Profiles

Staff profiles 

• David Belbin
• Sarah Jackson
• Graham Joyce
• Georgina Lock
• Mahendra Solanki
• Gregory Woods
• Bethan Stevens

Visiting professors 

David Almond
David Almond is the author of Skellig, Clay and many other novels for older children. He has won the Carnegie medal, The Michael Prinz award, the Smarties Book Prize and is two time winner of the Whitbread Children's Award. He has also written adult short stories, plays and picture books for younger readers.

• David Almond was the runner-up in this year's National Short Story Prize.
• Visit David Almond's website.

 

Michael Eaton
Michael Eaton, MBE, is a screenwriter who specialises in docudrama. His work includes Shipman, Shoot To Kill and Who Bombed Lockerbie? His fictional work includes Flowers of the Forest and the TV series Signs and Wonders. He had adapted works by George Eliot and Charles Dickens for BBC Radio 4.

See Michael Eaton's entry on the Internet Movie Database.

Student profiles 

Peter Rumney
"You're an experienced writer. You know what you're doing. Why do an MA? Do you really want younger or inexperienced students tearing your work to shreds every week!"

"So began my Creative Writing MA interview. But I was clear in my mind. After 15 years as a practicing playwright, I needed time. Time to write for myself, time to be challenged, time to develop my prose in new directions and space to target new markets. This was to be both an exercise in learning for its own sake, and focussed, professional development.

"In Year One I ignored the obvious choice for a playwright (Scriptwriting), and chose the Poetry option. Writing for the pure pleasure of writing. A rigorous discipline that stretched, sharpened and re-shaped the poetry I had written before.

"In Year Two I chose, pragmatically, Writing for Children and Young People. I knew this audience extremely well. But I wanted to reach them through the page as well as the stage.

"And for my Dissertation - the summation of all I'd learned so far on the Course - I set myself a tough challenge - a novel for 'reluctant readers', specifically teenage boys. This required rigorous writing technique, careful audience research, and no-nonsense supervision under the exacting eye of David Belbin (a leading practitioner in this niche market).

"The MA Core sessions deepened my knowledge of the writing industry. and alerted me to many areas about which I was previously clueless! Reciprocal feedback with other seminar students always enhanced my practice. I valued the passion for, and experience of, writing offered by all the tutors. Regular assignments forced me to write continuously, and the challenge of (ostensibly) technical tasks led me to some previously uncharted themes and preoccupations.

"The whole MA process challenged and affirmed what my writing voice is, and might be. Provided you know exactly what you want to achieve.and remain open to the entirely unexpected the MA in Creative Writing is a wonderful opportunity for the professional writer."

Peter Rumney is a prize-winning playwright, director and performer. His play Jumping on my Shadow is the only play for young people to win the Arts Council England John Whiting Award for Best Play (2002). His company, Dragon Breath Theatre, has been short listed for many awards, most recently the Nottingham Creative Business Awards for Writing and Publishing.

Julie Nuernberg - Graduated with distinction, 2005
"I wanted to study for my Masters in Creative Writing for five years before I made it to Nottingham Trent University. I was on the career track in New York City, working as Vice President at a public relations agency as well as working 12-14 hour days. Every Thursday night I took part in a creative writing workshop led by an English Professor at New York University. But my work schedule just did not allow for me to write as much as I wanted to.

"My dream was take a year off and concentrate solely on writing, expanding my collection of short stories. NTU has an excellent reputation and Nottingham is a lovely city.

"The MA tutors are down-to-earth and understand the struggle and the paralysing doubts that new writers are faced with. They encourage a strong support base and our group quickly gelled, swapping stories outside of class, giving feedback, going to readings around Nottingham together.

I took Scriptwriting and Fiction for my two options. I was apprehensive as I have been out of university for ten years and wasn't sure I could write an academic-sounding essay anymore. Taking advantage of tutor sessions helped me revitalise my essay-writing skills and I ended the year with two distinctions on my final essays.

"One short story I submitted for Fiction class is now my first-novel-in-progress. Before NTU, I would have never had the guts to attempt a novel. Studying for my Masters was perhaps one of the most inspiring and successful years of my life. Before, I would shyly say that writing was a hobby. Now I say I am a writer."

 

Laura Dietz
Laura Dietz was born in Minneapolis in 1976. She studied English and sciences at Stanford University. By moving to England in 1999, she completed the return leg of a trip her family began in 1620. Her work includes themes of science, self-image and nature versus nurture - inspired in part by her experiences as an identical twin. She's received awards from the New Writing Partnership and Arts Council, England. Her first novel, In the Tenth House, is published by Crown (Random House). Her novel in progress, The Spells for Going Forth By Day, concerns antiquities fraud in 1906 Egypt. As director of the MA in Creative Writing at Anglia Ruskin University, she lectures on fiction and the history of the novel. She lives in Cambridge with her husband.

"I applied to one MA programme. I had written for years, and taken undergraduate fiction classes at Stanford, but wanted to work my way from short stories to a novel. A consulting job in California was not the place to do it. On paper, NTU had the curriculum, environment, and philosophy I wanted - fortunately, it had all of those in real life too.

"What I learned at NTU was essential for becoming a novelist. It helped me develop the skills and discipline to complete a novel, but also to manoeuvre in the market. I met wonderful writers among the students, some of whom are still close friends. It would have been much more difficult to find an agent and publisher without the continued support from my tutors. And I've found an MA from NTU to have real currency in the academic world - mine helped me enormously in landing a faculty post."

Nicola Monaghan
Nicola graduated from the MA in Creative Writing in 2004, and published her first novel, The Killing Jar, in 2006. It was a successful debut which led to her being included in The Independent's New Year 2006 list of rising talent, and winning three awards – the Author's Club Best First Novel, the Waverton Good Read and a Betty Trask. Currently working on her third novel, Nicola also teaches Creative Writing to postgraduate students, and is the first fellow of the National Academy of Writing, based at Birmingham City University.

"Finding an agent wasn't easy, but I just kept sending my work out and managed to find one while I was still studying at NTU. Not long after that I got my first book deal. I had a great start, with some really good press from all sorts of avenues.

"I got lots of good ideas from people at NTU. I learned about the craft of writing, and how to take feedback and improve my work. It was also a good place to learn about the skills and marketplace relevant to my career. I don't doubt that it helped me get published quicker.

"My second novel, Starfishing, is coming out this year and I've just started my third. I won't say what it's about yet because it's too early in the process. I'm also adapting my first book for the screen, occasionally write articles for broadsheets or magazines, and have just begun to look at a script for radio.

"My advice to anyone wanting a career as a writer is to write as well as you can, send your work out, listen to feedback and keep going. Don't be crippled by worrying the whole time about quality and editing too much as you write. Get a first draft out then worry about the quality. Lots can be salvaged through editing but if you don't have the raw materials you can't do anything."

Nicola Monaghan's second novel Starfishing is out!