Children's writing and publishing MA launched
06.04.09 Caroline Horn reporting in The Bookseller

A former children’s bookseller and a children’s author are launching new initiatives to help develop children’s writers and their audiences.

Debbie Williams, who used to work as a children’s buyer for Waterstone's, is behind a new MA in Writing for Children and MA in Publishing at the University of Central Lancashire, Preston.

The courses form part of a new Writing Centre at the university, which will also offer an MA in publishing.

Williams has worked with publishers and authors to ensure that the course will meet publishers’ requirements. She added: “This is the first time that MAs in children’s writing and publishing have been offered north of Oxford.”

Meanwhile, author Alex Milway is organising a free children’s book festival and exhibition in Crystal Palace (palacefestival.wordpress.com) on 25th April with support from authors and illustrators including Alexander Gordon Smith, Viviane Schwarz and Tom Percival.Milway said he wanted to “give back” something to his community. He said: “It’s very easy for us writers to sit back and expect the world to come to us. I wanted to see what might happen if we got did something like this for ourselves. Why wait to be asked to take part in a festival or event, when you can set one up for yourself?”