide) but these passages are just a fraction of this amazing underground world. Combined with the knowledge that, despite the end of the Troubles, there are still a small number of The Disappeared outstanding (men and women who were kidnapped by the IRA during the Troubles and buried in the border area). What if, I thought, one of the disappeared was spirited away through the tunnel network and buried in the land close to where the tunnel emerges? What if his daughter, a caver, discovers the ‘lost’ tunnel and finds bones at the end of the cave?

I manage both projects together by setting my characters firmly in the two distinct landscapes, either the granite and quartzite rock in Donegal (dense and resistant, think Mount Errigal) or the limestone setting in Fermanagh (soft porous rock, characterised by caves, sinkholes and valleys). Both are landscapes where people go missing and both stories have evolved from real incidents. The characters I’ve lived with for so long are formed from their relationship to the landscape and the people of the area and I don’t confuse them. They are very real to me.

5.  You're publishing with a brilliant small independent press, Indie Novella. What has that relationship been like compared to what you might have imagined traditional publishing to be?

Bernie: Firstly, I am indebted to Indie Novella for their wonderful commitment to writers starting out. They offer a fantastic series of writing programs, free to writers.

They are a small team, led by Damien Mosley and it has been an intense period since the offer of publication and contract signing, of drafting and redrafting my work until we were all satisfied that The Lobster Pot was the best it could be. This meant stripping away some of the additional storylines I loved but were superfluous to the story (this was hard) and going deeper into the key story in subsequent edits. Indie Novella are very committed to the small number of projects they take on. The book cover design process was also fascinating, and I love the final cover. I have learned so much during this editing process that it will prove very useful in my caving book and other stories. For example, concentrating on the specificity of the characters, the landscape, the way people speak and change over time. I have gained so much with Indie Novella, I heartily recommend working with Indie publishing. 

6.  Your Book Edit Prize entry has now been shortlisted for the Farnham Book Festival First Five Pages competition, with a different opening. What prompted you to rework the start, and what does that revision process tell you about how your writing has evolved?

Bernie: In my Book Edit version, my caving story was told by four characters, third person past tense, over two timelines, with a flashback to the kidnapping. It is fascinating but understandably hard to keep abreast of who, where and when.

The second draft, currently underway, is a two character, first person story over one timeline, with flashback. I miss my other two characters, but I am working out how to include some of their story (while remembering lessons learned from The Lobster Pot about going deep rather than broad). I am currently (thanks to part-funding via The Irish Writers Centre) on Conor Kostick’s Finish Your Novel programme and we are discussing POV at the moment, the pros and cons of present tense storylines and I am feeling these pros and cons right now!

So, I am not sure yet how I will complete this novel. All I know is that I love the story and the caving gang, and the first 10,000 words were just this week longlisted for the Essex Novel Prize which is great and makes me think it is working for those readers.

7.  Looking back, what did winning the Book Edit Prize give you that relates to where you are now?

Bernie: It’s about confidence, the confidence to concentrate on writing, reading and sharing more with other writers. Sometimes winning something helps when you apply for another programme. Myself and nineteen other Irish writers, from the north and south, have just completed Island of Many Voices (a collaboration between The Linenhall Library, Belfast & Dublin UNESCO City of Literature) where we worked with six well-known writers to understand how their backgrounds shaped their work, before we came together to share our own new pieces of writing. It was a fascinating process, and the conversations urged me on to continue with my caving novel, so the time out has been rewarding for me. Winning the Book Edit prize helped me secure this programme and is a key part of my writing journey so far.

8.  You've clearly been doing the quiet, disciplined work across multiple projects for a long time before this moment of public recognition. What would you say to writers who are in that less visible stage, wondering if it's all going anywhere?

Bernie: Keep going with your practice, while at the same time reaching out to others to share work and feedback. Find out what is going on in terms of support and challenge, through competitions or writer programmess. There is nothing like deadlines to focus the mind, the re-reading aloud of work and recording it and playing it back to sharpen your sentences. I have found a whole new support group on Instagram (@mcquillanbernie) and often come across programmess and competitions on social media that I wouldn’t have found otherwise. I also love going to book launches and author talks for the gems you pick up, and the friendships formed with other writers. Wendy Erskine reminded us, at the finale of The Island programme, that public recognition comes and goes but it is the ongoing work that will sustain us. Excellent advice, I think!

9.  With a novel launching, a Radio 4 credit to your name, and a shortlisted story under revision, what are you working towards now – and is there more Bernie McQuillan work in the pipeline we should be watching out for?

Bernie: I mentioned landscape earlier, and the Island of Many Voices program, just completed. It reminded me that, whilst I’ve written about Donegal, Fermanagh, Cavan and Leitrim, I haven’t talked about my own origins in County Tyrone, an area that comes to life so vividly in the poetry of John Montague, reared in Garvaghey, the land of my mother’s family and an area I am in most weekends. I was at Patrick Gale’s launch this week in Belfast, where he talked about writing about his own family. Anthony J Quinn also discussed Tyrone and the merits of writing his family story in the Island of Many Voices. I am mulling over the mysteries in my own family history and thinking about setting a story in Tyrone.

But for the moment my energies are going into bringing The Lobster Pot to a wider audience, thanks to the likes of this Book Edit interview, as well as finishing a further draft of my caving novel. It is a privilege to be balancing all these things, and I will enjoy it while I can! I have my own website now (courtesy of my son Conor) and I will update my journey there.

Thanks so much Bernie! And huge congratulations on the book. We can’t wait to read it.

From Prize Winner to Published Author: Bren Gosling on Street Sweeper

When Bren Gosling entered the inaugural Book Edit Writers’ Prize, his debut novel Street Sweeper was already something special. It went on to become a winner that year, and we weren’t the only ones to think so — the Novel London Literary Prize agreed. Now, with his novel about to be published, I was delighted to get the opportunity to ask Bren about his path from manuscript to bookshelf.

Novelist and playwright Bren Gosling

1.  Street Sweeper won both the Novel London Literary Prize and the inaugural Book Edit Writers’ Prize. What did it mean to you to have your novel recognised by these different prizes?

BREN: It was a sea change for me in how I saw myself as a novelist. My confidence was boosted. Part of the Novel London win included a very generous 12 months of 1:1 mentoring with the published crime writer Nadine Matheson. This gave me the opportunity to comprehensively re-draft my novel, gaining new insights into plot and character development. I also changed one of the characters completely ( age and gender) to make a stronger source of conflict within the narratives.

The Book Edit Prize offered continued encouragement and support. I can honestly say winning that has been instrumental in pursuing publication of my book.

2.   You’ve described your work as exploring ‘the narratives of quiet lives, extraordinarily lived’ and ‘marginalised voices of overlooked people and places.’ Where did the seed of Street Sweeper come from, and how did that core vision shape the novel as it developed?

BREN: OK, so it’s a long story! Essentially, I became housebound and unable to walk for two years due to  severe CFS/ ME. My previously active world shrank quickly to lying on a mattress and looking out of my front window onto the street and listening to Radio Four all day. I started noticing a street sweeper pass by outside on his beat, regular as clockwork. And I got to wonder what his backstory was. Who was he? Where was he from? What were his dreams and hopes for the future? I never did get to meet him, but this gave me the idea for the protagonist in my novel.

As I recovered – it took another three years altogether, and when well enough, I started doing creative writing courses – I eventually sketched out this idea of a street sweeper fleeing Kosovo ( Kosovo because no one was talking about the war that happened there anymore, it was forgotten) and relocated to London; meeting and falling in love with an older man. I went on a journey of research including interviewing Kosovan immigrants, attending a Pentecostal Church, and shadowing a local street sweeper, before I began to flesh out my character narratives. I set the story largely in gentrifying Walthamstow  Village, an area I knew well because I lived there ( I don’t anymore).

3.    I like to think that the Book Edit is somewhere the relationship doesn’t end when the editorial work does. Has that rung true for you, and what has that ongoing connection meant at the different stages of bringing Street Sweeper to publication?

BREN: Emily, definitely! You might win competitions, but writing can still feel lonely and is often stalked by thoughts of self-doubt. The Book Edit have been brilliant at keeping in touch, offering support and advice on routes to publication, especially at times when I felt I was getting nowhere. I think choosing to write literary fiction or UPLIT made it  harder to place my book. It’s taken a while. Just having a trusted sounding board to turn to when I needed helped me keep a clear vision.

4.    The journey from a finished draft to a published novel can be long and disorienting. How did you navigate the process and what was most helpful to you editorially?

BREN: Is a MS ever finished? Writing the beginning was relatively straight forward, the end much trickier, and the scenes in between got reshuffled, rewritten, some deleted and new ones added, so… I’ve lost count of the number of rewrites Street Sweeper has turned in. The upside is the characters in my book feel like they exist as real people and I had an increasing weight of responsibility to facilitate their most honest and raw narratives. Of course, these are fictional characters, but to me they’ve become real people. This novel has taken easily ten years to write, off and on. Through the ups and downs and breaks from the MS, I’ve always made myself continue to write. At first flash fiction ( I did an excellent online course with Fish Publishing) was great to just keep me writing. I even won some prizes, got published. To keep writing regardless is important, it’s a form of religion to me in a way.

Before winning the novel competitions, I’d just about given up with my book. I had written a second novel, but that didn’t get any bites from agents. It’s still on my laptop, but at the moment I can’t face getting stuck into another redraft (yet). I’m too busy with other theatre projects. In 2017/18, I was offered a place on The John Burgess Playwriting Course and grabbed that opportunity to diversify into writing for theatre. I used Street Sweeper to inspire my play Proud which got a producer and had a four-week run in London during 2022. I think if you have recognition by way of competition listings and wins, perhaps that’s a sign for you to continue with a book. But I did take a break for a while. Like I’ve said, the mentorship with Nadine Matheson was brilliant and helped me look afresh at the MS. I don’t think I would have done that if I’d not won The Novel London Literary Prize.

5.    You’re an established playwright with work performed at the Arcola and the King’s Head theatres amongst many others. How did your experience of writing for the stage influence the way you wrote fiction?

BREN: My initial forays into writing for theatre were monologues. I soon realised a prose monologue is a very different beast to a theatrical monologue. Scratch nights and festivals proved brilliant testing grounds for my theatre work, and I’ve used both to hone my playwriting skills and experience. I LOVE collaborating with actors and a director on a new script. It’s a process that also involves rewriting. But evolving a new piece this way can be thrilling, especially when a live performance is realised.

6.    Publication day is a milestone many writers dream about for years. Now that it’s here, how does the reality of it feel compared to what you imagined, and what’s surprised you most about the road to publication?

BREN: The decision to go indie was scary at first, but the process of working with my publisher Troubador has been a joy. Especially, I have enjoyed collaborating with a designer on my book cover. And I’m really pleased with the style and format of the printed text we’ve chosen.

Bren Gosling’s debut novel, Street Sweeper

8.  For unpublished writers who might be sitting on a manuscript right now, wondering whether to seek editorial support or enter a prize like the Book Edit Writers’ Prize, what would you tell them?

BREN: I can’t recommend enough the importance of having an external support editorially: someone you respect professionally, and you know has confidence in what you are trying to achieve with a project. The Book Edit gets top marks from me!

9.   You’re based between Suffolk and London, and you’re a member of the Writers’ Guild of Britain. How important has community and connection with other writers been to your creative life, and how do you sustain that?

BREN: I’ve been a member of a couple of writer’s groups down the years, which I found helpful in getting my early drafts heard and critiqued, and for honing my own critiquing skills. There’s a certain camaraderie to being part of a writer’s group – a sort of ‘we’re in this together’ vibe.

The Writers Guild of GB membership is an important support. They give great advice on legal or creative conundrums and afford access to opportunities like showcases, competitions etc.

10. What's next? You have Invisible Me heading to Southwark Playhouse and Grossly Indecent in development, how do you manage the creative demands of both playwright and novelist, and which hat are you wearing most comfortably right now?

BREN: There is lots to do in the lead up to the publication of my novel Street Sweeper, though my publisher is taking on many of the tasks such as trade and digital marketing. I must organise a book blog tour and approach local bookshops for events. Again, this can be a bit nerve racking and time consuming but will pay dividends (fingers crossed).

Having a professional producer onboard for my upcoming play allows me, the writer, to take a back seat from the day-to-day. I did attend the production photoshoot once we’d cast, which was exciting. I will be attending some but not all the rehearsals. I have a great director for the play, who has also been dramaturg on the script so that’s given me confidence in the piece. It is cool to see Press and Media coverage, and we’ve already had exposure on BBC’s The One Show, Channel 5 News and upcoming on ITV, as well as coverage in The Mail, and The i Paper. Hope you and your readers will come and see us at Southwark Playhouse (Borough) 8th April- 2nd May 2026!

Catch Bren’s new play at the Southwark Playhouse next month

The hat I am wearing right now has both novel and  play insets. I think my next project will be to develop a production of  my play Grossly Indecent. But that’s currently  somewhere on the horizon…😊

QR code for Bren’s new play at the Southwark Playhouse

Thanks so much, Bren! And huge congratulations on the upcoming publication of your novel, Street Sweeper. We wish you every success with this book and all your other exciting creative projects.

The Shortlist Sessions 4

In our final spotlight on our 2025 Book Edit Writers’ Prize shortlisted writers, we are thrilled to introduce you to the brilliant Esohe Uwadiae and Shehrazade Zafar-Arif.

Esohe Uwadiae

Esohe Uwadiae is a multidisciplinary creative. Her work has been shortlisted for awards including the Women's Prize for Playwriting and the Alfred Fagon Award. She has participated in programmes with the London Library, Royal Court and Old Vic and staged work at theatres including the Almeida and Duke of York’s.

Iniono

When Kene’s sister Ehi vanishes after killing their mother, Kene is plunged into a relentless search through the shadows of juju and the occult in modern Britain. Hunted by ruthless supernatural forces and haunted by her own betrayal, Kene is forced to trust Nosa, a mysterious ally whose hidden motives may be as dangerous as the enemies they face. As ancient rituals collide with contemporary life, secrets unravel and paranoia mounts, pushing Kene to risk everything to save her sister.

Shehrazade Zafar-Arif

Shehrazade is a British-Pakistani writer and theatre critic based in London. She’s had short stories published in several literary magazines, including Peatsmoke Journal, Fiery Scribe Review, and Stanchion, and sits on the editorial team of CRAFT Literary. She wrote this novel while completing the Curtis Brown Creative novel-writing course.

City of Storytellers

Ali, the adopted son of a murdered activist, searches for the birth mother who abandoned him, to understand if it was chance or choice that shaped the trajectory of his life. But it’s near-impossible to find anyone in a city like Karachi: labyrinthine, divided, beset by turmoil in the lead-up to a contentious election, and filled with hundreds of stories, each one bringing Ali closer to a devastating truth.

Thank you to all our wonderful shortlisted writers and finalists for the 2025 Writers’ Prize. We’re very proud of them all!

Hit the button below to be on the list to hear about this year’s prize or get in touch to find out more about what we do.