Supporting a young writer. Educational institutions and creative writing schools
Deсember 6, 2024
Participants of the AWPUR International Literary Forum talk about ways of becoming a writer
There have never been so many success strategies for starting a career as a writer. Publishers keenly look for new names by keeping an eye on literary school graduates, going through young writers’ forums, and attending their meetings. But is it really necessary to be part of the community to get publishers interested? Alexey Varlamov, Rector of the Maxim Gorky Institute of Literature and Creative Writing, asked Veronika Dmitrieva, lead editor of Elena Shubina's Editorial Board, to answer this question.
“In the nine years I’ve been in the business, we’ve published only two manuscripts from the slush pile,” Dmitrieva said. “And we get about a thousand of them before the new year. Our main search channels are recommendations from renown authors, awards long lists, and literary journals.”
It seems that prose writer Nadia Alekseeva, author of The Midnight Office, just couldn’t go unnoticed: after publishing her work in Novy Mir, she was short listed for the Lyceum and Big Book awards, and long listed for the Yasnaya Polyana Literary Award and Iskander Prize. While the key to success with awards is just “to get things done before deadline,” it is commonly known that Novy Mir is reluctant to collaborate with young authors, and it’s not easy for them to get published there.
“It was Olga Slavnikova, one of my teachers, who put in a good word for The Midnight Office,” Alekseeva honestly admitted. “But my first stories went unnoticed. It seems that every young author has to go through a year of neglect before things start to get good.”
When thinking about ways to help young authors, one should first get a clear idea of what obstacles they face, said Bigeldy Gabdullin, President of the Kazakhstani PEN Club:
“First of all, it’s self-discipline: it’s not easy to sit down to writing after a day’s work. Yet another problem is their complete ignorance of life: great literature requires great ideas and spiritual insights. I would advise young authors not to focus on the plot, not to wait for inspiration to come, and just get down to work every day. And lastly, be sure to read more, study philosophy and literature theory, and learn languages to translate your books yourself.”
Prose writer Michalis Albatis complained of the lack of opportunities to get a degree in creative writing in Greece: “We do have music conservatories and theater and art schools, but if you want to give creative writing a try, go ahead and manage on your own.”
According to Albatis, just like in Russia, you’ll often hear in Greece that Tolstoy and Dostoevsky did not attend any creative writing schools: “This is what they say: you just need to have talent. And that’s true. But can you reap the harvest without planting a seed? Creative writing schools aren’t only about education, they are about stirring up young minds, bright ideas, chaos and cosmos, an atmosphere of friendship, competition, and experiment.”
“This is exactly what the Gorky Institute of Literature is like, where I’ve had the honor to be working for more than ten years,” said Varlamov.
Closing the discussion, chief editor of the Chinese literary magazine Shiyue, Cheng Dongze, told those present about the ways of supporting young authors in his country:
“Writers’ unions hold workshops and contests. Universities offer public lecture courses taught by renown writers and scholars. But literary magazines play a central role in the making of writers: they discover new names and nominate authors for leadership positions and major awards. Nobel Prize winner Mo Yan, for example, made his debut in Shiyue.
“In the nine years I’ve been in the business, we’ve published only two manuscripts from the slush pile,” Dmitrieva said. “And we get about a thousand of them before the new year. Our main search channels are recommendations from renown authors, awards long lists, and literary journals.”
It seems that prose writer Nadia Alekseeva, author of The Midnight Office, just couldn’t go unnoticed: after publishing her work in Novy Mir, she was short listed for the Lyceum and Big Book awards, and long listed for the Yasnaya Polyana Literary Award and Iskander Prize. While the key to success with awards is just “to get things done before deadline,” it is commonly known that Novy Mir is reluctant to collaborate with young authors, and it’s not easy for them to get published there.
“It was Olga Slavnikova, one of my teachers, who put in a good word for The Midnight Office,” Alekseeva honestly admitted. “But my first stories went unnoticed. It seems that every young author has to go through a year of neglect before things start to get good.”
When thinking about ways to help young authors, one should first get a clear idea of what obstacles they face, said Bigeldy Gabdullin, President of the Kazakhstani PEN Club:
“First of all, it’s self-discipline: it’s not easy to sit down to writing after a day’s work. Yet another problem is their complete ignorance of life: great literature requires great ideas and spiritual insights. I would advise young authors not to focus on the plot, not to wait for inspiration to come, and just get down to work every day. And lastly, be sure to read more, study philosophy and literature theory, and learn languages to translate your books yourself.”
Prose writer Michalis Albatis complained of the lack of opportunities to get a degree in creative writing in Greece: “We do have music conservatories and theater and art schools, but if you want to give creative writing a try, go ahead and manage on your own.”
According to Albatis, just like in Russia, you’ll often hear in Greece that Tolstoy and Dostoevsky did not attend any creative writing schools: “This is what they say: you just need to have talent. And that’s true. But can you reap the harvest without planting a seed? Creative writing schools aren’t only about education, they are about stirring up young minds, bright ideas, chaos and cosmos, an atmosphere of friendship, competition, and experiment.”
“This is exactly what the Gorky Institute of Literature is like, where I’ve had the honor to be working for more than ten years,” said Varlamov.
Closing the discussion, chief editor of the Chinese literary magazine Shiyue, Cheng Dongze, told those present about the ways of supporting young authors in his country:
“Writers’ unions hold workshops and contests. Universities offer public lecture courses taught by renown writers and scholars. But literary magazines play a central role in the making of writers: they discover new names and nominate authors for leadership positions and major awards. Nobel Prize winner Mo Yan, for example, made his debut in Shiyue.