Wednesday, April 18, 2012

MA students excel in 2012 Threshold International Feature Writing Competition

A current MA Creative Writing student and a recent graduate have won recognition in the 2012 Thresholds International Feature Writing Competition. Graduate Ever Dundas is among ten shortlisted entrants for her essay, Lick My Words: Angela Carter's 'The Erl King'. Current student Sean Martin was among 15 highly commended entrants for his essay, Breece D'J Pancake - A Short Life in the Hills.

The contest challenged writers to explore a single short story, a story collection or profile a short story writer. It attracted entries from around the world, making the fact that two of the top 25 came from Edinburgh Napier's MA Creative Writing course all the more remarkable. The overall winner will be announced on April 25th - we have our fingers crossed for Ever.

This is far from being the first success for either writer. Earlier this month Ever won the enLIGHTen photographic competition, and her short story Connect was a runner-up in the 2010 Edinburgh University science fiction competition. Last year Sean won the 2011 Wigtown Poetry Competition, an accomplishment for which Edinburgh Napier can take little credit - poetry is not an option on our Creative Writing MA!

Sunday, April 1, 2012

Our MA Creative Writing students on the BBC

Students at Edinburgh Napier's MA Creative Writing course appeared on the BBC TV show Politics Scotland today [April 1st], taking part in a unique experiment. Historians have discovered that a spring said to grant enhanced creative abilities is piped into one particular area of the Scottish capital.

Bruntsfield and Morningside - also known by the postcode EH10 - are home to several international bestselling authors including Ian Rankin, Alexander McCall Smith and [until a few years ago] JK Rowling. The area is also home to the Craighouse campus where our Creative Writing MA is based.

Eight students and programme leader Sam Kelly were filmed for the experiment. If you're based in the UK, you can watch the results for the next week by clicking this link. Unfortunately, the clip isn't viewable from outside the UK, and will go offline in seven days. In the meantime, enjoy!