Publisher Comma Press, in partnership with Manchester Metropolitan University, has today announced the National Creative Writing Industry Conference. The conference is a spin on the usual annual event of the National Creative Writing Industry Day, which is usually a ticketed, non-remote event held in Manchester. Due to the pandemic, however, this year the event has gone remote and split into a number of free events running online from the 26th-30th October, combined with some ticketed ones.
The Conference will open with a speech from award-winning author Irenosen Okojie, author of Butterfly Fish and Nudibranch, which is free to attend, and is continued by free-to-attend panel discussions with industry professionals. These panel discussions will be streamed live via YouTube from Tuesday-Friday at 11am-12pm, and are open to all. At the time of writing, the panel discussions are still To Be Announced.
There is also the option to pay for a choice of two ticketed packages, which cover either the 27th and 28th or the 29th and 30th October. These packages both include a workshop and the opportunity to pitch work to a literary agent who specialises in categories including sci-fi, children’s literature and short stories. Both the workshops and the pitching sessions will take place over Zoom or another video conferencing software.
The idea behind the conference is to “bridge the gap” between creative writers and getting an agent and a book deal – a struggle we’ve heard about before and one that will be familiar to many young writers. The ability to meet literary agents is invaluable for young writers – and free packages are available for Greater Manchester residents, as the conference has been designed in collaboration with The Writing School at Manchester Metropolitan University.
As well as this, writers from underrepresented backgrounds will be offered half-price places.
Words by Gabriel Rutherford
For more details on 2020’s National Creative Writing Conference, click here
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