Award-winning author and journalist Diana Evans has visited Kingston College fascinating an audience of over 100 students from local schools with insights into her craft, creativity and literary journey.
Year 10s, Year 11s and Sixth Formers from Epsom & Ewell High School, Holy Cross, Tolworth Girls’, Grey Court and Hollyfield, alongside English teaching staff, listened avidly while Evans shared her experience of becoming a writer – enjoying poetry from a young age, then working as a journalist before having her first book published - detailing the “five psychological stages of writing”: Doubt, Preparing, Writing, Revision and Completion. She spoke candidly about the challenges younger writers face today, as well as the importance of staying creative and seeking impact through words. She described her writing style as descriptive and rhythmic, embracing long sentences and an expressive use of grammar, encouraging students to “not be oppressed by the rules.”
Evans’s novels often unfold against vivid historical backdrops—such as Barack Obama’s inauguration and the wedding of Charles and Diana. Most recently, in A House for Alice, she sets the story in the shadow of the Grenfell Tower tragedy, a poignant context she brought to life while reading aloud a passage to the captivated audience. She credits poetry and exhibitions with fuelling her imagination and cites journalling and reading as essential to writing well, often reading 4 or 5 books at one time: “Writers are connected through their work; reading other authors also helps us feel less isolated.”
Students learned about her journey from pitching a manuscript at an "agents' tea party" whilst taking her Creative Writing MA at University of East Anglia to becoming a published author. She also reflected on her early passions - dancing and writing - and how both shaped her creative voice. Currently working on her next novel, she doesn’t believe in the term “writer’s block” saying “it’s always possible to write something, even if it’s bad.”
Evans judges renowned competitions such as the Women’s Prize for Fiction, the British Book Awards and The Sunday Times Short Story Award. She has also judged the Queen Mary Wasafiri Magazine’s New Writing Prize. Evans recommends must-reads such as Tell Me Everything by one of her favourite authors, Elizabeth Strout, and works by James Baldwin and Sheila Heti to name a few.
Waterstones Kingston were also in attendance, giving students and staff the opportunity to purchase signed copies of a selection of Evans’s books.
Today’s event followed on from the College’s very successful South West Writes creative writing competition for Year 10s in 2024.
