As 2025 draws to a close, team Faber Academy (Beth, Jade-Louisa, Mar, Keir, Tej, Lisa and me) are celebrating another brilliant year at Faber Academy. 

If you’re one of the hundreds of writers who have joined us in London or Newcastle for anything from our free open day to our flagship course Writing a Novel (and all the brilliant courses in between!), then you will have met the Academy in-person courses team, me, Keir and Mar – but everyone knows it’s really Keir and Mar who do all the magic behind the scenes. If you’re one of the writers who have joined us from all around the world for our online courses, everything from getting your online classroom filled to the brim with resources, to your final email to wish you well has been put together by our amazing online team Beth and Tej. If you’ve scrolled through on our social feeds or read anything on our website, that has been dreamt up by our marketing superstar Lisa. And if you’ve submitted your manuscript for assessment or applied for mentorship, you will have been matched to your perfect reader or mentor by Jade-Louisa.

We’re all writers at Faber Academy. So we know that writing is hard work and requires courage, determination and endless creativity – so no matter if you’ve finished putting the final touches on your polished-to-perfection manuscript or have only just begun your journey of putting pen to paper, congratulations on the end of another writing year. 

While you’re putting your feet up for a well-deserved break, if you did want to do a little bit of writing to round-off the year, here are some prompts that I use at the end of the year to think about my writing. 

Grab a warm drink, crack open your writer’s notebook and spend some time working through them (give yourself at least five minutes for each one!). 

1. Why do you write? What has writing brought to your life this year? 

2. What are you going to take from your writing in 2025 into 2026? 

3. What are you the most proud of in your writing this year? 

So, what are we most proud of in our writing year this year?

In London, Newcastle and online, Mar, Beth, Tej and I have had the joy of facilitating countless hours of Writing Hours, Writing Afternoons, Writing Evenings and Writing Days in 2025 – where writers at all different stages of their careers come together to write in the company of other writers. Writing can be such a solitary endeavour sometimes, so if you are looking for some company and the chance to chat with other writers, we have lots more opportunities coming up in 2026. 

We’re always so proud to see our writers leave the classroom and get their work out into the wider world. This year, we’ve celebrated countless achievements – from end-of-course anthologies shared with agents to the debut novels of many Faber Academy graduates – including Sarah Harman and Lucy Steeds. No matter if you’ve submitted your first polished piece to a poetry competition or seen your debut novel on the shelves of your favourite bookshop, we’re cheering you on every step of the way. 

2025 has also seen the expansion of our scholarship programme, to include many more opportunities for writers to join our courses in London, Newcastle and online, including our Creative Futures scholars – and Jade-Louisa launched the first ever Open Book scholarship (keep your eyes peeled for more coming in 2026!). 

We can’t wait to see you all next year for another year of writing.