Virtual Creative Access Masterclass: Beyond the page - turning words into work

Date: Thursday 23rd July 2026

Time: 6pm to 7:15pm

Place: Online via Zoom

Join our virtual masterclass to explore what it takes to build a sustainable and rewarding career as a writer.

Covering journalism, research, copyrighting and creative writing, this panel will explore the opportunities, challenges and skills needed to succeed in a rapidly evolving industry.

For those of you who are aspiring, emerging and early-career writers, the discussion brings together established and emerging writers to share practical advice and honest reflections on navigating the realities of the profession.

Together, we'll explore how writers can build resilient, self-directed careers while staying creatively fulfilled, with particular attention to the experiences of writers from underrepresented backgrounds. Join us to ask your questions about freelancing, publishing, building a portfolio, developing your career and finding new opportunities.

About the speakers:

Gurnaik Johal is a writer from west London. His 2022 collection We Move won a Somerset Maugham Award, the Tata Literature Live! Prize and the Galley Beggar Short Story Prize. In 2025, he was named an Observer Best New Novelist, and Saraswati, his debut novel, was nominated for the Waterstones Debut Fiction Prize, the Sunday Times Charlotte Aitken Young Writer Award, the Jhalak Prize and the RSL Ondaatje Prize, and also won a Somerset Maugham Award.

Jadyn-Elia Lansana is a starry-eyed creative writing master's graduate finding her way into the books industry and community work. She writes for The Writers Herd, has shot a short film, and publishes on Substack. Most recently, she joined the Free Books Campaign team, an organisation that helps make arts and literature free and accessible to all. Alongside her role as a committee officer at the Association for Laboratory Medicine, Jadyn is a lover of words and people, tending to the beautiful first sparks of her career. She intends to keep finding ways to connect with others through culture, identity, and literature.

Jem Bartholomew is a freelance writer and regular contributor to The Guardian and Columbia Journalism Review, among other outlets. He is currently writing his first book, a work of narrative nonfiction about poverty in the UK. Jem started his career as a reporter at FT Specialist through Creative Access – where he won Best Newcomer in the State Street Institutional Press Awards – before spending a couple of years in New York City. Back in London now, he still misses the pizza.

Sophie Black was shortlisted for the Women’s Prize Discoveries Award in 2025 for a novel-in-progress exploring interpersonal dynamics in restaurant spaces. She uses fiction to combine her first-hand interest in hospitality and passion for workplace inclusion with learnings from a masters in Gender, Media and Culture from Goldsmiths University. Sophie is currently the Programmes and Training coordinator at Creative Access and in her spare time, an enthusiastic ice cream churner for small business Milktooth Gelato.

This event is aimed at people who are under-represented in the creative industries. This includes, but is not limited to, individuals who identify as Black, Asian, or from other ethnically diverse backgrounds, or people of any ethnicity who belong to the following under-represented groups: disabled people, individuals with the characteristic of gender reassignment, individuals from lower socioeconomic backgrounds, carers and asylum seekers.