Author: mosteshar

I started The Oxford Editors in 2007 to help writers at every stage and in every genre. We have a strong academic tradition as well as working with writers of fiction, non-fiction and poetry. We also help children's writers, playwrights, screen writers and business writers. We offer a wide set of services for writers from mentoring, manuscript assessment, copy editing, proof reading, ghost writing, query letter writing, literary agent search, and much more. We will write your blog for you, perfect that speech or help you self-publish that book. If you write, our team of published authors, publishing industry experts and academics can help you. My bio: I am an award-winning writer and editor working on academic, non-fiction and fiction manuscripts. I regularly work with fiction and children’s writers as well as doctoral students. I have also edited books and papers for academics throughout the world, and for many authors at publishers including Oxford University Press, Harvard University Press and Yale University Press. I have also guided many writers of fiction to publishing success. I am an author, ghost writer and an international journalist. After the publication of my book, Unveiled: Love and Death Among the Ayatollahs, Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei condemned me as ‘a notorious man-hater’ for the book’s strong attack on the violation of women’s rights in Iran. I also work with writers as a mentor and I have guided authors of fiction, non-fiction and academic works. My latest book, a crime thriller, will be published soon. I worked for many years at The Financial Times, The Independent and The Guardian and has been a regular contributor to The Economist. I have also written for The Washington Post, The New York Times, The South China Morning Post and many other newspapers and magazines worldwide. I have appeared on the BBC – including Radio 4’s the Today programme and on Newsnight. I have edited several major academic studies, and also edited books by professors at Oxford and Harvard – among others. As well as writing fiction for adults and children. I have also written several screenplays.

January Meeting: Urgent

Dear All,

We really need to know numbers for our January meeting, to ensure it is worth Meena Kandasamy making the trip to Oxford. Can you let me know today if you intend to come. Please email me at info@theoxfordeditors.co.uk.

Our January meeting with be at Blackwell’s Book Shop, 48-51 Broad Street, Oxford on Wednesday 29th January 7pm – 9pm.

Writer’s at Blackwell’s is delighted to be welcoming Meena Kandasamy who will be exploring her new book Exquisite Cadavers, a book told in two parts, making it a unique and special read. With the story on one side, the other hosts side notes by Meena exploring her creative process in forming this story.

Meena will be discussing her inspiration for writing Exquisite Cadavers and much more.

Karim, a young film-maker, carries with him the starry-eyed dreams of the Arab Revolution. Maya carries her own pressing concerns: an errant father, an unstable job, a chain-smoking habit, a sudden pregnancy. When Karim’s brother disappears in Tunis, and Karim wants to go after him, Maya must choose between her partner and her home city, her future and her history…

In a conversation between forms, fictions and truths, ‘Exquisite Cadavers’ is a novel about a young couple navigating love in London, and a literary hall of mirrors about an author navigating the inspirations behind her work.

 

This is a meeting not to be missed.

Meena Kandasamy has actively sought to combine her love for the written word with the struggle for social justice through poetry, translation, fiction and essays for the last fifteen years.

Her debut collection of poems, ‘Touch’ was themed around caste and untouchability, and her second, ‘Ms Militancy’, was an explosive, feminist retelling/reclaiming of Tamil and Hindu myths. Her critically acclaimed first (anti)novel, ‘The Gypsy Goddess’, smudged the line between powerful fiction and fearsome critique in narrating the 1968 massacre of forty-four landless untouchable men, women and children striking for higher wages in the village of Kilvenmani, Tanjore.

Her second novel, a work of auto-ficition, ‘When I Hit You: Or, The Portrait of the Writer As A Young Wife’, drew upon her own experience within an abusive marriage, to lift the veil on the silence that surrounds domestic violence and marital rape in modern India. It was selected as book of the year by The Guardian, The Observer, Daily Telegraph and Financial Times; and was shortlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction 2018 among others.

Tickets cost £5 or £30 for a years membership to the group. For all other enquiries, please email events.oxford@blackwell.co.uk or call 01865 333623.

March Date

Our March meeting will be on Wednesday 18th March, so keep that day free.

Would members be interested in a monthly writing session? We would meet somewhere and write together over food and drinks. Just and idea, but if it appeals it might become more regular.

As we don’t depend on Blackwell’s to be available for our feedback sessions, is there a date in the month that would suit members. Something like the last Monday of the month?

The Oxford Editors discounts for members

Some new members may not know that I run a literary consultancy called The Oxford Editors. We provide a wealth of services for writers and everyone in Writers at Blackwell’s gets a 15% discount on those services. Do check out our website at http://www.theoxfordeditors.co.uk.

If you write, we can help. The Oxford Editors is a leading international literary consultancy, based in Oxford, dedicated to helping writers.

We provide the expert help and advice you need to write your novel, screenplay, thesis or article. If you write, we can help and many of our authors have gone on to great success. We also work with top publishers worldwide and have a large network of literary agents to whom we regularly recommend our clients. Our clients include first-time authors, professors at top universities, politicians, and established authors, playwrights and poets who want a second opinion from a professional.

We cover fiction, non-fiction and academic writing and can provide a wide range of editorial and assessment services to writers no matter what genre. Our editors are published authors, successful screenwriters, ghost writers, copy editors and proof readers, and they will pass on years of writing and publishing experience to help you make the best of your writing.

The Oxford Editors works with new and established authors. Each writer is important to us, from the young boy who wants a mentor to help write his first book to established authors who want a second critical eye run over their work before their publisher gets hold of it.

The Oxford Editors also has a strong academic tradition and has worked with academics from around the world. Many of our academic authors write for the leading university publishers and have been published in some of the most influential journals in their field.

We also take on a very limited number of authors to act as their literary agent.

Please get in touch for more details.

All the best,

Cherry

January meeting: An Evening With Meena Kandasamy

Our January meeting with be at Blackwell’s Book Shop, 48-51 Broad Street, Oxford on Wednesday 29th January 7pm – 9pm.

Writer’s at Blackwell’s is delighted to be welcoming Meena Kandasamy who will be exploring her new book Exquisite Cadavers, a book told in two parts, making it a unique and special read. With the story on one side, the other hosts side notes by Meena exploring her creative process in forming this story.

Meena will be discussing her inspiration for writing Exquisite Cadavers and much more.

Synopsis

Karim and Maya:

[x] share a home

[x] worry about money

[x] binge-watch films

[x] argue all the time

Karim, a young film-maker, carries with him the starry-eyed dreams of the Arab Revolution. Maya carries her own pressing concerns: an errant father, an unstable job, a chain-smoking habit, a sudden pregnancy. When Karim’s brother disappears in Tunis, and Karim wants to go after him, Maya must choose between her partner and her home city, her future and her history…

In a conversation between forms, fictions and truths, ‘Exquisite Cadavers’ is a novel about a young couple navigating love in London, and a literary hall of mirrors about an author navigating the inspirations behind her work.

 

This is a meeting not to be missed.

Meena Kandasamy has actively sought to combine her love for the written word with the struggle for social justice through poetry, translation, fiction and essays for the last fifteen years.

Her debut collection of poems, ‘Touch’ was themed around caste and untouchability, and her second, ‘Ms Militancy’, was an explosive, feminist retelling/reclaiming of Tamil and Hindu myths. Her critically acclaimed first (anti)novel, ‘The Gypsy Goddess’, smudged the line between powerful fiction and fearsome critique in narrating the 1968 massacre of forty-four landless untouchable men, women and children striking for higher wages in the village of Kilvenmani, Tanjore.

Her second novel, a work of auto-ficition, ‘When I Hit You: Or, The Portrait of the Writer As A Young Wife’, drew upon her own experience within an abusive marriage, to lift the veil on the silence that surrounds domestic violence and marital rape in modern India. It was selected as book of the year by The Guardian, The Observer, Daily Telegraph and Financial Times; and was shortlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction 2018 among others.

Tickets cost £5 or £30 for a years membership to the group. For all other enquiries, please email events.oxford@blackwell.co.uk or call 01865 333623.

November meeting: A conversation with Bell Pearson of Guppy Books

Our next meeting will be at Blackwell’s Book Shop, 48-51 Broad Street, Oxford on Wednesday 27th November 7pm – 9pm.

We are being joined by Bella Pearson of Guppy books, who will give us a really great insight into how publishing Children’s books work.

Guppy Books is a newly-created independent children’s publisher based in Oxford, publishing eight to ten fiction titles a year for children of all ages. They celebrated their first anniversary this Autumn and has recently released their second publication ‘The Extremely Inconvenient Adventures of Bronte Mettlestone’ by Jaclyn Moriarty. Bella Pearson, Publisher at Guppy Books, will be with us to explore their journey to becoming one of Oxford’s newest and exciting publishers and to discuss the Children’s publishing industry.

Bella Pearson has worked in children’s publishing for over twenty years, seventeen of those spent in a variety of guises at David Fickling Books in Oxford. DFB was started from from David’s kitchen table in 2001 – and Bella is incredibly excited to now be at her own kitchen table building up an eclectic and entertaining list of books for children.

Titles she previously acquired and edited include ‘The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas’ by John Boyne, ‘Before I Die’ by Jenny Downham, ‘The Art of Being Normal’ by Lisa Williamson and ‘Bog Child’ by Siobhan Dowd and ‘Jessica’s Ghost’ by Andrew Norriss. She has won the Branford Boase Award once and been shortlisted five times, and spent three years working as a mentor at The Golden Egg Academy, as well as editing for many children’s publishers including Puffin, Chicken House and Oxford University Press.

 

Gloves Off by Louisa Reid, Guppy’s first title, has been nominated for the Carnegie Medal

This will be a conversation, so come with questions.

 

Tickets cost £5 for visitors or £30 for a year’s membership.

 

Discounts for members

Over the last 12 years, The Oxford Editors has helped many members of the group improve their work and get published. Members of Writers at Blackwell’s get a 20% discount on all our services, so let us give you that extra, one-to-one help with your writing.

Visit our website at: http://www.theoxfordeditors.co.uk to learn about our wealth of services for writers.

Or give me a call to discuss how we can help on 01865 358737.

September Meeting: Feedback at Blackwell’s

This month we are going to hold our regular feedback session at Blackwell’s Book Shop, 48-51 Broad Street, Oxford, on Wednesday 25th September at 7pm – to 9pm.

We will try and get in as many readers as possible, but please try and make your piece no more than 10 minutes (1,500 words). If you are able to bring copies, it is useful for members to be able to read along with you.

Group members discounts at TOE

Remember your discounts from The Oxford Editors

Over the last 12 years, The Oxford Editors has helped many members of the group improve their work and get published. Members of Writers at Blackwell’s get a 20% on all our services for writers, so let us give you that extra, one-to-one help with your writing.

Visit our website at: http://www.theoxfordeditors.co.uk to learn about our wealth of services for writers.