The Open University\u2019s Creative Writing team has teamed up with a leading writers\u2019 agency to offer new and upcoming authors a competitive edge in the tough world of novel writing.<\/p>\n
OU Creative Writing has joined forces with the Ruppin Agency and Writers & Artists to support writers with the re-launch \u2013 after 16 years – of a comprehensive guide to writing for aspiring authors: A Creative Writing Handbook: Developing dramatic technique, individual style and voice.<\/em><\/p>\n At a recent launch event they shared exclusive tasters from the Handbook<\/em> which is also intended to \u00a0support writers looking to enter the Writers\u2019 & Artists\u2019 Working-Class Writers\u2019 Prize<\/a>.<\/p>\n The prize is sponsored for the first time in 2025 by The Open University and the Ruppin Agency. In the past, many winners and entrants of the prize have gone on to be published.<\/p>\n Author, co-director of the Ruppin Agency and the Handbook\u2019s lead editor, Dr Emma Claire Sweeney, said of the OU\u2019s sponsorship of the writer\u2019s prize:<\/p>\n \u201cThe mission of the Open University is to open up educational opportunities to people who might not otherwise have access to higher education, so it feels like a natural fit to co-sponsor this initiative that is opening up the publishing industry in important and meaningful ways.<\/em>\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n She was speaking at the launch event for the handbook in November, hosted by Writers & Artists and entitled How to Write a Prize Winner<\/em>. The event brought together the team behind the handbook\u2019s revisions, the Ruppin Agency directors, and a series of award-winning authors.<\/p>\n Clare Povey, from the Writers\u2019 & Artists\u2019 Handbook team, compered the evening\u2019s events and the audience heard exclusive tasters from the revised handbook.<\/p>\n Jonathan Ruppin from the Ruppin Agency said:<\/p>\n \u201cThe Handbook is an incredible resource for all writers and it\u2019s great to see it updated to reflect the modern publishing world. I\u2019m sure the support of The Open University for the W&A Working-Class Writers\u2019 Prize will attract the attention of many writers who would otherwise never have known about it.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Deadline for entries to the W&A Working-Class Writers\u2019 Prize 2025 is 1st December<\/strong>, with longlist, shortlist and winner announcements scheduled to take place in early 2026.<\/p>\n The winner of the 2025 prize will receive the following:<\/p>\n Two runners-up will also receive mentoring support from Emily Bullock and a one-to-one with Jonathan Ruppin. All shortlisted writers will be gifted a year-long membership to The Society of Authors.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Open University\u2019s Creative Writing team has teamed up with a leading writers\u2019 agency to offer new and upcoming authors a competitive edge in the tough world of novel writing. OU Creative Writing has joined forces with the Ruppin Agency and Writers & Artists to support writers with the re-launch \u2013 after 16 years – […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":27952,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23,3],"tags":[1525,2664,1643,2460],"class_list":["post-27941","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-art-literature-music","category-arts-social-sciences","tag-news-home","tag-novel-writing","tag-ou-news","tag-writing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27941","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27941"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27941\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27953,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27941\/revisions\/27953"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27952"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27941"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27941"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27941"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}“Opening up the publishing industry in important and meaningful ways”<\/h2>\n
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