How To Finish Your Novel – A Weekend Workshop with Suyi Davies Okungbowa
NEW DATE: November 29 – 30, 2025 @ 5PM – 7:30PM UTC (click here to convert to your timezone)
Where: Online over Zoom
Attendance Supported by Donations – Apply for Scholarship below!
Only 10 Seats Available
Are you a writer with a novel in your head but virtually no time to write it? Maybe you have a day job, school to attend, family members to care for, so many life responsibilities grabbing at you that your novel has languished away on the backburner, and you’re worried you’ll never get to complete it. Now there isn’t even NaNoWriMo to help kick you into gear!
Author and creative writing Professor Suyi Davies Okungbowa knows what that’s like and is here to tell you that in spite of these pressures, you can absolutely still finish that novel. It may take you longer than many, but you will get there. Come on this weekend with us, and he’ll show you how.
In this two-day class, Suyi combines principles from strategic project culture (honed during his time in a former corporate role) and the tips, tricks and techniques he has built up in his author career to deliver a pathway to starting and finishing your novel.
Please note that this class will be recorded.
Who Should Take This Workshop?
This class is for BIPOC writers in any stage in their writing career.
Schedule
This weekend workshop take place on November 29th and 30th from 5PM – 7:30PM UTC (click here to convert to your timezone) with a short 10-minute break halfway. The first day will end with homework that will be discussed the next day, and both days will have time for a Q&A session at the end.
About the Instructor
Suyi Davies Okungbowa is an award-winning Nigerian author of fantasy, science fiction and general speculative fiction. He has published various novels for adults, the latest of which is Son of the Storm (Orbit, 2021), first in the epic fantasy trilogy, The Nameless Republic (the second book in the series, Warrior of the Wind, is forthcoming in 2023). His debut novel. David Mogo, Godhunter (Abaddon, 2019) won the 2020 Nommo Award for Best Speculative Novel by an African.
He has also published works for younger audiences (under Suyi Davies) such as Stranger Things: Lucas on the Line (Random House, 2022), Minecraft: The Haven Trials (Del Rey, 2021) and contributed to the instant #1 NYT bestselling anthology Black Boy Joy. His shorter works have appeared in various periodicals and anthologies, and have been nominated for various awards.
Okungbowa is an Assistant Professor of Creative Writing at the University of Ottawa in Ontario, where he currently lives. As a speaker and instructor, he has taught writing at the college level and spoken at various venues, institutionally and publicly. He earned his MFA in Creative Writing at the University of Arizona.
Scholarships
This class is fully supported by the generous contributions of the Carl Brandon Society’s donors, and so attendance is free and requires only filling this scholarship application. We have limited seats available, and the scholarship deadline is November 15th.
Attending the live class consists of participating in the live discussions and Q&As, as well as getting the recording after.
If you would also like to support this class or other classes like it, you can do so via Humanitix here. All contributions are appreciated, and donations of 50 USD or above will also receive a recording of the class as a gift two weeks after the class concludes.
Technical Requirements
This workshop will take place over Zoom, so please ensure that your device is compatible with Zoom beforehand.
A microphone or working camera are not necessary to participate. We’ll be monitoring the chat and relaying any questions you type to the instructor.
Accessibility
This class will have Zoom’s auto-generated closed-captions available. For more of Zoom’s accessibility features, please click here. Discussions will be via voice or Zoom’s chat feature.
If you have any questions, contact our class coordinator Yasmine at classes@carlbrandon.org and we’ll get back to you ASAP!