Just a quick post:

I went to a writing careers fair at the University of East Anglia today. Besides reaffirming my ambition to study on the MA course in Creative Writing there (the places for which are very competitive) it was interesting.

One of the most interesting parts of it was that I met Stephen Foster, a published author. While I can’t say that I’ve come across his work, being, as I am, stuck in a bubble of mostly pre-War literature, talking to him was a positive experience, particularly because he had studied on the course that became the course I’m on now, and he had the same tutors as me, and it was on that course, in his final year, that his final submission was marked by someone who worked at Faber, resulting in him being offered a publishing deal straight off the course. Which is encouraging. He also went on the MA Creative Writing at UEA, since he had already applied for it when Faber picked up his work, and said he would highly recommend it. Since then he’s written I think four or five books, all of which were well reviewed, though not all of which sold particularly well, until the fourth one which was more of a bestseller-type book.

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