Katharine Light shortlisted for the Selfies 2024

Delighted to discover that Katharine Light has been shortlisted for the 2024 Selfies Book Awards for her debut novel, Like Me.

Launched by BookBrunch in 2018 to recognise excellence in the self-publishing market, the awards are sponsored by Ingram's self-publishing platform, IngramSpark®, and are run in association with the London Book Fair and Nielsen BookData.

The winners will be announced at this year’s London Book Fair on Tuesday 12 March.

Also on the adult fiction shortlist with Katharine are Shooters by Julia Boggio, Ostler by Susan Grossey, Hidden Depths by Jason Mann, Darcy: A Pride and Prejudice Variation by Alice McVeigh, The Eagle and The Cockerel by Alan Rhode and
Artificial Wisdom by Thomas R Weaver.

To find out more about Katharine’s path to publication, read her story here.

Congratulations to Katharine and all the shortlisted writers. We look forward to hearing more next week!

Spotlight on 2023 Book Edit Writers' Prize Shortlist

In our final blog on the 2023 shortlisted writers, we shine the spotlight on three female authors: Xyra Speed, Pip Penman and Anu Pohani.

Xyra Speed, photo courtesy of Carl Allen, Big Wave PR

Xyra has wanted to be an author ever since she can remember. She was three when she read stories aloud to other children at nursery and seven when she wrote a story and saved it to her dad’s floppy disk (that he needed for work!). She took that passion throughout her life and studied Creative Writing at university, and now hones her skills at a PR company. Xyra lives in South East London with her husband, Lee, and puppy, Skye.

Advice with Addy 

When influencer Addy realises she has live streamed her boyfriend, Chris, breaking up with her, she decides she needs to take a break. To reset, she visits her hometown, Fringham, a quaint village where nobody uses social media. There, she bumps into her childhood best friend, Zayan, who wants to boost his own socials to raise money for the local school. Addy agrees to help him, and Zayan shows Addy there’s more to life than followers and likes.

Contact Xyra:

Email - xndavieswriting@gmail.com

Instagram - @xndavies

Twitter/X - @xndavies

Pip Penman

Pip Penman is a Scottish writer living in New York City. She is co-founder of Women in Soccer, a professional network that advocates for women and underrepresented individuals in the soccer industry. As head of content, Pip writes Women in Soccer’s weekly newsletter with a readership of over 5.5k. A Fulbright scholar, Pip completed a master’s degree at New York University. She also has a first class degree in English Literature and History from the University of Edinburgh.


BBC Documentary about Writing Ah Couldney Tell
A BBC documentary about how, as a dyslexic writer, Pip Penman used Scots dialect, skateboarding, and audiobooks to support the writing process of her novel Ah Couldney Tell. The film gained over half a million views, trended on BBC iPlayer, and was shown in schools throughout the UK.

Contact Email (Pip Penman) catherinepenman95@gmail.com   
LinkedIn - Pip (Catherine) Penman 

Ah Couldney Tell 

After escaping a traumatic past, identical twins Scarlet and Lizzie McLeod navigate young adulthood in Edinburgh. Through alternating narration, Ah Couldney Tell exposes how technology affects their lives, which, like our own, are under constant digital surveillance. Scarlet's tumultuous past fuels a spiral into social media scandals while Lizzie grapples with her sister’s self-destruction. Loyalties waver when Scarlet's actions lead to a devastating crime and evidence cannot determine who is the responsible twin, blurring the lines between reality and perception.

Anu Pohani

Anu Pohani is an Asian-American expat living in London. Her essays and short stories have appeared in Caustic Frolic, Mechanics’ Institute Review, and Everyday Magazine, among others.  In addition to the Book Edit 2023 short list, The Enigmas of Amy Wang was long listed for the 2021 Mo Siewcharran Prize.  She can be found on the Common walking her Tibetan terror and on X and Instagram at @AnuPohani.

The Enigmas of Amy Wang

Amy's job at the museum is the answer, far from the Before, and silences Mom’s nagging. But attempts to rebuild her life are constantly derailed. Witness her poor taste in men: choose the most inappropriate one, then self-sabotage before feelings deepen. Then, the mysterious break-in during her big moment at the Temple of Dendur Fundraiser. Plus, they blame Amy, the lowly Fundraising Assistant. Her new life feels cursed. Unless, things turn out better than imagined, perhaps engineered by Isis, herself?

Thanks Xyra, Pip and Anu for this week’s fabulous readings. And congratulations to all the shortlisted writers we’ve been spotlighting these past few weeks. We hope you’ve enjoyed them as much as we have.

If you’d like to find out more about how we help writers, do get in touch at info@thebookedit.co.uk. Or browse our website for more information on our services. And hit the button below if you want to be informed about the 2024 Writers’ Prize.

Spotlight on 2023’s Book Edit Writers’ Prize Shortlisted Novelists

Continuing our series of spotlights on 2023’s Book Edit Writers’ Prize shortlist, this week we hear from Jenni Brooks and Ramya Julian.

Jenni Brooks' short fiction and poetry has been published in The Paul Cave Prize for Literature Anthology and Streetcake Magazine. Her spoken-word film 'Women and Autism', won the Best Professional Short Film, in the National Autistic Society’s Autism Uncut Awards, hosted at BAFTA. She is currently working on her first short story collection, Autism-Friendly Mom Jeans for Adult Women and a novel, Teggies.

Contact: brooksjenni434@gmail.com

Teggies is a novel about 12-year-old Keziah, who tells the story of how she became sex-trafficked to a necrophiliac client she is waiting for. The client is prepared to pay Keziah’s pimp £100,000 to rape and kill her. Keziah, however, has a plan to escape. She has stored a mobile in her vagina, and has been instructed by fellow victim, Lucia, to call for help, once he is on the way. 

Author, illustrator, and dentist, Ramya Julian wrote her first novel when she was ten. She says it was very well-received, though it was read only by her brother. When she’s not guilt-tripping her daughters into good behaviour, she can be found devouring books, crafting poems, and chuckling at her own witticisms. She grew up in India and now lives in London. She has experienced so much joy through the artistry of many creators, that she aspires to share at least some of it through her writing. Read more at www.ramyajulian.com

Malathi

Malathi, a twenty-year-old aspiring physicist, agrees to an arranged marriage with Prasad. However, struggling academically and facing discord with Prasad while grappling with the complexities of a large family, she flees. Malathi finds solace in building the school in her grandmother’s village, Malliyoor, until tragedy strikes. However, Prasad and his sister, initially at odds, join forces with her. Together, they create the change required in this tale of family, growth, and love.

Congratulations, Jenni and Ramya! We hope you enjoyed their readings as much as we did.

Next week, we’ll hear from more of our shortlisted writers so watch this space!

Want to find our more about what we offer at the Book Edit, from editing to mentoring to consulting on every aspect of publishing, including self-publishing? Hit the button below and we will get back to you with more information.

Spotlight on the 2023 Writers' Prize Shortlisted Novelists

Happy 2024!

We’re delighted to be kicking off the year with a spotlight on our Book Edit Writers’ Prize Shortlisted Novelists.

For the next few weeks, we’ll be featuring the work of these writers, with a link to a reading from their shortlisted entry. We hope you enjoy them as much as we have!

First up, we have Bianca Aye and Grayson Anderson.

Bianca Aye is a British-Burmese (or Myanmarese) writer, raised on eighties action films and whodunits in the North of England. She has lived in London for the past decade, and in 2022 she attended the HarperCollins Author Academy for fiction. When she isn’t writing YA Fantasy or contemporary RomComs, Bianca takes long walks to fix plot-holes and creates wonderful disasters in the kitchen. Contact Bianca on: https://www.instagram.com/bmayewrites/

https://www.tiktok.com/@bianca.767

The City of Stolen Ether  

Maya, a mixed-race teen, returns to a secret, magical London to investigate her grandmother’s mysterious death. She sneaks around its underworld until a notorious crime syndicate starts hunting her. Accompanied by a motley crew of allies (and a boy she hates), Maya infiltrates an elite, dangerous magical school, and uncovers a sinister conspiracy. To expose the truth, she devises a scheme. But with enemies everywhere, one misstep could make her the syndicate’s next victim, or their new favourite weapon.

Grayson Anderson is a British born Jamaican author and poet. Raised in South London, he has spent most of his life writing. His catalogue of work contains songs, poetry, a science fiction trilogy, and an opinion-based non-fiction book relating to the idiosyncrasies of gender in society. He considers himself a student of humanity, culture, and nature. He can be contacted on twitter: Grayson Anderson@Capprona or email: Grayson.anderson.e006@gmail.com.

Wayne’s Night Out

Gavin, his brother, Wayne, and their two friends have pre-wedding night drinks in their old haunts around South London. All four are hiding key elements of their life. Shame. Despair. Infidelity. And in Wayne’s case, doubt. This night, each of the four are forced to face their dilemmas whilst in the face of their peers. None more so than Wayne. His choices have ramifications that affect them all. This is the first in a tetralogy.  

Congratulations, Bianca and Grayson! We hope you enjoyed their readings as much as we did.

Next week, we’ll hear from two more shortlisted writers so watch this space!

Want to find our more about what we offer at the Book Edit? Hit the button below and we will get back to you with more information.