National Academy of Writing

The National Academy of Writing is a UK academy dedicated to professional training for writers. Its founders set up the academy as they believed that up and coming writers would benefit from similar professional training to that available to artists, musicians and actors.

At the heart of the Academy is its network of patrons who have committed to teaching on the Academy’s programmes. These patrons are all well-established writers, and many are household names. Broadcaster Melvyn Bragg is the academy’s president, and Barry Turner is the chairman.

The Academy is based at the Perry Barr campus of Birmingham City University and recently appointed its first Fellow, award-winning novelist Nicola Monaghan.

The Academy runs short courses and patron masterclasses, and has just launched a flagship Diploma course, validated by Birmingham City University. The first intake of students for this course arrived in January 2007.

List of writer patrons

 * Diran Adebayo, Yasmin Alibhai-Brown, Carole Angier, Lisa Appignanesi, Michael Arditti, Margaret Atwood, Patrick Augustus
 * Beryl Bainbridge, Iain Banks, Antony Beevor, Sujata Bhatt, Terence Blacker, Marjorie Blackman, Alan Bleasdale, Rosie Boycott, William Boyd, Melvyn Bragg, Celia Brayfield, Simon Brett, Tina Brown, Elizabeth Buchan, Melvin Burgess, John Burnside, James Buxton, A S Byatt
 * Carmen Callil, Russell Celyn Jones, Jung Chang, Mavis Cheek, Kate Clanchy, Jonathan Coe, Jilly Cooper, Alan Coren, Bernard Cornwell, Jim Crace, Richard Curtis
 * David Dabydeen, Jill Dawson, Anita Desai, Roddy Doyle, Patricia Duncker, Helen Dunmore
 * Khaled El-Hagar, Harold Evans
 * Helen Fielding, Ken Follett, Antonia Fraser
 * Jamila Gavin, Pam Gems, Peter Gill, John Godber, Maurice Gran, Linda Grant, Romesh Gunesekera
 * Lee Hall, Peter Hall, Christopher Hampton, David Hare, Josephine Hart, Zinnie Harris, Roy Hattersley, Peter Hennessy, Tobias Hill, Michael Holroyd, Nick Hornby, Philip Howard, Will Hutton
 * Robert Irwin, Kazuo Ishiguro
 * Amy Jenkins, Simon Jenkins, Linton Kwesi Johnson, Liane Jones, Graham Joyce
 * Jackie Kay, John Keegan, Thomas Keneally, Mary Killen, Daren King, Matthew Kneale, Hanif Kureishi
 * Lynda La Plante, Doris Lessing, Andrea Levy, Penelope Lively, David Lodge, Michael Longley
 * Patrick Marber, Laurence Marks, Andrew Marr, Roger McGough, Stanley Middleton, Anthony Minghella, Deborah Moggach, Blake Morrison, Andrew Motion, Paul Muldoon
 * Andrew Neil
 * Sean O'Brien
 * Ruth Padel, Brian Patten, Allison Pearson, Alan Plater, Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, Philip Pullman
 * Ian Rankin, Andrew Rawnsley, James Roose Evans, Willy Russell
 * Gitta Sereny, Jo Shapcott, Ahdaf Soueif, Shelagh Stephenson, George Szirtes
 * Stella Tillyard, Donald Trelford, Lynne Truss, Barry Turner (journalist)
 * Barry Unsworth
 * Minette Walters, Sarah Waters, Fay Weldon, Timberlake Wertenbaker, Jacqueline Wilson, Simon Winchester
 * Theodore Zeldin, Benjamin Zephaniah