Stories from Falmouth’s online creative writing community
28 October 2024
From award wins to new publications, our Creative Writing BA (Online) students and staff have been impressing readers across the globe. Here’s the latest from our talented writers.
Student Judith Meikle shortlisted for Plaza Prize in micro fiction
Judith was shortlisted in the Plaza Prize ‘micro fiction’ category for A Fairy in the Kitchen, a piece of writing she completed for her first assignment on the course. The Plaza Prizes are a series of international literary competitions which aim to discover, publish and promote talented new writers from across the English-speaking world.
As well as making the shortlist for the prestigious Plaza Prize, A Fairy in the Kitchen was also played to large audiences across the south east, via BBC Upload this October.
Judith told us: “A Fairy in the Kitchen was one of my first assignment pieces, and so started life at Falmouth where I received coaching and suggested improvements. It marks my tenth publication since starting university, so the course is certainly working!”
Graduate Vicky Garforth published in interactive puzzle book, CrimeBits
Vicky made the top 100 submissions to CrimeBits, a collection of opening gambits for thrillers and mystery puzzles. Judged by renowned thriller novelist Lee Child, the printed book includes the best 100 entries for first pages of thrillers.
The prize was established to encourage people to write, and to highlight the importance of catching audiences within the opening pages. As Lee Child says: “Long ago people would say, ‘This is a great book, but you need to give it fifty pages.’ That's crazy now, in our hyper-fast world.”
Inspired from a young age by the magical worlds created by novelist Alan Garner, Vicky spent twenty years caring for her children – the youngest with a complex heart condition – before beginning her writing journey online with Falmouth in 2021.
Course Leader Dr Marshall Moore publishes new book
As well as leading Falmouth’s online creative writing degree, Marshall is a successful author. Hailing from North Carolina, he settled in Cornwall in 2020 after living and working in Seoul, Hong Kong and Thailand. His new book, Sunset House, is a captivating collection of essays that take readers on a journey to various locations around the world.
Through the lens of memoir, the essays delve into themes of survival, defiance, geopolitics, and the experience of reconnecting with oneself in a new home after enduring significant trauma. With a blend of humour, horror, and compelling storytelling, these essays offer a unique perspective on queer identity and the forces that shape our lives.
With a decade of experience in the publishing industry, Marshall is the author of four novels (Inhospitable, Bitter Orange, An Ideal for Living, and The Concrete Sky), four short-fiction collections (Love Is a Poisonous Colour, A Garden Fed by Lightning, The Infernal Republic, and Black Shapes in a Darkened Room), and the memoir I Wouldn’t Normally Do This Kind of Thing.
According to the Out In Print: Queer Book Reviews blog, Sunset House is “a fine collection of essays from one of our finest writers working today. Whether his surroundings are Hong Kong, Korea, North Carolina, or Cornwall, his sense of place and his place within it keeps the readers grounded enough to go wherever Moore decides to take them. His observations are always sharp and detailed, and even his rants are entertaining.”
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