Thank you for applying to this year's WriteNow programme.

As an applicant to WriteNow 2024, you are invited to our exclusive online webinar on how to get published, with a specific focus on writing science fiction, fantasy, and horror.

Held online on Saturday 22 June (9.30am - 12.30pm), this workshop aims to give you information and inspiration on your journey to becoming a published author.

On this page you'll find an agenda for the day and information about our panellist. On Friday 21 June we'll email you a link to join and event FAQs.

Agenda

Welcome - 9.30am

Coco Hagi, also known as content creator Cult of Books, is our host for this year.

How to Get Published - 9.40am

This session will break down the publication process, from first draft to bookshop, and offer practical advice on getting there.
We'll be joined by Natasha Bowen (author of Skin of the Sea), literary agent Kiya Evans, and Sam Bradbury, Editorial Director at Penguin Random House.
This session will be followed by a 10 minute break.

Ask an Agent - 10.40am

You'll receive top tips and advice from expert literary agents, who will talk through example covering letters and look at the dos and don'ts when approaching literary agents.
We'll be joined by literary agents Amber Caraveo (Skylark Literary) and Amandeep Singh (The Good Literary Agency).
This session will be followed by a 10 minute break.

Ask an Author - 11.40am

We'll hear about the writing process and journey to publication from three authors: Cavan Scott (writer for Star Wars, Doctor Who, Star Trek), Femi Fadugba (author of The Upper World), and Frances White (author of Voyage of the Damned).
This session will be followed by a brief wrap up from the event chair, with the event finishing at 12.30pm.

Meet our panellists

Coco Hagi, WriteNow host

Coco is a content creator who focuses on championing stories in all its forms. A black hijabi book creator, she has cultivated a follower-ship who are inclined towards her humour, ADHD fuelled rants and the ongoing bookstore journey she is currently embarking on. During her TikTok career Coco has been able to launch herself in the publishing space as an editorial assistant at Penguin Random House bringing authors such as Chloe Liese and Jenna Levine to bookshelves. Coco has been a judge for many prestigious book awards and has attended and panelled for Hay Literature Festival for two consecutive years. She is currently in the process of writing her own fantasy romance series and is nominated as a TikTok Book Awards BookTok Creator of the Year.

Authors

Cavan Scott

The creator of Shadow Service, The Ward, Dead Seas and Sleep Terrors, New York Times Bestseller Cavan Scott is the author of Star Wars: The High Republic – The Rising Storm, Star Wars: Dooku – Jedi Lost, The Patchwork Devil and more. A lead story architect for Lucasfilm’s epic multimedia initiative, Star Wars: The High Republic, Cavan has written comics for Marvel, DC, Dark Horse, IDW, Legendary, 2000AD and the Beano. A writer on Star Wars: Young Jedi Adventures and Star Wars: Jedi Temple Challenge, he is currently developing several new properties for television and film. A former magazine editor, Cavan lives in the United Kingdom with his wife and daughters. His lifelong passions include folklore, audio drama, the music of David Bowie and scary movies. He owns far too much LEGO.

Femi Fadugba

Femi Fadugba has a Master's degree from Oxford University where he published in Quantum Physics and subsequently studied as a Thouron Scholar at University of Pennsylvania. Femi has worked as a science tutor as well in solar energy and consulting. He currently lives between Peckham, London and Baltimore, USA. The Upper World is his first book.

Frances White

Frances White is the Sunday Times bestselling author of Voyage of the Damned, a fantasy murder mystery at sea. A Nottingham resident, Frances is a creative writing graduate from Royal Holloway University of London. She has a soft spot for writing unlikely, flawed, messy heroes and loves mixing humour and heartbreak. Frances is also passionate about bringing more LGBTQIA+ representation and fat positivity into fantasy. When not writing, she can be found sewing nerdy costumes for comic conventions or researching obscure historical facts.

Natasha Bowen

Natasha Bowen is a New York Times bestselling author, a teacher, and a mother of three children. She is of Nigerian and Welsh descent and lives in Cambridge, England, where she grew up. Natasha studied English and creative writing at Bath Spa University before moving to East London, where she taught for nearly ten years. She is obsessed with Japanese and German stationery and spends stupid amounts on notebooks, which she then features on her secret Instagram. When she's not writing, she's reading, watched over carefully by Milk and Honey, her cat and dog.

Agents

Amandeep Singh

Amandeep Singh is an agent at TGLA. She began her career at Hamish Hamilton before working at innovative digital publisher Canelo. Keen to work even more closely with authors, she became an assistant at The Blair Partnership before joining Ebury, HarperCollins and Penguin Press. She published only debut authors during her time at HarperCollins: Taz Alam, Dr Vanita Rattan, Oloni and Bretman Rock. Her passion for championing debuts, amplifying underrepresented voices and working in-depth editorially led her back to agenting. Her clients have won or been nominated for the Bridport Prize, Future Worlds Prize, Creative Future Award, National Poetry Competition, Pushcart Prize, #Merky Books New Writers’ Prize, Plaza Prose Poetry Prize and Attitude Pride Award. She hopes to work with writers who enjoy collaboration; as a French and Italian (and rusty Punjabi) speaker, she is also interested in voices and topics that cross borders.

Amber Caravéo

Amber Caravéo is co-founder of Skylark Literary, a boutique literary agency that seeks and supports the very best in Children’s and YA fiction. Prior to founding Skylark, Amber was Editorial Director for Orion Children’s Books, working with a host of prize-winning and bestselling authors including Caroline Lawrence, Juno Dawson and Holly Black. Before that she was Senior Commissioning Editor for Random House, but her book publishing career actually started at Working Partners, where, among other things, she edited the million-copy-selling series, Rainbow Magic, and realized that helping authors to create fantastic books for children was all she ever wanted to do! Now she is always on the lookout for talented new authors to support on their publishing journeys. She has a particular love for voice-led fiction, a dash of magic and an unreliable narrator.

Kiya Evans

Kiya Evans joined Mushens Entertainment as Juliet Mushens' assistant in 2021. She was promoted to Associate Agent in 2023, working across Juliet’s client list, which contains multiple Sunday Times and New York Times bestsellers, and is actively building her own list of authors. She was a judge of last year’s Brick Lane Books Short Story Prize, and is a judge for this year’s First Novel Prize, and the inaugural Goldfinch Novel Award.