Kate Pullinger won Canada’s Governor General’s Award for Fiction for her novel The Mistress of Nothing; this work of historical fiction set in Egypt was also longlisted for the Giller Prize. She’s published many novels and books of short stories as well as multiple award-winning works of digital media, including, most recently, the smartphone ghost story, Breathe, and the novel Forest Green, which was based on her own family history. In 2021 she was awarded the Marjorie C. Luesebrink Career Achievement Award by the Electronic Literature Organisation.
Kate Pullinger has been Professor of Creative Writing and Digital Media at Bath Spa University, and Director of the Centre for Cultural and Creative Industries. She has worked with many creative writing MA and PhD students, and is keen to return to 1-1 mentoring outside the confines of academia.
From idea to outline to draft, Kate has given me confidence in my writing. Incisive in her analysis and insights, and with absolute mastery of the craft, she’s helped me construct character and narrative and shown me how to write with clarity and impact. As Kate’s mentee, I feel I’ve had the extraordinary privilege of seeing my work receive the complete attention of a truly gifted reader and writer. It’s one thing to be able spot potential in a piece of writing, another thing entirely to show someone how to draw out that potential for themselves. Somehow, in our mentoring sessions, Kate always manages that with humour and with generosity. If you want to enjoy the experience of writing a novel, ask Kate Pullinger to be your mentor. – Paul Emsley
