2010 Scheme

Deadline: 31st May 2010

COURSES FOR WRITERS EVENING, SHORT AND HOME-STUDY

We offer specialist home-study and online courses with personal tuition from experienced authors.

Novel Writing Freelance Writing Short Story Writing Writing a Best-seller Writing for Children Poetry Cartooning Creative Writing Workshops Evening classes in London

For a free prospectus contact:

THE LONDON SCHOOL OF JOURNALISM

126 Shirland Road London W9 2BT Phone 0800 838216 or email info@lsj.org

Full details: www.learntowrite.org The LSJ - teaching success since 1920

‘Cornerstones is a masterclass in how fiction should be done. It was like someone had switched a light bulb on and I’ve since been placed with a top agent.’

Alex Brown

UK leading consultancy for editing, launching writing talent, & scouting for agents.

listed by The Society of Authors call Helen Corner 020 8968 0777

www.cornerstones.co.uk Specials

AGENDA

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In the Loop Publishing industry journalist Sarah Weinman takes on iPads and ebooks, crunches the numbers and discovers how women are driving the digital revolution. INTERVIEW 13 Kamila Shamsie FEATURES 16 Feel the Fear… Afraid of writing poetry? You’re not alone – and there is a cure. Mslexia’s poetry adviser, Carolyn Jess-Cooke, heals all. The Insider: Lucy Luck

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Small-screen Scribes

Writing for television: is it glamour all the way? TV script editor and writer Laura Cotton takes us behind the scenes.

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‘I’d imagined this world full of blue azaleas when instead I should have had potato patches.’

Kamila Shamsie, Interview, page 13

Regulars Contents: issue 45

STARTERS

Contributors, Letters, News and Views

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INSPIRATIONS

Including: Laura Wilson on crime writing Dreda Say Mitchell’s first draft Making a poem: Moniza Alvi talks to Colette Bryce Jodi Picoult’s bottom drawer, writing your self with Roselle Angwin, keep going with Bekki Hill

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NEW WRITING

Tracy Chevalier introduces her winning selections from the 2010 Mslexia Short Story Competition.

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BOOKS

Including: How to write a bestseller: The Return Literary landmarks: The Lovely Bones Independent press profile: Piccadilly Press Writers’ bookshelf by Mary Hoffman

GUIDELINES

The lowdown on Poetry Slams The joy of…literary translation

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57

DIRECTORY

Opportunities: competitions, submissions, retreats, grants Out and About: events and workshops

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AND FINALLY

Victoria Coren’s bedside table

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A Winning Spring

The days are getting longer, the air just ever-so-slightly warmer and we’ve been basking in the enthusiastic response to our second Short Story Competition. Judge Tracy Chevalier’s essay on her six top choices – as well as writing pitfalls to watch out for – opens our New Writing section, fully dedicated to our winners.

Also in this issue, our wide-ranging features cover the ins and outs of the latest rapidly accelerating changes to the publishing industry; a canny dissection of poetry formats – a great way to kick start your work for our 7th annual Poetry Competition, by the way! – and a peek into the writing life of television scribes.

Elsewhere, we give you the lowdown on the exciting world of poetry slams and expose the joys of literary translation. For the main author interivew, the alwaysexcellent literary journalist Suzi Feay met with Kamila Shamsie and takes us on a wonderful journey through Shamsie’s latest book, Burnt Shadows, as well as a slice of life in contemporary Pakistan

If you’re considering your next writing project, our Inspirations pages are full of stimulation, from Dreda Say Mitchell’s First Draft interview to Jodi Picoult’s Bottom Drawer, from Lisa Matthews’ latest

Song Birds column showcasing Elizabeth Fraser to Colette Bryce’s interview with poet Moniza Alvi.

All this in the magazine – plus, keep an eye out for our new Get Published section on the website: Our Laptop to Bookshop Roadshow goes online with workshops, industry Q&As and much, much more.

Stay in touch with us in between issues by checking in with us online via our blog, Facebook and Twitter. And mark your calendars now for our 26 July Poetry Competition deadline, the fabulous Vicki Feaver presiding as judge.

Daneet Steffens, Editor