Finding the plot: a course for aspiring fiction writers. Click here to download brochure

The Sunday Times Oxford Literary Festival has a well-deserved reputation for enterprise and innovation, and the 2008 festival saw the introduction of a particularly exciting initiative: a five-day college-based residential course offering an opportunity for aspiring fiction-writers to hone their skills in the company of eminent authors and other representatives of the literary world.

Now in its sixth year, the course has established itself as a firm fixture. Providing a series of five two-hour tutor-led workshops, together with a series of ten one-hour talks (masterclasses) given by eminent novelists and other significant figures from the literary world, it is designed to serve the needs of writers who are interested in honing their creative skills in the company of a small, dedicated group.

This year’s masterclasses have the strongest ever line-up of speakers. They will include London literary agent Luigi Bonomi, founder-director of the LBA agency and recipient of The Bookseller Literary Agent of the Year award for 2010; Angus Cargill, senior editor at Faber and Faber; Lee Gutkind, described by Vanity Fair as ‘the Godfather behind creative non-fiction’; Joanne Harris, author of novels including the bestselling Chocolat; Andrew Miller, Booker-shortlisted novelist and winner of the 2012 Costa Award; Jewell Parker Rhodes, prizewinning African-American novelist; James Sallis, recipient of the Hammett Award for literary excellence in crime writing; and Jacqueline Yallop, whose second novel, Obedience, has been praised by Hilary Mantel and described by Julie Myerson in The Observer as ‘by far the most impressive novel I read this year’.

The learning environment is intentionally intimate: the course as a whole will have places for a maximum of 30 participants, while the group will be split into two sub-groups for workshops, each containing a maximum of 15 participants. The whole group will gather together for each talk in the masterclass series. For more details ... download the brochure

The course, which takes place between Saturday, March 16, and Friday, March 22 2013, costs £1,660 per person including accommodation and full board

Places go quickly so please make your booking today. Click here to register now.

Please note: Lee Brackstone is no longer speaking at the Creative Writing Course and has been replaced by Angus Cargill.