New Writing

Four UEA Creative Writing alumni have been selected for this year’s Escalator Talent Development Scheme, which is administered by Writers’ Centre Norwich and supported by Arts Council England and the Leverhulme Trust. Over the next ten months each of the writers will receive a package of support including one-to-one mentoring from established writers, a residential retreat with tailored development workshops, peer support and a final showcase to agents and publishers. They are Sally (S.E.) Craythorne, who graduated from the MA in Creative Writing (Prose Fiction) in 2004 and published her first novel How You See Me in 2015; Alex Ivey, who graduated from the MA in Creative Writing (Prose Fiction) in 2010 and whose work has been nominated for Mslexia’s Women’s Novel and Children’s Competitions, for the Bath Children’s Novel Award and David Fickling’s Master of the Inkpot Award; Owen Nicholls, who graduated from the MA in Creative Writing (Scriptwriting) in 2009 and who had his first screenplay optioned to Bedlam Productions last year; and Sunitha Webster, who also graduated from the MA in Creative Writing (Scriptwriting) in 2009 and was selected that year as a Skillset Bursary Award winner. Among the shortlisted authors for this year’s scheme were Adam Keogh and Samantha Allen, who both graduated from the MA in Creative Writing (Prose Fiction) in 2016.