Writing for Children with Anthony McGowan

Course begins on Tuesday 4 October 2011

Faber and Faber
Bloomsbury House
74-77 Great Russell Street
London WC1B 3DA

Course fee: £1750* (inc VAT)

The Faber Academy, Writing for Children 2011: a three month practical workshop for people who wish to write for children aged 7- young adult.

Writing stories for children requires all of the traditional skills of the novelist: the ability to create believable characters, and to place those characters in a compelling plot, enacted in a vividly realised universe. However there are also unique challenges. The writer needs to be able to enter the mind of young people, to see the world through their eyes, to speak with their voices. Plots need to grip young readers used to the easy excitement of films and computer games.

The Faber Academy ‘Writing for Children’ course will help to supply new and apprentice writers with exactly those skills. It will look at how dialogue can bring young characters to vibrant life. It will show how you can inject energy into your plots by using complex structures. The crucial role of humour in children’s books will also be explored.

Over three months, the course takes in the full range of writing for children, from age 7 to young adult. There will be two main strands to the learning process. The first will be to examine and draw lessons from some of the classics and contemporary classics of children’s literature. The second will be the detailed feedback given to the class on the work they produce. 

Performance has become a key part of being a professional children’s writer, and so shorter pieces will be performed for the class. Longer work will be distributed in advance for more detailed criticism – a vital part of the course is the feedback given by the students.

The course will be informal, friendly, demanding and rewarding.

By the end of the course you will have gained experience of writing for different ages, and should have produced, at the very least, a substantial part of a children’s book.  

The course will be led by Anthony McGowan, and there will also be guest seminars by other well-known children’s writers and publishers.

Reading List:

In order to understand the wide range of approaches to Writing for Children, participants will be required to do some background reading. The full list will be provided when you sign up for the course and includes titles such as:

Tom’s Midnight Garden Philippa Pearce

The Witches Roald Dahl
I Was A Rat, Philip Pullman
Skellig, David Almond
How I Live Now, Meg Rosoff
Doing It Melvin Burgess

About the Tutor

Anthony McGowan is a multi-award winning author of books for adults, teenagers and younger children. Born in Manchester in 1965, he has an M.Phil in philosophy and a PhD on the history of the concept of beauty. He has written two highly acclaimed literary thrillers, Stag Hunt and Mortal Coil, for Hodder & Stoughton, and three young-adult novels, Hellbent, Henry Tumour and The Knife That Killed Me, for Random House. Random House also publishes his Bare Bum Gang series for 7-10 year olds. His latest book for children, Einstein’s Underpants, was published in April 2010. He is currently writing two different series, one, The Donut Diaries for Random House, and another for Puffin. His next book for young adults, High School Noir, will be published by Walker Books in 2012. His books have been translated into eight languages. Anthony McGowan has taught creative writing at London Metropolitan University, and is currently a Royal Literary Fund Fellow, at St Mary’s University College.

Course Programme

All classes will be based at the offices of Faber & Faber:

Bloomsbury House

74-77 Great Russell Street

London WC1B 3DA

The course consists of 12 two hour evening sessions and one full day Saturday session. Evening sessions will take place on Tuesdays from 7.00pm-9.00pm.  The full-day session will take place on Saturday 19 November from 10.00am-5.00pm.

The subject matter of sessions as listed below is a guide only.  The exact course content will be finalized according to the experience and interests of the group and guest speaker availability.   The detail of the course content is at the discretion of the Course Directors and the Faber Academy.

 Course Cost *

 The total fee for this course is £1750. On booking the course and paying an initial deposit of £500,  participants are liable to pay the entire course fee. The a further £1250, will be payable in 2 further installments of £625 on 15 October and  15 November 2011.