In February 2008, I was in despair. I’d given up a good job as a reporter at The Wall Street Journal in New York to pursue my dream of writing fiction, and all I had to show for it was a stack of rejection slips. Exactly a year later, I was standing outside a branch of Borders in Islington, looking… Read More
First of all, I should declare an interest. As regular readers will know, I won the Luke Bitmead Writer’s Bursary in 2008, an award set up in Luke’s memory, and winning that award launched my career as a writer. So you could say I was predisposed to like The Body is a Temple, the novel he wrote in the early… Read More
If you are an unpublished UK writer with a novel manuscript ready for submission, I’d strongly recommend that you check out the Luke Bitmead Bursary. Submissions for the 2012 contest are open from now until 3rd August. It’s for UK residents only. This is the contest I entered back in 2008 and, to my amazement, won. Everything that’s happened in… Read More
I had a message today from the mother of Luke Bitmead, the Legend Press novelist who died tragically young. 13th May is his birthday, and she would like to encourage people to visit his site in the days leading up to the 13th, in the hope of getting more than 13,000 visitors overall. Please check out the site, www.lukebitmead.com. If… Read More
It was wonderful the other night to see the Luke Bitmead Bursary awarded for a third year, this time to Sophie Duffy for The Generation Game. The prize is £2,500 and a publishing contract with Legend Press. I didn’t get to talk to Sophie at the event, but I did speak to several of the runners-up and of course Luke’s… Read More
As regular readers will know, my novel On the Holloway Road was published as a result of winning the Luke Bitmead Writers’ Bursary, an award set up by the family of Luke Bitmead, a writer who died tragically young. My publisher, Legend Press, is doing a special offer at the moment, comprising both of Luke’s books, plus mine and also… Read More
My publisher, Legend Press, just announced that submissions are open for the 2010 Luke Bitmead Writer’s Bursary. This is the contest that gave me my break into publishing when I won it in 2008. The prize is £2,500 and a publishing contract. You enter the first three or four chapters of your novel and a personal statement – full details… Read More
Last year I won the Luke Bitmead Writer’s Bursary, an event that changed my life and led to the publication of On the Holloway Road. This year it is the turn of Ruth Dugdall with her novel The Woman Before Me. The award ceremony last night was a wonderful experience for me personally. It was great to remember where I… Read More
I was happy to see a call for entries for the Luke Bitmead Writers’ Bursary 2009. Luke wrote an excellent book, White Summer, in 2006, but died only a few months after it was published. His second book, Heading South, co-written with Catherine Richards, was published posthumously. His family then set up a foundation to help other young writers, and… Read More