Narrative Non-Fiction

Over 13 years the Narrative Non-Fiction short course has developed a unique and highly successful way of inspiring students to reach a professional level of writing, attested by their publication successes.

The course’s principle is that all of the techniques that a writer needs already exist within the student cohort on the course. By sharing work in class discussion – reading aloud with text, allied to individual feedback from the tutor, the full panoply of writing techniques can be covered within the 10 week course. Good writers go up a gear or two and the less confident starters often end the course with their writing and confidence transformed.

Not everyone who comes on the course aspires to high-level publication but writing well is a lifetime skill. Some students, rather then publishing a book, have gone on to major editing or executive jobs following the course.

For those who do aspire to publication, the specific requirements of non-fiction publishing are explained. Non-fiction of all genres (including memoir, biography, travel, history, science and politics) is welcome. Writing a book proposal is the hurdle that all aspiring non-fiction book publishers face and the course plays special attention to this.

Publishing Successes

Aniefiok Ekpoudom (Autumn 2015)  

Where We Come From: Rap Home and Hope in Modern London, Faber

"I'm a staff writer at SBTV at the moment. Writing about music day to day which is the dream!"

Aniefiok also writes for the Guardian. His book Where We Come From: Rap, Hope and Home in Modern Britain published by Faber in 2024.

Dee Peyok (Summer 2013)

“Your class really set me on my path. I can’t recommend Peter and the course enough to anyone considering it.”

Dee’s book Away from Beloved Lover: A Musical Journey Through Cambodia, published by Granta, 2023.

Ciaran Thapar (Spring 2017)

Cut Short: Youth Violence, Why We’re Failing Our Youth and How To Fix It, Penguin  2021.

“My short course at City was a major factor in levelling up my writing. It helped me plan my book, so I always felt indebted to Peter Forbes, and it was a hugely helpful resource in starting a writing career.”

Emily Kasriel (Summer 2022)

Deep Listening - Transform your Relationships with Family, Friends and Foes, HarperCollins, May 2025.

“I feel far more confident about this book writing business and I am hugely grateful to you”.

Ed Morgan (Spring 2024)

Chasing Mallory’s Dream, to be published by Bodleian Library Publishing, Spring 2026

Orla Shortall (Spring 2021)

The Milk Book, to be published by September Publishing in spring 2026.

“Thanks again for sharing your expertise and making the classes enjoyable.”

Mélissa Cornet (Summer 2023)

When her class started Mélissa wrote: “I am aiming to make my research writing more engaging and more agreeable to read. I'm a lawyer by training and, well, it shows in my reports.”

She has since published in the Guardian Long Read and the London Review of Books and signed with agent David Godwin for book on Afghanistan.

Jem Bartholomew (Spring 2022)

Contract with Faber for Threading the Needle, about poverty in the UK.

Morris Schulz (Autumn 2023)

Representation in Germany for his book What should I do? A (short) introduction to the philosophy of decisions.

Who is it for?

This Narrative Non-Fiction writing evening course aims to give writers confidence in their ability to deliver good, clean prose, to develop their use of vivid metaphoric language and to structure effectively both long and short works.

Timetable

Taught over 10 weekly evening classes Narrative Non-Fiction writing course offers expert tuition and the flexibility of part-time study. Due to popular demand, you can choose either Tuesday or Thursday evenings.

City St George’s Short Courses follow the academic year, delivering courses over three terms:

• Autumn - October
• Spring - January
• Summer - April

Benefits

• An opportunity to develop your non-fiction writing techniques and receive professional feedback on your work from a published writer and editor.
• Led by an award-winning writer, this short course will help you to develop your creativity and critical thinking, as well as your editing skills.
• Additionally, you will receive an insight into the publishing industry, including advice on how to prepare a book proposal.

Over the course of 10 weekly evening classes on the Narrative Non-fiction short course, you will learn:

• To compose reliable, consistent text for any occasion
• Techniques appropriate for short and long-form articles
• How to write a book proposal
• Literary techniques that create voice and colour in your writing.

You will also gain:

• Detailed critiques and edits for up to 5 assignments
• An understanding of a range of forms from practical composition to literary style
• A strong workshop element, with student work at the heart of each class.

There is no assessment, but the course aims to teach students how to edit and judge their own work through exercises, both individual and in small groups, where reading aloud encourages group discussion.

The aim of this Narrative Non-Fiction writing short course is to encourage students in their writing and offer them the chance to improve their skills.

Guidance will also be given on how to prepare a book proposal.

Participants who attend at least 70% of the classes will receive a certificate with City St George’s logo, stating that they undertook a particular course at City St George’s, University of London.

No prior knowledge required.

English requirements

Applicants must be fluent in written and spoken English.

The list below demonstrates the range of narrative non-fiction available, but is not required pre-course reading.

Suggested reading:

• Katherine Boo, Behind the Beautiful Forevers - a documentary account of a Mumbai slum, written novelistically.
• Edmund de Waal, The Hare with the Amber Eyes - a personal quest memoir.
• Jeanette Winterson, Why be Happy When You Could be Normal - personal memoir.
• Robert MacFarlane, The Old Ways - rhapsodic, highly literary nature writing.
• Rebecca Skloot, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks - the story behind a dramatic and terrible medical story and much more, the writer's relationship with one of the family coming centre-stage.
• Tom Wolfe, The Right Stuff - pioneer text of the New Journalism that spawned creative non-fiction as a genre.
• Robert Pirsig, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance - philosophic polemic/personal narrative intertwined.
• James D. Watson, The Double Helix - pioneering work of telling science like it is.

Other reading on language and writing:

• Guy Deutscher, The Unfolding of Language (Arrow Books). Revelatory book on the evolution of language. It will never look the same again.
• John Whale, Put it in Writing (out of print but available very cheap from Amazon if you're quick).
• Keith Waterhouse, Waterhouse on Newspaper Style (Revel Barker). Don't be put off by the title. All writers will enjoy Waterhouse's pithy take on language.
• Lynne Truss, Eats, Shoot and Leaves (Fourth Estate). The classic that manages to make punctuation entertaining.