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Spread the Word unveils 2025 London Writers Awards winners
Literature development agency Spread the Word has unveiled the 24 London-based writers selected for the 2025 London Writers Awards, whose alumni include Natasha Brown, Tice Cin and Santanu Bhattacharya.
The chosen unagented and unpublished authors will be supported and nurtured through a 10-month development programme in preparation for meeting with agents and publishers and pursuing their writing careers.
Winners in the Literary Fiction category are Maddy Accalia, Lishani Ramanayake, Laila Obeidat, Meher Iqbal, J Lian Ho, Jose Ignacio Narciso, Susie Thornberry, V Matsumari, Swithun Cooper, Judah Abraham-Silas, Sophia Khan and Sukie Wilson.
In the Commercial Fiction category, Ally Coker, Daniel Culpan, Nic Falvo, Emily D Bean, Nkenna Ndujiuba and LA Chase have been selected, while in YA and Children’s Fiction, Coggin Galbreath, Victoria Ibbett, Damisi Adetola, Noel Emerald, Rukiya Shanthi and Shivanthi Sathanandan have been selected.
The 2025 cohort comes from a diverse range of backgrounds and include amongst their number a trainee solicitor, documentary filmmaker, Jordanian-Palestinian playwright, mental health doctor and drag queen.
Judge Oisín McKenna said: “I was completely thrilled by the quality of the submissions to this year’s London Writers Awards – they are bold, strange, enticing and powerful, written by writers with a remarkable grasp of their own craft and vision. As an alumnus of the programme, I can say with certainty that it’s a career-changing experience.”
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McKenna continued: “It can make a life and career in writing imaginable and tangible, where before it may have felt remote, nebulous and difficult to reach, giving participants permission to handle their own work with confidence and seriousness. I’m certain that with the transformative support offered by the London Writers Awards that there are bright futures ahead for these writers.”
The 2025 award, its fifth iteration, was able to go ahead thanks to a philanthropic donation of £50,000 from Sam and Rosie Berwick, which will enable the prize to run annually for three years from 2025 to 2027.
Sam Berwick said: “Rosie and I have had the great fortune to have worked with Spread the Word over the past three years, and we can’t say strongly enough what a great experience that has been. Now, being in a position to help them bring back such a critical project as the London Writers Award is a huge and very exciting privilege for us. We look forward to helping Spread the Word in this mission, and we would kindly call strongly and hopefully persuasively for both individuals and foundations to join us in further helping them in growing projects like the London Writers Awards. They are needed more than ever in the current environment.”
Ruth Harrison, director of Spread the Word, added: “We are delighted to be welcoming a new cohort of writers to this year’s London Writers Awards. Becoming a writer is a precarious endeavour. In this challenging time for arts funding, we would like to thank Sam and Rosie Berwick for their commitment to supporting writers with the craft, connections and community to take forward their careers. Sustained and accessible development opportunities are essential to ensuring we get to read and hear the stories writers want to tell from across our communities.
“This commitment is needed more than ever, and we welcome conversations on how we can increase the support and opportunities available to writers from underrepresented backgrounds in publishing.”
