You are viewing your 1 free article this month. Login to read more articles.
London Library reveals Emerging Writers Programme cohort
The London Library has announced the winning cohort of 40 writers for its 2023–2024 Emerging Writers Programme.
Recipients included Jess Barnfield, senior audio editor at HarperCollins, creative audio producer Nicole Davis, who helped create the recently launched storytelling podcast “Never Told”, and freelance translator Margaret Morrison. HarperCollins Author Academy graduate Rachael Li Ming Chong has also won a place as has Airy, a fashion stylist and drag queen, along with 71-year-old engineer and physicist Avril Millar.
The writers hail from across the UK, from Edinburgh to Brighton, including Northern Ireland and Wales.
Of the 40 writers, nine are working on non-fiction, including five memoirs and three food writing projects. Eight are novelists, seven are writing for stage/screen, five are poets, five are writing for children or YA, four are short story writers and two are working on translations. For the first time the programme welcomes two new genres: food writing and translation.
Forty participants were selected from around 1,400 applicants — a record number of entries for the scheme — by a panel of judges including poet and playwright Caroline Bird, screenwriter and playwright Moira Buffini, non-fiction writer Travis Elborough, novelist and short story writer Zoe Gilbert, novelist Ayisha Malik, and Aitken Alexander agents Emma Paterson and Chris Wellbelove.
The London Library’s Emerging Writers Programme is geared towards supporting writers who have not yet published a full-length work of fiction, non-fiction, collection of poems, or had a full-length work professionally produced for stage/screen. The 2023–2024 programme will run from 1st July 2023 to 30th June 2024.
Participants benefit from one year’s free membership of The London Library alongside a programme of writing development and networking opportunities, peer support and guidance.
Claire Berliner, head of programmes, said: “We were blown away by the vast number and astonishing quality of the applications we received and the judges had a very hard time making their selection. We are delighted to welcome this talented and diverse cohort of writers to the library and excited to see where they take their ideas and imagination while on the programme.”
Philip Marshall, director of The London Library, said: “For over 180 years, The London Library has inspired and supported writers at all stages of their careers. We are delighted to have received a record-breaking near 1,400 applications in this our fifth year of the Emerging Writers Programme, showing just how valuable the library and the programme is to aspiring writers of all genres and disciplines. We look forward to welcoming 40 new writers into our literary community.”
Two bursary funds are available to support members of the cohort who may face financial, health, or any other barriers that would prevent them fully accessing the programme.
In total, The London Library’s Emerging Writers Programme has supported 158 previously unpublished writers so far.
