"Natural creative talent is not enough. Writers need to learn their skills and perfect their craft. That's the task of The National Academy of Writing, to convert promise into achievement"

Jim Crace, Novelist & Academy Patron

NAW Course

The NAW course, based in London, combines the best aspects of Masterclasses, seminars on technique, and workshops. NAW Writers receive expert feedback on a scheduled, regular basis, while visiting NAW Patrons contribute their knowledge of craft and the industry.

In 2012 the unique NAW Masterclasses will be delivered by the Director Richard Beard. These Conservatoire-style Masterclasses, a central component of the Academy's course, are based on the advanced guidance offered to trainee musicians, as described by Leo Benedictus in Prospect magazine - 'impressive ... precise, intelligent and unarguable.'

Craft seminars in Session 1 will be led by novelist Lucy Caldwell, and in Session 2 by the Australian writer Peter Salmon. NAW Patrons visiting the course in 2012 include A.L.Kennedy, Sara Wheeler, Jane Harris, Naomi Alderman and Monica Ali. A list of contributing writers from 2011 is available here.

In the final 2012 session, industry experts will address professional issues facing all writers, including the state of book publishing, transmedia opportunities  and how to generate publicity.

Our 2011 experts included Sarah Savitt (Faber), Sean Coleman (Red Kingdom), Leo Benedictus (Guardian), Fiona Murphy (Random House) and Federay Holmes (Factory). Every writer selected for the course will be published in the NAW annual Anthology of New Writing which will be launched at Foyles bookshop on 7 November 2012. 

NAW Events

NAW and the publishing industry

The Academy is led by practising writers and has extensive contacts in the industry through the NAW Board of Trustees, Patrons and Partners. The Academy is supported by leading writers - the Academy Patrons - who visit Academy sessions to discuss battles with craft and technique as well as challenges within the industry.  Editors, agents and other industry professionals - our NAW Partners - also give presentations offering insights into their work.

NAW Honorary President Ion Trewin says: ‘The National Academy of Writing is a most welcome addition to the landscape of publishing. By offering first class editorial assistance and professional guidance, for new writers the course may be that vital help to bridge the gap between writing and publication.’

The aim of the founders is for the Academy to become a showcase for national and international writing talent. 

Director 

Richard Beard has published five novels and three books of creative nonfiction.  The novel Damascus was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year, and Muddied Oafs was short-listed for the British Sports Book Awards.   In 2008 he was short-listed for the BBC National Short Story Award and in 2010 long-listed for the inaugural Sunday Times EFG Private Bank Short Story Award. Lazarus is Dead (Harvill Secker 2011) is his most recent book.

Course Coordinator

Rena Brannan was born in Seoul, Korea and grew up in the United States.  She has been short-listed for the Harper’s Bizarre/Orange Short Story Competition, the Mslexia Short Story Competition, Yellow Voices Play Writing Competition, and the BBC 10-Minute Shorts Competition. In 2006 she co-produced Henry Green’s Nothing at the 59 E 59 Theater for the annual Brit’s Off Broadway Festival in New York. 

Honorary President

Ion Trewin was literary editor of The Times before becoming a publisher with Hodder & Stoughton and then Weidenfeld & Nicolson, where he was managing director and editor in chief.   His own books include the highly praised Alan Clark: The Biography, and since 2005 he has been literary director of the Man Booker Prizes. 

Chair

Francis Bennett has worked in publishing for over forty years. In 1987 he co-founded Book Data, and was its Managing Director until 2005. He has served as Vice-Chairman of the Book Development Council, Chairman of the Society of Bookmen and has received a British Book Award 'Lifetime Achievement'.  He is currently Deputy Chairman of Yale University Press in the UK. He is the author of three novels.

Board 

 Mary Tapissier has worked in academic journals, Children's and Religious Publishing and Corporate Publishing Management.  She was a Director of Hodder Headline Ltd, and following her retirement has served as a Trustee of the Poetry Book Society and chaired ABPTOE (the Association of Bookseller and Publishing Training of Europe).  

George Brock is Professor and Head of Journalism at City University London. He worked at The Times for 28 years. He is a board member of the World Editors Forum, a member of the British committee of the International Press Institute, and a governor of the Ditchley Foundation. He broadcasts and lectures frequently and reviews for the Times Literary Supplement.

Mark Featherstone-Witty is the Founding Principal/CEO of The Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts (LIPA).  He created and was Senior Educational Advisor for The BRIT School, is a Board Member of The Liverpool Royal Court Theatre Trust, Assistant Editor for Macmillan Education, and Consultant Education Editor for Quartet Books.  He is also a freelance journalist and author of two books.

Andrew Cowan is Director of the Creative Writing (Prose Fiction) MA at the University of East Anglia.  He has published four novels, including Pig, which won a Betty Trask Award, the Authors' Club First Novel Award, the Ruth Hadden Memorial Prize, a Scottish Arts Council Book Award and the Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award.  His last novel What I Know was the recipient of an Arts Council Writers' Award.  His work has been published in ten languages.