NAW student signs first book deal with publisher
中英网:www.uker.net    访问量： 人次    编辑：    发布时间：2007-09-28

One of the first students to study on the ground-breaking diploma linking the University of Central England in Birmingham and the National Academy of Writing (NAW) has signed a book deal with Cinnamon Press.

Truth Games, written by Bobbie Darbyshire, from Clapham, has been accepted for publication in July 2009. The independent Welsh publishing house picked up the novel after Bobbie entered it in one of their competitions.

Truth Games came second but Cinnamon Press liked the novel so much they asked to see a further draft and subsequently agreed a deal. “Cinnamon is a well-respected and fast-growing small press, and this is a giant leap for me,” Bobbie said.

Set in 1970s London, Truth Games is fast, funny and sexy, following a group of 20 and 30-somethings as they experiment with free love. Only when the whole truth comes out do these swingers realise that bed-hopping has a high price.

Now 60, Bobbie has faced an uphill struggle to publication since she quit work in 1995 to write full-time. “I've been learning to write novels for 12 years and have had contracts with three agents, who’ve all praised my distinctive voice, but failed to sell my books in today’s tough market.

“Meanwhile I've continued to raise my game and to submit to competitions. Cinnamon noticed me, short-listed Truth Games and invited me to submit a rewrite direct. I did. They said yes!”

Bobbie says her success has been due in no small part to studying at the National Academy of Writing: “Acceptance onto the NAW qualifying module helped to lift my spirits when my last agent rejected this book in October 2006. Within weeks and with added encouragement from my private network of readers, I had launched into the radical rewrite that led to the Cinnamon deal.

“The synergy of the NAW qualifying week with 22 other hopefuls kept me airborne – helped me to complete the book by the competition deadline without crashing and burning. When it came second, the screenwriting module then gave me the tools to rise to Cinnamon’s challenge, showing me how to mend the flaws and deliver a final version that not only pleased Cinnamon but also pleased me because I could see the story-logic of what I was doing.”

Professor David Roberts, Head of the School of English in UCE Birmingham Faculty of Law, Humanities, Development and Society, said: “ Bobbie is one of a very talented group of students and we all feel very proud of this achievement.”

At UCE Birmingham the unique link-up between the University and the National Academy of Writing offers a two-year vocational diploma for budding writers. Options include fiction, screenwriting and life writing – a combination of personal memoirs and biography.

A fourth speciality in playwriting should be made available to students soon, who also benefit from the input of the National Academy of Writing’s impressive list of patrons, which includes Nick Hornby, Ian Rankin, Jacqueline Wilson, Andrew Motion, Sarah Waters, Andrew Marr, Philip Pullman, Iain Banks and Ken Follett, through master classes and other forums.

A continuing Professional Development module runs throughout both years of the Diploma and helps to guide budding authors through the business of submission, rejection and hopefully acceptance by publishers.

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