OU Creative Writing joins forces to support working-class writers

OU Creative Writers launched the first new edition for 16 years of A Creative Writing Handbook: Developing dramatic technique, individual style and voice in an online celebration on 12th November 2025. Hosted by Writers & Artists and entitled How to Write a Prize Winner, the event brought together the team behind the revisions, the Ruppin Agency directors, and a series of award-winning authors. 

Together, they shared exclusive tasters from the Handbook to support writers considering entering the Writers’ & Artists’ Working-Class Writers’ Prize. Sponsored for the first time in 2025 by the Open University and the Ruppin Agency, many winners and entrants of the prize have gone on to be published.

Clare Povey, from the Writers’ & Artists’ Handbook team, compered the evening’s events.

The evening began with OU English and Creative Writing graduate turned best-selling author of three novels, Dr Carys Bray, talking to author, co-director of the Ruppin Agency and the Handbooks’ lead editor, Dr Emma Claire Sweeney, about the social and technological developments that have changed publishing, leading to the opportunity to update the handbook for writers today. 

Emma said of the OU’s sponsorship of the prize: ‘The 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.’

Author and OU creative writing tutor Dr Lania Knight discussed the delicate balance of how to sift personal experiences for life-writing projects with Louise Doughty, author of bestseller Apple Tree Yard, whose memoir, On This Spot Fell One Drop of Love, about a remarkable discovery after her parents’ death, will be published next year. 

OU Handbook author Dr Joanne Reardon spoke with Women’s Prize-shortlisted novelist Jill Dawson about her forthcoming Tarot-inspired novel, Pixie. They shared strategies for how to write an opening that grabs readers’ attention.

The online audience participated with gusto in on-the-spot writing activities, which saw the chatbox fill with enthusiastic responses.

The final speaker was Jonathan Ruppin from the Ruppin Agency. He spoke from the 17th-century, timber-framed library of the Little Goat Barn writing retreat, where the winner of the award will enjoy a five-day all-expenses-paid stay as part of the prize package. Using his experience of judging numerous literary prizes from the Costa Novel Award to the New Writing North awards, he shared his tips for writers on how to make their entries stand out.

Jonathan said, ‘The Handbook is an incredible resource for all writers and it’s great to see it updated to reflect the modern publishing world. I’m sure the support of the Open University for the W&A Working-Class Writers’ Prize will attract the attention of many writers who would otherwise never have known about it.’

The event concluded with a Q&A session featuring all the speakers, which covered topics as diverse as how to balance truth and imagination when writing about historical characters in fiction and what to include in a cover letter when approaching agents and publishers.

Important dates

Deadline for entries to the W&A Working-Class Writers’ Prize 2025 is 1st December, with longlist, shortlist and winner announcements scheduled to take place in early 2026.

Prize

The winner of the 2025 prize will receive the following:

• A fully-catered 5-day Little Goat Barn writing retreat in North Wales hosted by the Ruppin Agency, with return travel included
• Mentoring sessions with judge Ashley Hickson-Lovence and OU Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing Emily Bullock
• One-to-one with Jonathan Ruppin, director of the Ruppin Agency Writers’ Studio and former literary agent
• A year-long membership to The Society of Authors
• A £200 cash prize
• A place at a Writers & Artists writing and publishing event
• A bundle of creative writing books, including the Writers’ & Artists’ Yearbook

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.

Further resources

• OpenLearn - Start writing fiction
• OU courses - Advanced creative writing