Hachette launches second year of Grow Your Story scheme

Hachette UK has opened submissions for its second cohort of the free development programme Grow Your Story, aimed at Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) writers.

The publisher's BAME network, THRIVE, runs the programme for unpublished and unagented writers in partnership with David Higham Associates (DHA) and the Future Bookshelf. Grow Your Story forms part of a wider diversity and inclusion programme at Hachette UK called Changing the Story, which aims to help improve representation in publishing. The Future Bookshelf aims to demystify publishing and guide people through the process of writing, editing, submitting and publishing.

Grow Your Story offers writers an opportunity to develop their manuscripts through a series of online workshops which begin in early 2022 and are run by industry professionals. Following the workshops, each writer will have one-to-one mentorships with both a DHA agent and a Hachette UK editor for up to nine months, meet-ups with their fellow writers, and the Grow Your Story Open Day at Hachette’s London office at the end of the programme.  

Applications are now open and close on 15th December, with writers asked to submit a 3,000-work sample of their work and synopsis. The final selection of writers will be decided on by a panel of judges featuring crime author Vaseem Khan, Hodder & Stoughton editorial director Sara Adams, DHA literary agent Niki Chang (pictured) and Lipfon Tang, Quercus Books marketing executive and incoming co-chair of the THRIVE network.

The inaugural programme was launched in 2020, successfully taking in a cohort of nine writers whose novels-in-progress span crime, historical, sci-fi, fantasy and literary fiction. 

Joelyn Esdelle, chair of the THRIVE committee, said: “The 10 writers in our first cohort are all exceptional and we hope to see their books in shops in the not too distant future. We can’t wait to work with, develop and nurture the new writers in next year’s programme and hopefully further demystify the publishing industry for writers of colour.” 

Chang commented: “All of us at DHA are delighted to be partnering with THRIVE once again on the Grow Your Story development programme. We have so enjoyed meeting and mentoring such exciting new writers and we can’t wait to meet the new cohort.” 

To apply for the programme, visit the website.