Editor
Critically acclaimed author and playwrightPauline Kiernan
Dr Pauline Kiernan is an award-winning playwright, commissioned screenwriter and prize-winning short story writer.
She has been a literary consultant for 12 years and has taught Creative Writing on Oxford University’s Creative Writing Undergraduate and MA programmes.
Pauline is a former lecturer at the University of Oxford and a Shakespeare scholar, and was appointed Leverhulme Fellowship at Shakespeare’s Globe to work with Mark Rylance and the directors and actors in its first six years as dramaturg and research resource.
She is the author of the snappily-entitled Screenwriting They Can’t Resist: How to Create Screenplays of Originality and Cinematic Power – Break The Rules and is a theatre and film consultant. Her monographs, Shakespeare’s Theory of Drama, and Staging Shakespeare at the New Globe were published to worldwide acclaim, and her best-selling Filthy Shakespeare: Shakespeare’s Most Outrageous Sexual Puns was an Observer Book of the Year. She is currently writing the first of a series of crime novels set in Italy, and a book about Keats.
If you’d like to work with Pauline, get in touch with our Writer Support team; tell us about your book and what you’d like support with, and we’ll help you identify your next steps.
Gave me confidence
- F.B.
An inspiration
- S. Lachlan Benwell
I feel greatly heartened
- S.R.
It means so much to me
- E.E.
I feel privileged
- Roman R.
Thank you so much
- Jason B.
Really impressed
- Adrián V.
Fantastically useful
- Alison B.
Thoughtful, detailed comments
- Pnina S.
Line-edit
Successfully self-published
Pauline completed a line-edit for Adrián, who went on to self-publish The End of Everything. The book currently has over 4 stars on Amazon.
Pauline's specialties
Why we love Pauline
A Shakespeare scholar and award-winning playwright, Pauline is your go-to editor if you need feedback on a play or a screenplay. She also does do manuscript assessments for novels and memoirs .
What Pauline says about editing
Working with writers to help them create work of originality that’s worthy of publication or performance is a passion that never seems to diminish for me. I loved being a teacher at Oxford which showed me how crucial it is to focus on how to develop the individual’s strengths and to gain self confidence in their work. That’s why, above, all, it is important to help writers realise their potential by finding their unique voice. This has been my goal in all my creative writing classes and workshops, and in my literary consultancy work. There is nothing more rewarding than seeing a writer, or aspiring writer, create work that is the best it can be.
Quite often, I see work that has potential but requires some rethinking – a ‘re-framing the picture’ to enable the writer to see where things have gone a little awry. Also, some manuscripts fall down on style and grammatical errors. I enjoy line-editing as well, for this reason.
It’s all about supporting the writer’s individual vision.
What Pauline works on
By purchasing any of these products, you'll have the opportunity to express your interest in working with Pauline.
Manuscript Assessment
Post-editorial guidance
Line-editing
Copy-editing
Proof-reading
Short Stories
Pauline's published books
