Your course will comprise:
- 5 hour-long lectures delivered by expert tutors
- 5 x 30-minute Q&A sessions
- 10 small-group 90-minute workshops
- Two 20-minute individual tutorials on your own writing
- A walking tour of Oxford
- Opening and closing drinks receptions
- Optional evening social programme
Orientation meeting and welcome champagne reception
Your programme starts on Sunday afternoon with your arrival at New College and a full orientation meeting during which we'll provide you with all the information you need to take full advantage of your time during the course.
We then invite you to join us for a champagne reception in the beautiful New College Cloisters, overlooking a green space in which grows the holm oak made famous in the Harry Potter films.
Course outline and structure
Your morning will begin either with a plenary session in which industry professionals and established authors give a talk, or with individual writing time.
You'll also participate in workshops in two genres of your choice and benefit from an individual tutorial on a piece of your own writing for each workshop option.
Plenty of time for writing in New College's inspiring environment has been built into the course.
You can find a sample timetable here to see how your course will be structured.
Plenary lectures
Monday 14 August - Agencies by Anthony Harwood, literary agent
Tuesday 15 August - Writing creative non-fiction by Alice Jolly, biographer
Wednesday 16 August - Writing fiction by Suzannah Dunn, author
Thursday 17 August - Writing and Publishing Genre Fiction by David Bishop, poet and publisher
Friday 18 August - Researching for writing by Rebecca Abrams, author
Please note that lecture days may change.
Optional social and informal events
We encourage you to mingle and network in a bar quiz night and to showcase your work at an open mic night. You'll also have a chance to enjoy a guided tour of the historic centre of Oxford.
Closing reception and gala farewell dinner
We invite you to join us for one last glass of champagne in the Cloisters before enjoying a gala farewell dinner in the beautiful surroundings of New College's dining hall. For this special occasion formal dress is encouraged.
Meals and Morning Refreshments
Breakfast
A self-service buffet style breakfast is provided offering a wide range of hot and cold options.
Refreshments
Tea, coffee and biscuits are served during the morning break.
Lunch
A two-course self-service lunch is provided in the college dining hall.
Dinner
A two-course self-service dinner is provided in the college dining hall.
Your tutors
Alice Jolly - tutor for Life Writing
Alice Jolly’s most recent novel Mary Ann Sate, Imbecile was published in 2018 by Unbound. It was runner up for the Rathbones Folio Prize. Alice has also won the Pen Ackerley Prize for memoir and the V.S. Pritchett Memorial Prize for one of her short stories. She was awarded an O.Henry Prize in 2021 and teaches creative writing at Oxford University and Life Writing at Goldsmiths (University of London).
Dr Pete Freestone - tutor for Writing Fantasy Fiction
Dr Pete Freestone (they/she) is an award-winning fantasy author published in eight languages, and an academic interested in the ways SFF influences the real world. Writing as P.M. Freestone, their Shadowscent fantasy duet began with The Darkest Bloom (an Aurealis Awards finalist, and a Scottish Book Trust, Books for Keeps and DIVA Magazine Book of the Month) and concluded with Crown of Smoke. Pete’s short stories for adults and young people have appeared in various online and print venues including anthologies from Penguin. By first training, Pete was an archaeologist, mapping lost Maya cities in the Belizean rainforest and restoring Ancient Roman armour. Now, when not writing, they're the Programme Leader of the MA Writing Genre Fiction at Edinburgh Napier University and serve as a trustee for Cymera, Scotland's festival of science fiction, fantasy and horror writing.
David Bishop - tutor for Writing Crime Fiction
David Bishop leads the creative writing programmes at Edinburgh Napier University in Scotland which specialise in genre fiction. As D. V. Bishop he writes the Cesare Aldo crime thrillers set in Renaissance Florence which have won the NZ Booklovers Prize, been shortlisted for the Wilbur Smith Adventure Writing Prize, and longlisted for the Ngaio Marsh Award, the Crime Writers’ Association Gold Dagger, and the Historical Dagger. His latest crime novel is Ritual of Fire, published by Pan Macmillan in June 2023.
Susannah Rickards - tutor for Writing Fiction
Susannah Rickards is an award-winning short story writer. Her collected work Hot Kitchen Snow is published by Salt and won the international Scott Prize for best short fiction debut. Individual stories appear in anthologies and literary magazines, national newspapers and BBC radio. They have won or placed in literary awards such as Alpine Fellowship, Carve USA, HG Wells, International Pen, Commonwealth Broadcasting, BBC Opening Lines, Society of Authors Tom Gallon, Bridport and Bath. She read English at St Peter’s College Oxford and has been a Hawthornden Fellow. For over twenty years, she has worked as a literary consultant, editing and mentoring writers from newcomers to New York Times bestsellers. Her mentees often go on to secure agents, major publishing deals and win literary awards.
Rebecca Abrams - tutor for Writing Historical Fiction
Rebecca Abrams is an award-winning author of eight published works of both fiction and non-fiction. Her books include the acclaimed historical novel Touching Distance (Picador), which was shortlisted for the McKitterick Prize for Literature and highly praised by Hilary Mantel. Other recent publications include The Jewish Journey: 4000 years in 22 objects (Ashmolean Museum) and Licoricia of Winchester: Power and Prejudice in 13th century England (LoWa). Rebecca has taught creative writing at Oxford University since 2007 and is a regular literary critic for the Financial Times.
Daisy McNally - tutor for Writing Psychological Thrillers
Dr Daisy McNally’s psychological thriller is called I See Through You and was published by Orion in 2018. The film & TV rights were optioned by Tiger Lily Productions. Dr McNally has an MA and a PhD from Bath Spa University in Creative Writing, and a degree in English Literature from Durham University. She teaches on the Creative Writing Undergraduate Diploma for Oxford University
The venue
Situated at the very heart of the city, New College is one of the largest and most architecturally striking colleges in Oxford, combining outstanding facilities with spectacular buildings and gardens set against the twelfth-century city wall.
New College was founded in 1379 by William of Wykham, Bishop of Winchester, as 'the college of St Mary of Winchester in Oxford', and was the largest college at the time. It soon became known as New College to distinguish it from an earlier Oxford college (Oriel) also dedicated to the Virgin Mary.
Architecturally, New College was innovative in its enclosed quadrangle - the first of its type, which has since become one of the defining features of colleges across Oxford and Cambridge. Around the quadrangle are the cloisters, dining hall, chapel, student accommodation and beautiful gardens and grounds, which you are free to explore.
The cloisters, hall, chapel and gardens are fully accessible. Access to the hall is provided via a lift, and teaching and bed/study rooms are either ground-floor or easily accessed by lift.
