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Read moreThe Book Edit Writers' Prize 2022 is Launching Soon!
Coming soon: launch of The Book Edit Writers’ Prize 2022
The Book Edit Writers’ Prize 2022 opens for applications on September 12 and this year we are thrilled to announce that the prize will be judged by the writer Elizabeth Chakrabarty.
Elizabeth is an interdisciplinary writer using creative and critical writing, besides performance, to explore themes of race, gender and sexuality. Her debut novel Lessons in Love and Other Crimes, inspired by experience of race hate crime, was published in 2021 by the Indigo Press, along with her essay, On Closure and Crime. In 2022 Lessons in Love and Other Crimes was longlisted for both the Desmond Elliott Prize, and also the Polari First Book Prize. Elizabeth was also shortlisted for the Dinesh Allirajah Prize for Short Fiction 2022, for her story ‘That Last Summer’ published in The Dinesh Allirajah Prize for Short Fiction 2022: Crime Stories by Comma Press.
Aiming to support talented writers who might not otherwise have access to the industry, The Book Edit’s Writers’ Prize is a writing competition for unpublished British and/or UK-based novelists from backgrounds and communities currently under-represented in UK publishing.
Eight lucky winners will have the chance to read their work at a live Zoom showcase event in front of industry guests and The Book Edit contacts. After the event, an anthology of the readings will be published online.
Winners will have the opportunity to rehearse and train for the showcase event with writer, editor and Novel Studio tutor, Rebekah Lattin-Rawstrone.
And even if you aren’t one of the lucky winners, it’s a competition you can’t lose: completely free to enter, all entrants will receive advice on other options including courses, mentoring and editing.
All you need to submit is the first 1,000 words of your novel. For full competition details, judges, dates and submission guidelines follow this link.
The competition opens on Monday 12th September 2022, with a deadline of midnight on the 22nd October 2022. The Book Edit can’t wait to read your submissions and share your talent!
The Book Edit inaugural Writers' Prize Winners Showcase 2021
Last Wednesday evening eight fabulous winners of the inaugural Book Edit Writers’ Prize took to the online stage to read winning extracts from their novels. In front of an audience of 30 top literary agents, plus selected family and friends, the winners treated us to an evening of brilliant readings, showcasing their incredible talent. From a Kosovan streetsweeper with PTSD to a queer coming-of-age story set in contemporary Edinburgh, these were urgent stories which explored everything from addiction to ambition and even the future of humanity.
THE WINNERS OF THE BOOK EDIT WRITERS’ PRIZE 2021
The Book Edit Writers’ Prize is a national competition open to unagented, unpublished UK-based writers from communities underrepresented in publishing. Speaking about the prize Book Edit Director Emily Pedder said the aim was “to help talented writers from underrepresented backgrounds gain access to the industry in a way that might not otherwise have been possible.”
Entrants were invited to submit the first 1000 words of an already completed novel, along with a synopsis and statement about their writing experience. The eight winners were trained in reading their work aloud at an online rehearsal a week before the showcase. Speaking about the prize, co-judge and host of the showcase Rebekah Lattin-Rawstrone said “Reading the entries for The Book Edit Writers' Prize was a real pleasure. There was such a diverse range of genres and voices and I was incredibly impressed by the potential and energy of so many of the entries…I’d like to thank all the winners, for sending in such great work to the competition and reading so well.”
Congratulations to all our winners! May this be the start of great things for your writing careers. And huge thanks to Rebekah Lattin-Rawstrone for her involvement in the prize, from judging to rehearsing, hosting and everything in between.
For anyone wanting to hear these fabulous writers read from their work a recording of the showcase is available here and you can read an anthology of the extracts here.
Watch this space for future Book Edit events and competition dates!
Announcing the Book Edit Writers' Prize Shortlist 2021!
Twenty writers have been shortlisted for the inaugural annual Book Edit Writers’ Prize.
The Book Edit Writers’ Prize is a national competition open to unagented, UK-based writers from communities underrepresented in publishing. Aimed at those who might not otherwise have access to the industry, the Writers’ Prize was set up to help talented writers get their work in front of an audience of top literary agents.
Entrants were invited to submit the first 1000 words of an already completed novel, along with a synopsis and statement about their writing experience. We received a huge number of entries and were humbled by the level of talent we found. Thank you to everyone who put themselves forward for this competition.
Speaking about the prize, co-judge Rebekah Lattin-Rawstrone said “Reading the entries for The Book Edit Writers' Prize was a real pleasure. There was such a diverse range of genres and voices and I was incredibly impressed by the potential and energy of so many of the entries. What a privilege to get to read so many exciting new works.”
The final winners will be announced later this week with a special online showcase for industry guests on 24th November. All the winning entries will also be published in an online anthology to accessed via The Book Edit’s website after the showcase.
THE SHORTLISTED WRITERS ARE:
All the Time it Took by Dawn Nicholson
Anna by Cheryl Baden-Powell
Faith(ful) by Erin MacDonald
Fame by Malachi McIntosh
Giveaway Bride by Ibrahim Babátundé Ibrahim
Ink, Blood, Brick, Bone by Mich Maroney
Lingam by Meera Betab
Little Blasphemies by Nish Hegde
Parahumanity by Hannah Hoare
September and Miller by Tawnya Renelle
Slanted i by Shane Lowe
The Middle Women by N W Shuker
The Nightmarket by Heather Palmer
The Secrets We Keep in the Dark by Samantha Fisher
The Shook House by Kieran J Close
The Sound of No Shore by Barsa Ray
The Street Sweeper by Bren Gosling
The Things We Don't by Mairi Sutherland
Tipping Point by Kay Inckle
Uphill Struggle by William Cairns
Congratulations to all our fabulous shortlisted writers and watch this space for announcements later in the week about our final winners!
Author Spotlight: Rebecca Ley
With just over a week left until The Book Edit Writers’ Prize deadline, we wanted to share the profiles of some of the brilliant authors The Book Edit has supported in the past to inspire submissions to the competition. Last time we looked at the phenomenal Hannah Begbie, prize-winning novelist of Mother (2018) and Blurred Lines (2020) both published by Harper Collins. Today we’re looking at the work of Rebecca Ley, whose debut novel, For When I’m Gone, came out with Orion in September 2020.
Rebecca Ley is a journalist and author who worked with The Book Edit on a full developmental edit of her debut, For When I’m Gone (Orion, 2020). With the feedback she received, Rebecca was able to redraft the book, secure an agent and within a few months she had sold the book to Orion. She says of the experience: ‘I found using The Book Edit brilliant. It was invaluable to have an experienced editor look at my work before trying to find an agent. The suggestions she made were extremely perceptive and useful in the redrafting process.’
For When I’m Gone is narrated by a young mother, Sylvia, dying of breast cancer. The novel is a guidebook, written to her husband, about their family life with a secret at its heart. Though the subject matter is dark, the novel is uplifting and masterful in its exploration of the minutiae of daily parenting. It’s a novel that stays with you long after reading.
Rebecca is currently working on her second novel for Orion, due out next year. She also ghost-wrote a memoir, Hope Not Fear, for the inspirational Hassan Akkad, a Syrian refugee and Bafta-winning filmmaker who volunteered to work as a hospital cleaner when the pandemic hit and then persuaded Boris Johnson to extend the bereavement scheme to cleaners, porters and healthcare assistants.
You can read more about Rebecca Ley and her writing process in the interview she did for The Book Edit where she gives advice to new writers and talks further about her process and the themes of her work. Click here for that interview in which she also explores ghosting as a metaphor for motherhood and being absent from the self.
Or take a leaf out of Rebecca Ley’s book and send your work to The Book Edit by submitting to The Book Edit Writers’ Prize. Aimed at supporting talented writers who might not otherwise have access to the industry, the prize is open to unpublished novelists from communities and backgrounds currently underrepresented in British publishing. You can see the full competition rules and details here. We can’t wait to see who will be next to join our list of writers whose work we have supported and continue to champion. The deadline for submissions is 22nd October 2021.