The 2022 Book Edit Writers' Prize Showcase

Last Wednesday evening the eight talented winners of the 2022 Book Edit Writers’ Prize read winning extracts from their novels in front of an audience of top literary agents, plus selected family and friends. Journeying from working class Northern England, through America, Bangladesh, Scotland and Palmers’ Green, these were stories of crime, grime, therapy, longing and trading in an array of speculative and literary fiction. Congratulations to them all on a brilliant evening of readings.

THE WINNERS OF THE BOOK EDIT WRITERS’ PRIZE 2022

Emily Dormand Bean

Serafina Cusack

Atar Hadari

Delwar Hussain

Alex J. Langtree

Julie Rea

Stephanie Vernier

F.Q. Yeoh

The Writers’ Prize is a national competition open to unagented, unpublished British and/or UK-based writers from communities underrepresented in publishing. 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 are 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. This year the competition was judged by acclaimed author Elizabeth Chakrabarty. Speaking about the prize, Elizabeth said “I was impressed, and intrigued by the diverse writing and genres of the entries, and look forward to reading the finished novels in the future.'” 

Congratulations to all our winners! May this be the start of great things for your writing careers. And huge thanks to Elizabeth for judging and to Rebekah Lattin-Rawstrone for rehearsing, hosting and everything in between.

For anyone wanting to hear these fabulous writers read from their work a recording of the showcase and an anthology of the extracts are available here.

Announcing the winners of the 2022 Book Edit Writers' Prize

We are delighted to announce the winners of 2022’s Book Edit Writers’ Prize. They are:

Emily Dormand Bean

Serafina Cusack

Atar Hadari

Delwar Hussain

Alex.J.Langtree

Julie Rea

Stephanie Vernier

FQ Yeoh

These eight talented winners will go on to read at an online showcase for invited industry guests on 23 November and an anthology of their winning entries will be published on The Book Edit website after the event.

This year we were lucky enough to have the acclaimed author Dr Elizabeth Chakrabarty judge the final eight winners. Speaking about the competition, Elizabeth said  'I was impressed, and intrigued by the diverse writing and genres of the entries, and look forward to reading the finished novels in the future.'

Huge congratulations to the winners. And watch this space for more about the authors, their novels and future writing careers.

Announcing the Shortlist for 2022’s Writers’ Prize

Seventeen writers have been shortlisted for the 2022 Book Edit Writers’ Prize.

The Book Edit Writers’ Prize is a international competition open to unpublished, unagented British and/or UK-based novelists from communities currentlyy 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. Last year’s winners include Malachi McIntosh who recently sold his debut group biography to Faber and a collection of short stories to Emma Press.

Entrants are invited to submit the first 1000 words of an already completed novel, along with a synopsis and statement about their writing experience. Speaking about the prize, Book Edit Director Emily Pedder said “We’re hugely grateful to everyone who entered the competition this year. The standard of the entries was exceptional and we were awed by the talent on display.” 

The final winners, judged this year by acclaimed author Dr Elizabeth Chakrabarty, will be announced later this week with a special online showcase for industry guests on 23rd November. All the winning entries will also be published in an online anthology accessed via The Book Edit’s website after the showcase.

THE SHORTLISTED WRITERS ARE:

Jamileh and Joss by Sepy Baghaei

Pind by Satinder Chohan

This is Matty and He is Fucked by Serafina Cusack

The Man who saw Time by Emily Dormand Bean

Out the Woods by Roy Duffield

Dead Thin by Atar Hadari

Light Beyond the Mountains by Alka Handa

The Anthropology of Drowning by Delwar Hussain

Aradhana by Ramya Julian

Dwayne and I by Alex.J.Langtree

I, Jack Parker by Martin Milton

Ah Couldney Tell by Catherine Penman

The Enigmas of Amy Wang by Anu Pohani

Kala Polari by Clare Ramsaran

A Long Interval of Nothing by Julie Rea

Iron Harbour by Stephanie Vernier

The Labelled Bones by FQ Yeoh

Congratulations to the shortlisted writers!

Congratulations also to the following authors who were longlisted for the prize:

Nowrujee Ali, William Allnutt, Grayson Anderson, Chris Bridges, Giuseppina Bruni, Nash Colundalur, Elena CroitoruViktoria Dahill, Nicola Fieldsend, Louis Glazzard, Georgia Hazelgrove, Iqbal Hussain, Daphne Le Coeur, Morgan Melhuish, Ash Milan, Marion Moon, Hamish Morjaria, Alex Neve, Dawn Nicholson, Mark O’Brien, Stephanie Perry, Karen Pierce, Priscilla Yeung. 

We have high hopes for all these writers and their future careers!

Submit to the Writers' Prize 2022

There’s just over a week to go until the Book Edit’s Writers’ Prize deadline on October 22!

Launched on September 12, we’re into the second year of the competition and this time we’re delighted that it will be judged by acclaimed author Dr Elizabeth Chakrabarty.

The eight talented winners will again have the chance to read their work at a live zoom showcase event in front of industry guests and Book Edit contacts.

A recording of the 2021 showcase is available here and an anthology of the extracts can be found here.

The prize is open to unpublished British and/or UK-based novelists from backgrounds and communities currently underrepresented in British publishing. Our FAQs page has more on eligibility and what we mean by underrepresented.

Elizabeth Chakrabarty, our judge for this year, published her debut novel, Lessons in Love and Other Crimes in 2021 after leaving academia to concentrate on her writing. She has since been longlisted for the Desmond Elliott Prize, shortlisted for the Polari First Book Prize, and for the Dinesh Allirajah Prize 2022 for her short story That Last Summer.

Writers’ Prize Judge, author Elizabeth Chakrabarty

Elizabeth’s novel was inspired by her experience of a hate crime while she was working in higher education, and in a personal essay in Wasafari she writes about some of the things she was told whilst working in academia, such as that she had spelled her own name wrong and being asked if she had an arranged marriage.

In an interview with The Book Edit’s Founder, Emily Pedder, Chakrabarty has commented before that it is not surprising “just how non-diverse the publishing industry is in the UK, although that seems to be changing.”

The Book Edit Writers’ Prize aims to support those talented writers who might not otherwise have access to the industry. For the chance to have your work judged by Charkrabarty, all you need to submit is the first 1,000 words of your novel. For full competition details, dates and submission guidelines follow this link. The competition closes on 22nd October.

This competition is completely free to enter, and all entrants will receive advice on other options including courses, mentoring and editing (so you can’t lose!).

We look forward to receiving your submissions!

Spotlight on some of last year's winners of the Book Edit Writers' Prize

With just under three weeks left until The Book Edit Writers’ Prize deadline, we wanted to profile some of the brilliant winners of last year's prize to inspire submissions to the competition…

2021 Writers’ Prize winner, author Bren Gosling

Bren Gosling was one of last year’s winners with his novel The Street Sweeper. Since then, his new play ‘Proud’ has had a sell-out run at the King’s Head Theatre, London. The play, inspired by The Street Sweeper, is a powerful new drama focusing on a queer love story, tackling contemporary themes of race, trauma, religion, and sexuality. His play, ‘Moment of Grace’ also ran this summer at the Hope theatre in London and tells the story of Princess Diana’s famous visit to the UK’s first HIV/AIDS ward 35 years ago.

2021 Writers’ Prize winner Hannah Hoare’s debut novel Parahumanity

Bren has said that: “Winning The Book Edit Prize gave me the boost in confidence every writer needs once in a while to just keep going.”

Meanwhile, Hannah Hoare, another of 2021’s winners, had her novel Parahumanity published on 19th August 2022 by Wild Wolf Publishing. The book envisions a dystopian future where both science and religion have fallen into disrepute, following semi-feral 17-year-old Katrina as she uncovers the truth.

Hannah has said that: "Winning the Book Edit Writers' Prize did more than give me confidence as a writer: it connected me with a wonderful group of fellow writers who, nine months on, are still in touch to celebrate our successes."

Another 2021 Book Edit Writers’ Prize winner, Professor Malachi McIntosh, will publish a ground-breaking group biography of the Caribbean Artists Movement with Faber in 2023. Speaking of the Writers’ Prize, Malachi said “My confidence in my creative writing is a constant seesaw. Winning the Writer’s Prize came at a time when it felt like my fiction might never get much recognition. It really reinvigorated my faith and introduced me to some fantastic fellow writers. I can’t recommend participation highly enough.”

2021 Writers’ Prize winner , author Professor Malachi McIntosh

And since being one of the 2021 prize’s winners, Mich Maroney launched a literary magazine, Swerve, this summer in Ireland. The magazine showcases emerging writers and artists from Cork and issue 1 is out now. Swerve aims to publish new and emerging writing but another, equally important, ambition is to publish works in translation.

If you want to follow in these brilliant winners’ footsteps, send your work to The Book Edit by submitting to The Book Edit Writers’ Prize, this year judged by acclaimed author Elizabeth Chakrabarty.

Aimed at supporting talented writers who might not otherwise have access to the industry, the prize is open to unpublished British and/or UK-based 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 2022.

Author Mich Maroney on her experience of winning the 2021 Writers’ Prize