Creative Writing Conference at the University of Edinburgh
Each year the Writer-in-Residence at the University of Edinburgh organizes an end-of-year conference for students in undergraduate, masters and doctoral programs. This year, our effervescent writer-in-residence is Michael Pedersen – an accomplished writer and poet, and scribbler of the most charming emails. This may be trivial but after many years of being on the receiving end of corporate-speak-filled and passive aggressive ‘bitch missiles’ (as I’m known to call them), it is a delight to be routinely addressed as: Creative Writing Supremos, Lexical Butter Churners & Word Sculptors, and Writing Wonders.
Suffice to say, this is not a post about Michael’s emails – but it very well could have been.
Conference evolution
Now, I’ve been fortunate to catch a few of these conferences in-person during my MSc and PhD programs. The first conference I attended was in 2018 (in those glorious pre-COVID years) which was hosted by then WiR Claire Askew. The event centred on panel talks from local authors, agents, publishers and featured various snacks and drinks. It included an open mic, with student readers and winners of the various school-sponsored literary awards. It included many faces frequenting the local writing scene in Edinburgh at the time, however, it didn’t have much of a formal networking component. People mingled a bit, but the panels were mostly educational and Q&A. The venue was in the Pleasance Cafe Bar, which is connected to the sports facility and gym.
The event also featured much younger versions of the folks at Shoreline of Infinity, 404 Ink, and the hosts of InkyFingers at Lighthouse Books (now a defunct open mic but was excellent at the time).
Creative Writing Conference, “The Business” in 2018
Heather McDaid (404 Ink), Stella Birrell, Dan Carpenter, and Natalie Ferguson speak at the 2018 conference.
Bigger and brighter
Flash forward to 2024, and the creative writing conference has a much larger audience, and this year – under Michael’s wing – offered two panels including Jenny Nivan, director of the Edinburgh International Book Festival, agents Jenny Brown and Caro Clarke, as well as publishers from Birlinn and Faber and Faber. The infamous Laura Jones from 404Ink was also present, however with far more books under her belt than in 2018 after the success of Chris McQueer and Nasty Women (examples I use in my short fiction classes back in Canada).
Networking mid-conference in the Project Room at 50 George Square
Panel with Jenny Niven, Vikki Reilly (Publishing Scotland), Laura Jones Riveria (404 Ink/Creative Freelancer), Professor James Annesley (Newcastle University)
This year, there was also an industry 1-1 session as well as general networking, which proved far more helpful that I would have expected. I nabbed a lucky spot with Jenny Brown, an agent I had met previously at Bloody Scotland who gave me some very helpful agent names as I finish the last chapter of my novel. I also met with Mo Hafeez from Faber and Faber, who I had assumed would have little interest in my work since I write crime, and he acquires non-fiction, but he had some very interesting insights into Faber’s acquisition plan for crime and thriller. I had no idea they were starting to look for writers in my genre and would have never really considered Faber. My PR brain kicked in a bit, as he talked more about Faber’s relationship to The Guardian and how they cross promote titles.
These networking events always prove my on-going theory which is that the random conversations you assume will go nowhere always prove fruitful.
The schedule
Panel: Routes to Publication
- Jenny Brown (Jenny Brown Literary Agency: Founder)
- Edward Crossan (Polygon / Birlinn: Commissioning Editor)
- Caro Clarke (Porty Literary: Founder)
- Mo Hafeez (Faber & Faber: Commissioning Editor)
Panel: Careers in Literature
- Jenny Niven (Edinburgh International Book Festival)
- Vikki Reilly (Publishing Scotland)
- Laura Jones (404 Ink/Creative Freelancer)
- Professor James Annesley (Newcastle University)
From Arthur’s Seat readings
Following the conference was a gin-soaked reading from the latest edition of From Arthur’s Seat. This year, there was a massive reading slate of students all sharing their latest work. The host Monica, a writer from LA, did a fabulous job and I can hard-relate to her feelings of being a bit on the older side of doing her masters. I was 33 when I started the MSc program, and I’m pretending I’m still 39 as I’m heading into the final stretch of the PhD. It’s really hard to reconcile the feeling of being both too old, and just the right age, when starting anything especially going back to university.
Monica reading from her story at the book launch for From Arthur’s Seat
Why go to these things?
I like to venture into wild and attend conferences and festivals when I can, especially as events of this nature simply do not exist in Canada. Even in Toronto, the writing community leans more competitive than helpful, and it isn’t as close knit. Calgary, where I’m from, has a more connected writing community but of course, we lack resources and most publishers don’t know we exist. Whereas in Edinburgh, there is a legitimate universe of writers here who support each other, and a bountiful world of agents and presses.
Networking is intimidating and introducing yourself can seem pointless and without any inherent outcome. But, I bottle down the jitters and put myself out there to meet with people and see what is going on in their worlds. I have artsy business cards and I hand them out. I really believe writers benefit ALOT from conferences and festivals because people get to see your face and start to know your name. The jury is still out on whether this matters or not, but I do think it helps to get to know people along their writing career paths. I also recognize there is an un-godly amount of luck involved in getting published but, I do genuinely enjoy talking to people in the book industry because I have zero opportunity to do so when I’m home in the great white north.
