Author: Emily Midorikawa

Feature in The Times today

~ Emily Midorikawa ~ 2 Comments

In celebration of this year’s Orange Prize, The Times is running a feature article on friendships between female writers, written by Emma Claire Sweeney and me.

Emma introducing me at a recent readings event at NYU in London

For this piece, we had the pleasure of travelling out to Ireland to interview Anne Enright (shortlisted this year for The Forgotten Waltz) and her friend Lia Mills. Back in London, we met with Jill Dawson and Louise Doughty, both former Orange nominees who’ve long been a source of support to each other), and also Emily Pedder and Monique Roffey (shortlisted in 2010). These two signed a co-mentoring agreement to keep themselves on track with the writing of their memoirs.

The inspiration for this article grew out of personal experience. Emma and I have been the best of friends since we met, in Japan, over a decade ago. We were working as English teachers in Japanese schools at the time. Separately, we were writing in secret, although we hadn’t yet found the courage to admit our ambitions, even to each other. Since then, we’ve been able to watch each other’s careers progress and we’ve shared in the successes and also the disappointments we’ve experienced so far. It’s been wonderful to talk with other women who’ve relied on each other in similar ways.

Many thanks to Anne, Emily, Jill, Lia, Louise and Monique. Thanks also to Tim Clare and Joe Dunthorne for your insights on a friendship between two male writers. This story is also featured in our piece.

Finally, thanks to Emma herself. Despite the long hours we’ve put into this, working with you has been just as fun as it always is.

Readings event at NYU in London

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I’m really looking forward to reading at the NYU Literary Club’s next event, alongside club members Brianne Baker, Danielle Bergere, Heather Harris and Eunice Pak, and the very talented Edward Hogan, author of the adult literary novels Blackmoor and The Hunger Trace, and the young adult novel Daylight Saving.

Blackmoor has been shortlisted for the Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award, the Dylan Thomas Prize and the Desmond Elliot Prize, and The Hunger Trace has been sold around the world. Ed is a graduate of the MA creative writing course at UEA and a recipient of the David Higham Award.

This event is being organised by Emma Claire Sweeney and will run from 7 to 8.30pm on 3 May at NYU’s London campus, 6 Bedford Square, London, WC1B 3RA. Spaces are free but will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis. If you would like to come, please confirm your attendance by completing your details on-line at

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/litclubs12

I hope to see you there.

At Circle of Missé

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I am now almost at the end of a two-week stay at Circle of Missé. Situated in a vine-fronted, stone farmhouse in the Loire region of France, and surrounded by fields and a vast open sky, it’s the ideal setting for getting stuck into a creative project.

Taking a break from writing in the Circle of Missé garden

In my case, this is a novel. In my first week here, my main focus was the Writer Progresses course, which I thoroughly enjoyed teaching. I still managed to fit in about an hour’s writing on most days, though, and since the participants went home, I’ve been able to give my chapters-in-progress a lot more attention.

I’ve been rising early every morning, during that misty-blue cusp between dark and light. With fewer distractions than I’d usually have back at home, I’ve really been able to get on with things. I’ve ironed out several structural problems, tightened up key scenes and discovered new things about my characters.

Coming away on retreat always makes me realise how much of my time is usually taken up with housework and errands, administration, lesson planning and marking deadlines. And although these tasks aren’t even all that bad, it’s a pleasure to have a little break from reality.

The spring sky through the blossom branches

I’ve loved being able to wander out into the garden in the evening, to take in the last sunshine of the day and listen to the thrum of the bees in the wisteria, or to just have the time to sit and think.

Thank you to Aaron, Wayne and Alison for your hospitality, and the usual fine food and company.

The Novel Studio at City University

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The Novel Studio (formerly known as The Certificate in Novel Writing) will be running at City University London from autumn 2012. This will be a three-term, year-long course, that aims to guide fifteen selected students through the various aspects of writing a novel, as well as preparing them for work with agents and editors.

I am thrilled to have been asked to teach modules in terms two and three (Workshop One and The Publishing Industry) and to be working, once again, with my good friend Emma Sweeney as well as Emily Pedder and Kirstan Hawkins.

If you think you or someone you know might be interested, I encourage you to find out more from the City University website. Or if you have any questions you think I could answer, do please get in touch using the Contact Emily tab on the home screen.

Thanks to everyone who entered…

~ Emily Midorikawa

Congratulations to Stuart Evers, a very worthy winner of Circle of Missé’s 2012 Writing Competition for his extract from the novel YNWA. Stuart wins a free place on the Circle of Missé course A Writer Progresses in April or May of this year.

As Emma Claire Sweeney and I judged all of the entries anonymously, the identity of the winner and all those who made the shortlist had been a secret to us until today, so it’s great to be able to put a name to such an engagingly written story.

Congratulations also to Viccy Adams, Terry Edge, Sarah Evans, Hilary Fennell, Caroline Healy, Sophie Mackintosh and Katherine Matthews, the seven runners-up.

For more details about the contest and the judging process, please visit the Circle of Missé website.

Emma and I really enjoyed reading all of the shortlisted entries, and I know I’d definitely love to see anyone who entered on my course at Missé in April.

Circle of Missé 2012 Spring Writing Competition

~ Emily Midorikawa
Circle of Misse house
Image I took of the Circle of Missé house from the garden during my stay in 2011

My good friend the writer Emma Claire Sweeney and I have been asked to be the judges for Circle of Missé’s first ever writing contest. As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, I’ll be teaching the course A Writer Progresses at Missé in April, so this represents just another chance to become involved in some of the great work that goes on there.

Here are the details for anyone who is interested:

Win a Week of Mentoring in France to Further Develop Your Fiction or Non-fiction Book

Submit a 2,000-5,000 word excerpt of your novel, memoir, short story collection or nonfiction book-in-progress for a chance to win a free place on one of Circle of Misse’s Spring 2012 ‘A Writer Progresses’ week-long mentored courses where you will be able to work directly with a writer and teacher to further develop your book and take it to the next level. Runners-up receive an invitation to attend one of the two courses at a deeply discounted rate to further develop their books. All entries receive 10% off any writing course offered by Circle of Misse in 2012.

Entry fee: FREE!

Competition closes: 22 January 2012

Full details are on the Circle of Missé website.

Good luck to everyone who decides to give it a go. I’m really looking forward to reading those entries.

“A Writer Progresses” at Circle of Missé

~ Emily Midorikawa
Corner of the gardens at Missé. I took this picture last year during an afternoon wander.

Having had such a wonderful stay at Circle of Missé in 2011, I was delighted to be asked back for a second year. The location itself with its stone farmhouse walls, its garden vines humming with bees, the surrounding sunflower fields, is one that really inspires creativity. To add to this, there’s great food and wine, and Aaron and Wayne’s sense of hospitality. Really, what more could a writer want?

As usual, I’ll be doing a week’s teaching for the first half of my stay there and then spending the following week as the writer in residence, giving me the chance to focus exclusively on my own writing. From 2 to 8 April I’ll be teaching the course A Writer Progresses.

Open to all skill levels, A Writer Progresses is for writers who already have a project underway, either in the form of some completed draft work or just a strong set of ideas about where you hope to be heading. During the week participants spend at Missé, there will be opportunities for one-to-one feedback and group workshopping, writing exercises directly related to the projects individual group members are working on, discussions about the craft of writing, and solitary writing time too.

One real strong point of the Missé experience, in addition to the fact that everyone gets very well looked after while they’re there, is the small class sizes. The maximum numbers allowed for each course is always capped very low – something that guarantees lots of individual attention for everyone in the group.

This being the case, early booking for the week is advisable, particularly because reserving your place before 31 December will allow you to take advantage of the 10% Early Bird Discount.

For more information, I recommend you visit the Circle of Missé website. If you think you might be interested, but still have some questions, do send me a message using the Contact Emily tab above. Alternatively, you can get in touch with Circle of Missé directly, through their Any Questions page.

I hope to see you there in April!

New Creative Writing Course in London

~ Emily Midorikawa

In addition to my on-going teaching work for the Open University and New York University in London, I’ll be leading a series of creative writing workshops at the Bishopsgate Institute from January to March 2012.

These supportive, but challenging, sessions will run on a fortnightly basis. They are suitable for writers of all prose genres – fiction and non-fiction, and they’ll focus on group workshopping, discussion and writing exercises designed to help you build up your practical skills

For more information, please either get in touch with the venue directly or send me a query using the Contact Emily tab above.

This will be my first time teaching at the Bishopsgate Institute and I’m really looking forward to getting to know my new group.