The proof is in the publication
Alumni and current students on the Diploma and Master's in Creative Writing programmes have a bumper crop of forthcoming book publications and agent acquisitions to announce.
James Benmore's book Dodger is out in April 2013 and is available for pre-order on Amazon. From Amazon:
London, 1850s: after five years in an Australian penal colony, the Artful Dodger returns to London in search of a hidden fortune. Unaware of the fate that befell Twist, Fagin and Sikes, Dodger revisits the criminal underworld of Dickensian London to seek out his old comrades, any of whom might possess the key to the treasure. He finds the city a changed place from his youth: with law and order upheld by a new police force, Fagin gone to the gallows, his old gang scattered and danger around every corner.
January saw the UK launch of Prajwal Parajuly's highly acclaimed book The Gurkha's Daughter. The book came out first in India in late 2012, and has been highly and widely praised. From Amazon:
A disfigured servant girl plans to flee Nepal; a Kalimpong shopkeeper faces an impossible dilemma; a Hindu religious festival in Darjeeling brings with it a sacrifice; a Gurkha's daughter tries to comprehend her father's complaints; two young Nepali-speaking immigrants meet in Manhattan. These are just some of the stories describing and dramatizing the experiences of the Nepalese people and the Nepalese diaspora - the people whose culture and language is Nepalese but who are dispersed to India, Bhutan and beyond. From every perspective and on every page, Prajwal Parajuly blends rich colour and vernacular to paint an eye-opening picture of a unique world and its people.
Read a review of The Gurkha's Daughter in The Guardian.
Elisabeth Gifford (Undergraduate Diploma in Creative Writing alumna) has a two-book deal with Corvus, an imprint of Atlantic Books. The first novel, Secrets of the Sea House, comes out in August. Please see: www.conted.ox.ac.uk/gifford.
Diploma in Creative Writing alumna Margaret Keeping has had her first novel, A Conscious Englishman, published by local publisher StreetBooks, a publishing house founded by Frank Egerton, fiction tutor on the Diploma and Master's programmes. For more information, please see: streetbooks.co.uk.
Diploma alumna Davina Smith, who recently completed her MA at Bath Spa University, won a competition in which she has been awarded a publishing deal with Janklow and Nesbit Associates literary agency for her book, Tumbledown.
Stephanie Chong has published two paranormal romance novels with Harlequin MIRA, which have been released in the US, Canada, the UK, Australia, and translated into Italian, German and Polish. The third novel of her trilogy is forthcoming in 2013.
Current student Kiran Millwood Hargrave's publisher for her next poetry collection will be Gatehouse Press
David Shook's book Our Obsidian Tongues is due out in the Spring from Eyewear.
Antoinette Pas has signed with Amsterdam publishing house Prometheus for her second novel, Intimacy (working title), which will be published in Spring 2013.
Jing Lee's first novella If I Could Tell You is available as a Kindle edition, and the paperback edition will be released in May.
Blanka Cechova's fourth book came out several months ago in the Czech Republic. She is now translating the previous novel into English, and it will come out as an ebook in the spring of 2013. For more information (in Czech) please see http://motto.cz/kniha/prirucka-jadranske-snoubenky
Jeremy Hughes' second book Wingspan was published by Cillian Press in autumn. Jeremy was a member of the first group of graduates of the Master's programme. In addition to his writing, Jeremy teaches prose fiction on the Department's Undergraduate Diploma in Creative Writing.
Deirdre Kelly has finished her first novel and has secured an agent - Marianne Gunn O'Connor - who is based in Dublin.
Erik Boman has secured an agent - Victoria Hobbs at AM Heath.
Bette Adriaanse has signed with an agent at Greene and Heaton.
Jesselynn Sutanto has secured an agent - Kerry Glencorse of Susanna Lea Associates.
The Diploma in Creative Writing provides two years of intensive part-time study and more than 200 contact hours. Meeting weekly in Oxford, the Diploma encourages sustained involvement in a wide range of literary projects. For more information, please see the course description at: www.conted.ox.ac.uk/dipcw.
The Mst in Creative Writing is a two year, part-time programme structured specifically for an international student cohort, and offering a unique combination of high contact hours, genre specialization, and critical and creative breadth. For more information, please see the course description page on our website.
Published 25 January 2013