We are delighted to announce the new cohort of 15 Room 204 writers-in-development, who join over 130 others who have been part of the scheme since its inception in 2012. Every year, Writing West Midlands opens its doors to submissions from emerging writers from across the West Midlands region, writing in all genres, from poetry to screenwriting to fiction and narrative non-fiction.
Given the very specific circumstances around this year’s announcement, the usual initial meeting of the new cohort of Room 204 writers could not take place. However, they all met each other as well as Writing West Midlands staff, Jonathan Davidson and Heddwen Creaney, on Tuesday 7 April 2020 via Zoom online conferencing, as you can see from the photo!
The new cohort of Room 204 starts in April 2020. The writers will be embarking on a year of support through workshops and one to one meetings with Jonathan Davidson, our Chief Executive.
The writers who are part of Room 204 never “leave” as such – the previous cohorts form an invaluable support network and that continues through the cohorts. Room 204 sees writers, years after their initial development year, continue to support each other by sharing resources, asking for advice, and networking beyond the programme itself.
The Room 204 programme, which has been running since 2012, now has 145 writers involved.
The new cohort are listed below, but you can find out more information about them here.
Congratulations and welcome, writers!
The 2020 Room 204 cohort is:
Sara Amanda
Ania Bas
Raef Boylan
Emma Finlayson-Palmer
Elizabeth Inniss
Nicola Jones
Sumaya Kassim
Derek Littlewood
Andrea Mbarushima
Elizabeth O’Connor
Bethany Rivers
Alix Scott-Martin
Daniel Shooter
Alex Smith
Michael Toolan