HarperCollins reveals success stories from Author Academy alumni

HarperCollins has revealed the success stories from its Author Academy for writers from underrepresented Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds, including multiple-book deals, agency representation and award wins. 

The free six-week training programme provides writers with the knowledge and skills to navigate the publishing industry. It is run remotely with weekly live-streamed tutorials and access to other course materials. Additional on-demand masterclasses cover the fundamentals of publishing as a business and participants are supported by a mentor throughout. 

The Author Academy runs twice a year, with 45 students in each intake. There are three courses for applicants to choose from, covering three different genres: Fiction, Non-fiction and Writing for Children. A fourth design course runs once a year for the winter intake. Applications are open until Friday 25th November for the January 2023 Author Academy intake. The Design course will return in September 2023. 

Recent alumni successes include Elle Machray, who graduated from the academy’s children’s course in spring 2021, and switched to adult fiction to become the first academy alumni to announce a book deal when HarperNorth signed the author to a two-book deal at Frankfurt Book Fair 2023. Machray’s first novel, Remember, Remember, will publish in 2024. 

Nadine Cowan, another alumni of the spring 2021 children’s course, has been commissioned by Collins to write and illustrate 12 books exploring different eras and figures in black history for its Big Cat guided reading programme – titles including The Tudor Trumpeter and Atlantic Adventure will appear from January 2023. Meanwhile Maxine Nwaneri, who took the non-fiction course in spring 2021, has signed with HQ, with full details yet to be revealed. 

The hard work and talent of other graduates is also being recognised and rewarded. Ulka Karandikar, a graduate of spring 2021’s fiction course, is a recipient of Spread the Word London Writers Award 2022 and included in Into the Wilds, a Fox & Windmill anthology of emerging South Asian writers, and Emma Zipfel, who took the children’s course in spring this year won runner-up in Grazia’s First Chapter competition for women in fiction 2022. Children’s course graduate Sara Di Fagandini has secured an agent and was highly commended in the Faber Academy Fab Prize. 

Machray said: “The author academy helped me believe I was good enough to become a published author. Without this experience I wouldn’t have had the confidence to continue working on and eventually submitting my manuscript. It’s been an incredible journey so far and I’m so excited to see all the future works that come out of the academy. Thank you to everyone involved!” 

Cowan added: “I was thrilled to be approached by Big Cat with the opportunity to write and illustrate a book series focused around Black history, shortly after graduating from the HarperCollins Author Academy. It’s an incredible programme, and it’s great HarperCollins has been able to give so many people this opportunity.” 

Rose Sandy, publishing director of HarperNonFiction and the Author Academy, said: “I am delighted and proud to see our alumni already achieving as authors. They are getting agents, winning awards and, best of all, being signed up to write their brilliant books. That’s exactly what the course was designed to do – give aspiring creatives from underrepresented backgrounds the knowledge and tools they need to succeed in publishing. I can’t wait to see what happens now for our recently graduated fourth cohort, and to meet the new intake in January.”