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Mukahang Limbu wins Borough Press' £10k non fiction prize
Mukahang Limbu has won The Borough Press’ non-fiction open submission competition, worth £10,000, with his memoir, Egg-Fried Rice.
The open submission launched in January for un-agented writers of narrative non-fiction, in partnership with the Times and Madeleine Milburn Literary Agency. The imprint received over 250 entries and the judging panel, comprised of literary editor Robbie Millen, literary agent Emma Bal, and editorial, marketing, sales and publicity staff from HarperCollins, unanimously selected Limbu’s memoir as the winner of a £10,000 publishing contract with The Borough Press and literary representation with Emma Bal. The book will be published in 2027.
“Egg-Fried Rice is a non-linear rumination on growing up queer, British and Nepali,” Borough Press said. “In it, Mukahang Limbu explores the identity and legacy of an oft-invisible diaspora, and how the practice of writing can help bring hidden stories to life.”
The judges also announced Alice Kent’s School Run and Belinda Vigors’ Daughters of Eire as highly commended entries.
HarperCollins assistant editor Jabin Ali, who spearheaded the competition, said: “The Borough Press is committed to representing a wide range of voices on our list, and we are so excited to have found Mukahang Limbu’s writing. Egg-Fried Rice is a gorgeous coming-of-age memoir with such lyrical and evocative prose, and we are very proud to be publishing it.”
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Limbu said: “Writing prose is quite new to me and sometimes I have lamented over how to put my words together in a bigger space, so it is both reassuring and encouraging to be heard this way. I am beyond honoured to be receiving this prize.
“Everyone has more than a few stories to tell (the Nepali community and my mother definitely have a lot) and I’m so happy that I get the chance to tell my share.”
Bal said: “I was very happy to be a part of this worthwhile prize, and even happier to discover the talented work of Mukahang Limbu in the process. With the forensic and playful writing style of a poet and a crackling energy, Mukahang’s debut memoir offers a unique window into the Nepali community in Britain, and what it’s like to grow up in the working-class part of the famous university town, Oxford. I can’t wait for readers to discover it.”
Limbu is a British-Nepali writer and graduate of Queen’s College, Oxford. A three-time Foyle Young Poet, he is the winner of the First Story Competition and Out-Spoken Prize, and has also been longlisted for the National Poetry Competition and Forward Prizes. His poems have been published in England: Poems from a School (Picador, 2018), Poetry London, the Sunday Times and various major anthologies. His debut pamphlet Mother of Flip-Flops (Out-Spoken Press, 2022) was chosen as The Poetry Book Society’s Pamphlet Choice and featured in the Guardian among Best Recent Poetry. He is a recipient of an Eric Gregory Award and the Harper-Wood Award.
