Olu Fasan
Student spotlight details
Olu, an experienced professional and academic writer, wanted to explore and develop his creative writing skills after retiring from the Civil Service, and the Diploma in Creative Writing was exactly what he was looking for. Thanks to the direct impact the course had on his writing, he published a non-fiction book with Penguin and hopes to continue his journey by writing a fiction novel next.
'By the time I started the Diploma in Creative Writing in September 2022, I had been a senior policy adviser in the UK Civil Service for nearly 15 years, with a long stint as Guest Tutor and Visiting Fellow at the London School of Economics, where I obtained a PhD in Law. During the same period, I was a weekly columnist for two of Nigeria’s most popular newspapers, Vanguard and BusinessDay, and had written in academic journals. So, I had a proven record of commitment to writing and regarded myself as a dedicated writer.
'However, as I contemplated retiring from the Civil Service, I began also to think about taking up creative writing as a post-retirement vocation. At that point, it dawned on me that I needed to learn the craft because being a newspaper columnist or an academic writer is not exactly the same thing as being a novelist or a poet. Ahead of starting the course, I explained my motivation in a BusinessDay column, 'From columnist to novelist: The pursuit of a lifelong passion'. That article heralded the beginning of a two-year sojourn as a part-time creative writing student at Oxford University’s Department for Continuing Education, famously known as Conted.
'My first pleasant experience came on the first day of the course when we – the students – gathered at Ewert House in Summertown, Oxford, and introduced ourselves. There was a retired GP, a retired architect, a pharmacist and a lawyer. I knew there and then that I was in the right company, of people who were either taking up writing in retirement or as a second career. Of course, there were also among us much younger ones who had chosen to pursue creative writing probably as a first career. It was particularly gratifying that we all blended very well together; the camaraderie was strong as we often went out together to have lunch and supported one another throughout the course.
'Talking about the course, it was, for me, initially challenging. I had not written a poem or a play before and had hardly written any prose that included key elements of fiction. However, by the time we submitted our first set of assignments, I had learned enough – thanks to the excellent teaching and the insightful class discussions – to do well in those assignments. My progress was further helped by the detailed and incisive feedback, both in writing and in the oral tutorials, that I received from the brilliant tutors. I finished the course fully exposed to all the genres – fiction, non-fiction, poem and drama – and reaped an early reward!
'Before starting the course, I was writing a non-fiction book on Nigeria, titled In the National Interest. However, I stopped the writing to focus on the course, believing the skills learned would help me improve the manuscript and make it publishable. They did. Penguin agreed to publish the book, and all the publishers who read the manuscript wrote glowingly about its prospect. For instance, one publisher said in its Editorial Report: "The assured writing style, attention to detail, and clarity of the arguments set out in the work, make this submission one that will intrigue and fascinate the target audience". It added: "It is a worthy addition to the genre and would have a place in the market".
'That positive feedback from a reputable publisher, in a sense, captures the impact the creative writing programme has had on me and my writing. Following the successful publication of the non-fiction book in the spring of 2025, I intend to turn my attention to fiction and hope to publish my first novel in, so to say, the not-too-distant future!
'I would urge anyone who, like me, has a passion for creative writing but feels they need to learn the craft to undertake Oxford’s diploma course. It is intense but rewarding.'
