The Magic of the Bath Spa University MAWFYP

Kirsty Applebaum reminisces about her time on the MAWFYP and shares her advice and experience from the course.

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I remember the very first writing exercise I did on the Bath Spa University MAWFYP course, back in 2014, with the inimitable Steve Voake. We were asked to pair up with another student and produce a piece of writing inspired by one of their childhood memories. I was lucky enough to be paired with the talented Helen Lipscombe and, while I produced nothing of note in that first week, she wrote a gripping, atmospheric scene set in a dystopian future, based on my own fifth birthday.

It was the beginning of a brilliant course - the best I’ve ever taken - joyously packed with wise & skilful tutors; enlightening workshops; fantastic new writing friends and, of course, noisy Corsham Court peacocks. 

Two and a half years later we, the class of 2016, were publishing our anthology - just as the class of 2021 are publishing theirs now. It was an exciting time, but it was also just a little bit TERRIFYING. Not only because we were putting our writing out onto the world, but also because the MAWFYP was, for us, at an end. I didn’t want to leave. I wanted to stay on the course forever. And perhaps some of the Unlocked writers might be feeling a little like that right now. 

However, I’m here to tell you something - YOU’LL BE FINE! The MA has already spun its spell. It’s already embedded itself inside you. It’ll reach into your future and cast its magic over everything to come (just like a good children’s book does when read at the perfect age!) Graduates from our 2016 cohort are engaged in all kinds of wonderful work that they might not be involved with if it weren’t for the course. Some are published authors. Others are doing equally fantastic things such as mentoring new writers, judging writing competitions, making films, teaching others how to write children’s stories and blogging about children’s books.

For me, a clear example of this MAWFYP magic loops back to the very beginning of the course. Four and a half years after my first workshop with Steve Voake, a small group of friends and I did that very same exercise – creating a piece of writing inspired by another’s childhood memories - just for fun. And while I might not have written anything of note in 2014, this time was different. The story of a robot popped into my head: a robot designed to look and behave just like a human child, whose job it was to be a friend – a true friend – to a real child. Before long, I’d written the first draft of TrooFriend – and it was all down to the magic of the Bath Spa University MAWFYP.

Huge congratulations to the class of 2021. Good luck with your wonderful anthology and with everything you choose to do afterwards!