Brown and Buchanan to judge Women’s Prize Discoveries 2024

Authors Natasha Brown and Rowan Hisayo Buchanan are on the judging panel for this year’s Women’s Prize Discoveries programme, which is now in its fourth year.

They will join Women’s Prize founder Kate Mosse, Curtis Brown literary agent Jess Molloy and Curtis Brown Creative founder and managing director Anna Davis.

Run in partnership with Audible, Curtis Brown and Curtis Brown Creative, Discoveries aims to develop and support unagented and unpublished women writers in the UK and Ireland.

From 20th September 2023, writers are invited to submit the first 10,000 words of their novels-in-progress across any genre of adult fiction. Throughout the 2024 submissions window, the Women’s Prize Trust and Curtis Brown Creative will provide practical advice, motivation and industry insight to the growing Discoveries writing community through a library of free online writing resources and events, supported by regional partnerships.

In the first three years of Discoveries, 16 longlisted authors have accepted literary agent representation, including Olivia Ford whose debut novel, Mrs Quinn’s Rise to Fame, was sold by Curtis Brown agent Lucy Morris in a major two-book deal to Penguin. It is set for publication in the UK and US in spring 2024, and has been sold in seven translation deals to date.

The winner of Discoveries, announced in May 2024, will receive an offer of representation from Curtis Brown and £5,000. One promising writer, named the "Discoveries Scholar", will win a free scholarship to attend a three-month Writing Your Novel course with Curtis Brown Creative (worth £1,800) while a shortlist of six authors (including the winner and scholar) will each be offered a one-to-one mentoring session with a Curtis Brown agent. plus a free place on a six-week Curtis Brown Creative course of their choice. The 16 longlisted authors will receive a bespoke, two-week online Discoveries Writing Development Course taught by Women’s Prize shortlisted author Charlotte Mendelson and an Audible subscription.

Molloy and Davis said: “As the Discoveries 2024 prize opens for entries, we’re already getting excited at the prospect of finding lots more new voices to champion and support through our development programme. If writing has just been a secret dream until now, take this as a sign to get those first 10,000 words down on the page. If you’re already working on a novel, how about giving your opening a quick once-over? There’ll be numerous Discoveries events and resources produced with the Women’s Prize Trust to inspire you and help you make progress, so join us online or in person, and then take a deep breath and press send.”

Mosse said: ‘‘Each year, as the programme grows, the variety, range and quality of entrants continues to astound and impress us. There is so much creativity, so much passion and enthusiasm for new stories, and we can’t wait to get reading.’’

Submissions are open from 20th September 2023 until 11:59 p.m. on 8th January 2024. The longlist and shortlist will be announced on 18th April and 2nd May, with the winner announced on 23rd May 2024.