🎙 INTERVIEW: Learning How to Write w/ Anna Davis, founder of Curtis Brown Creative Writing School
** This is a LIVE interview with Anna Davis, founder of Curtis Brown Creative Writing School, about the craft of writing and reality of building a writing career. Attendees will be sent a recording after the interview. **
What truly helps a writer make a breakthrough? Which parts of the craft can be taught, and which must be discovered?
Anna Davis has spent decades at the heart of the literary world as a journalist, novelist, literary agent, and founder of the prestigious Curtis Brown Creative writing school. She has guided thousands of writers through the challenges of starting, finishing, and refining their books, and has seen firsthand the habits and mindsets that lead to success.
In this conversation, Anna will share lessons from her own creative journey and from over a decade of running Curtis Brown Creative. We’ll explore what agents are really looking for, how to navigate the emotional and practical hurdles of novel-writing, and what the future of publishing might hold for emerging voices.
We’ll explore:
Her career from agent to author to founder of Curtis Brown Creative
Balancing her own creative work with running CBC
Myths about writing she wishes authors would let go of
Advice for writers struggling to start (or finish) their novel
Patterns she’s seen in successful writers
The future of publishing and how to prepare for it
About Anna Davis
Anna Davis is the founder and Director of the Curtis Brown Creative writing school. She is the author of five acclaimed novels which have been published in twenty languages. She has been a journalist and Guardian columnist, as well as a Curtis Brown literary agent. She taught creative writing at the University of Manchester and in many other settings before founding Curtis Brown Creative in 2011.
Your London Writers' Salon Hosts:
Parul Bavishi and Matt Trinetti are the co-founders of the London Writers' Salon, creators of the webby-nominated Writers' Hour daily writing sessions, and hosts of the London Writers' Salon podcast.
Parul Bavishi has been an editor for over a decade. In addition to running LWS she helps thriller, YA and non-fiction writers level up their craft and get published. She writes and edits for the Story Grid. She has worked as an editor and literary scout at Random House, Quercus & Eccles Fisher. She analyses TV hit shows (Killing Eve, Ozark, Game of Thrones) on the Story Grid Showrunners Podcast.
Matt Trinetti is a writer, publisher, TEDx speaker, and facilitator. In addition to running LWS, Matt designs programs to help unfulfilled professionals pursue creative work, start businesses, and reinvent their careers. Matt's work has appeared in Quartz, Observer, Creative Mornings, and on his blog GiveLiveExplore.
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