Mick Jackson’s first novel, The Underground Man, was shortlisted for The Booker Prize. He has since published a further three novels and three collections of stories, all with Faber and Faber. He teaches on the Brighton-based Creative Writing Programme. Here are his top writing tips.

Last week we turned the tables on our tutors at our final reading for the academic year - they shared their works in progress with our students. Thanks to Laura Wilkinson, Ruth Figgest, Rosie Chard, Hannah Vincent, Sophie Anderson and Roy Mcfarlane for being brave and reading such different and brilliant work. An inspiring and emotional evening.

It’s a difficult, if unanswerable, question. A strong visual imagination and an ability to observe and recall are important skills, as is curiosity. Some writers have a natural ear for dialogue. Others have the ability to put the subtlest of thoughts into words. Others can paint a scene in a few strokes of the keyboard. But writing is just not about the practical skills you can learn.

Congratulations to Carole Aubree-Dumont, alumni of the Creative Writing Programme, who won the Emerging Authors prize at this year’s Brighton Book Festival today with a reading from her memoir Dumb.

Julia Crouch is the author of ten internationally published novels. She coined the term Domestic Noir to describe her own particular sub-genre of psychological thriller. She’s joining the Creative Writing Programme tutor group from October, teaching on the Tuesday evening course in Kemptown Bookshop. Here she talks about her writing journey.

Huge congratulations to our six students and alumni who shared their work at our summer reading last Thursday at Kemptown Bookshop, Brighton.

Congratulations to Holly Winter-Hughes whose collection How to Leave a Body was published by Verve last month. Holly has twice attended John McCullough's Advanced Poetry Workshops and says ‘without John's inspiration, guidance, knowledge, generosity and insight I don't believe this book would exist.’

Life Writing is any writing that is based in some way on lived experience – personal or researched – and has a narrator who is not an imagined construct. It includes biography, autobiography, memoir, diaries, letters and travel writing.

RJ Barron took the Creative Writing Programme from 2022 to 2024. His second novel A Cold Wind Blows is published today. Here he talks about his writing life and offers some top writing tips.

If you’re a writer and you’ve got a book and you want to get it published, then you need to come to Publishing Day on Saturday 31st May to find out how.

Beth is the author of six novels, including the bestselling The Missing Letters of Mrs Bright. Her most recent novel, The Woman Who Came Back to Life (2022), is published in seven languages and her seventh novel will be published in summer 2025. She teaches on the Creative Writing Programme in Worthing on Friday mornings. Here she talks about her writing life.

The Creative Writing Programme is coming to Eastbourne in the autumn.

Congratulations to Clare Finan for securing representation with Jennifer Thompson at Nordleyset Literary Agency for her book The Lobsterman. She started writing the novel on the Creative Writing Programme in 2018. Fingers crossed for Clare as she goes out on submission.

Erin Martin took the Life Writing Course in 2019-20 out of which emerged her memoir Trains, about her childhood growing up near a mental hospital where her mother was intermittently a patient. It received recognition with the Bridport Prize. Here she talks about her writing life.

CWP director Cathy Hayward will be chatting to Xiaolu Gho at the Brighton Festival next Friday 9th May about her latest book Call Me Ishmaelle.

The Creative Writing Programme is coming to Worthing in the autumn. If you’ve always dreamed of writing a novel, or collection of short stories, and live in or near Worthing  then why not sign up for a taster session to see if it’s for you?  

Ruth Figgest is a novelist and short story writer and teaches on the Creative Writing Programme at the Towner Eastbourne which starts in October. Here she offers her top tips for writing.

Congratulations to alumnus Stuart Gillespie whose hybrid memoir Food Fight is published today. Here he talks about his experience on the Life Writing Programme and how he started his writing journey

The Creative Writing Programme is coming to Tunbridge Wells in the autumn. If you’ve always dreamed of writing a novel, or collection of short stories, and live in or near Tunbridge Wells, then why not sign up for a taster session on Saturday 5th July or Saturday 6th September to see if it’s for you

A group of writers hear from best-selling author Laura Wilkinson about creating memorable characters