Miranda France is a writer, translator, editor and critic. Her translations from Spanish include novels by Claudia Pineiro, Alberto Manguel, Liliana Heker and Sergio Olguin. She is a consultant editor for the Times Literary Supplement and a Fellow of the Royal Literary Fund. She lives in London.
Fascinating, hugely entertaining, instructive in the best sense. I always thought that writing could not be taught, only reading, but this book made me reconsider. I read it in one sitting Both extremely funny and deeply sad, The Writing School examines how and why we tell our own stories. It's beautifully written and structured, compelling, wise and fabulously readable 'Intellectually riveting but also slyly funny and, out-of-nowhere, heartbreaking. What an achievement. I loved every word of it' * Nathan Filer * The Writing School is an extraordinary book. It is funny, exhilarating, heart-breaking and passionate. Its delicate pulsing themes are held like a bird in the writer's confident, gentle hand. Miranda France has created a brilliant, ephemeral eulogy for her beloved brother and a luminous gift for her reader Life, with its unexpected troughs and highs, the disciplines of teaching a creative writing course and the shadow of a family tragedy provide the focus for a memoir that brims with humour, honesty and intelligence. The Writing School taught me a lot 'A sheer delight - so warm, generous and funny. Every page moved me, or made me laugh' Irina Dumitrescu The Writing School is an excellent example of [literary non-fiction]. It is literary in the narrow sense, with its concern for the craft of writing [and also] literary in the broad sense, with its wry and witty ruminations on both art and life * The Spectator * [This] is a mark of [France's] skill... She tightly binds together her two narrative threads: one explaining how we tell stories, the other why * Mail on Sunday * Entertaining and thought-provoking * The Oldie *