Grace Palmer
Grace Palmer at the mic at Novel Nights
I’m a writer, creative writing facilitator, writing events organiser and skilled interviewer.
I’m passionate about helping writers discover writing and craft their stories and am expanding my teaching to help more writers.
I set up and run Novel Nights, providing events and support for novelists, to help them move on with their novels. I’m now based in South Somerset and run FRESH FICTION, a short story night that takes place at The David Hall, South Petherton, South Somerset TA13 1AA. The Novel Nights team choose submissions from writers, who are then invited to read at the prestigious venue at The David Hall.
My Writing and publication
I love writing and my chosen form is prose, though I use poetic techniques in my work (originally I was a performance poet). I’m currently editing a collection of short stories and flash fiction and tackling the third draft of my second novel, before I send it out to an agent. I’ve been building up a publication record over the past five years and You can read my stories on this page. I enjoy reading my work at Open Mics, book launches and live events. My goal is to be more widely published and through a Creative Writing MA at Bath Spa University, studying other writers and continually practicing I am getting closer to this ambition.
Words are my world. At primary school I preferred to write instead of ‘play’ outside, amazed at the power of story and the magical world of language and words.
Teaching
My writing philosophy is to inspire students, to share the joy of language and word play, to link writers to the spark and to douse the voice of self-criticism. I gain a lot of satisfaction from seeing students grow, and I know the pain of feeling stuck.
Since 2017 I’ve devised and run creative writing workshops with adults at Bristol Folk House. See the Folk House website for courses I run there. Courses include An introduction to creative writing, Short Stories and Flash Fiction, Flash in a Day and Reading your work in public. In 2020 I became a Creative Producer for Paper Nations on their Time to Write programme, working with marginalised writers to produce work during the pandemic. Paper Nations is a writing development agency supported by Bath Spa University and the Arts Council.
I also offer editing services for stories that are feeling a bit stuck.
What my students say
I really loved this course. It gave me courage to put pen to paper, and bite-sized tasks to make success possible. And now I will write!
I really enjoyed the course - found the teaching on the process of writing really helpful and the feedback and support invaluable. Thank you, Grace
I enjoyed the mental support - like how to overcome the voice that says you’re not good enough.
Sign up for writing classes
Sign up for editing services
Author Interviews
I’ve interviewed these authors in front of a live audience at Novel Nights. Venues include St Georges’ Bristol, The Square Club,
Jane Corry, Christopher Wakling, Dr Mimi Thebo, Sandjida Kay, Tyler Keevil, CL Taylor, Cynan Jones, Nikesh Shukla, Jane Shemilt, Emily Koch, Nikki Smith, Trevor Wood. Nathan Filer, Patricia Ferguson, Stephen May, Tom Vowler, Rosemary Dun, KM Elkes, Kylie Fitzpatrick.
Agent interviews: Carrie Juliet Pickering from Blake Friedmann, Dionne McCulloch, Cornerstones Press,
Podcast interviews with Fiona Blakemore
Supporting Writers through masterclasses and live events
I created Novel Nights in 2013 to bring author and publishers to share craft and industry knowledge with writers based in Bristol, Bath and Exeter. My mission is to end the isolation felt by novelists and champion writers. Novel Nights has now moved online.
I set up Flash in Hand, Bristol’s first ever Open Mic night dedicated to flash fiction in 2019 with flash fiction writer, Kevlin Henney.