Women’s Prize Trust unveils Discoveries longlist

The longlist for the Women’s Prize Discoveries programme has been revealed, in a year that sees entries from women aged between 65 to 74 exceed those in the 18–24 category.

The programme was launched to spotlight untapped, unpublished female writing talent from across the UK and Ireland, and is run by the Women’s Prize Trust in partnership with Curtis Brown literary agency, the Curtis Brown Creative writing school (CBC) and Audible. 

Now in its second year, more than 2,500 women submitted their works of fiction to Discoveries, an increase from 2,300 in 2021.  A quarter of entries were from women over the age of 55, while entries from women aged 65 to 74 exceeded those in the 18–24 age bracket. A total of 76% of applications came from women living outside London this year, compared with 73% in 2021, and there was a marked increase in entries from Scotland and Northern Ireland, compared with last year.

Sixteen writers have been longlisted by a judging panel chaired by Kate Mosse, the founder-director of the Women’s Prize, Curtis Brown literary agent Lucy Morris, Anna Davis, founder and m.d. of Curtis Brown Creative, and authors Ayisha Malik and Irenosen Okojie. 

“This is our second year of discoveries, and we were thrilled by the quality of submissions, the ambition of the writers, and the diverse and exciting range of stories, writing styles and inspirations,” Mosse said. “Most of all, we had the sense that women up and down the country were taking up their pens and allowing their imaginations to take flight. All of these authors have an exciting journey ahead of them and we can’t wait to see how each of these novels progresses in the months, years, to come.”

In a joint statement, Davis and Morris added: “We are hugely excited by this year’s longlist, and it’s wonderful to have the opportunity to help the 16 talented writers to progress their novels-in-progress via the Discoveries Writing Development course to be run by Curtis Brown Creative in June, taught by Charlotte Mendelson – herself longlisted for this year’s Women’s Prize for Fiction. But it’s not just about the final 16 – we salute the incredible range and quality of work submitted to Discoveries this year by thousands of women from across the UK and Ireland. We feel privileged to have had the chance to read their work, and we hope the programme has helped to inspire them to keep going to the end and beyond.”

All 16 longlisted writers will be invited to attend an online writing development course running over two weeks this summer, hosted by CBC, with tuition from Mendelson and a pitching session with agents from the Curtis Brown agency.

In partnership with Audible, Curtis Brown and CBC, the trust curated a programme of online content, including interviews with publishing professionals and teaching notes. Several live online events were also hosted, including two free webinars for 500 writers on the themes of "Your Novel: How To Get Started" and "Your Novel: What Next?". Events were also hosted with a number of different partners, with free or discounted places available to under-represented groups for every session, including events with Bradford Literature Festival, New Writing North and Class Fest, with more planned in 2023.

“The brilliant work the Women’s Prize does to nurture female talent is one of the many reasons we were so eager to work with them, and we’re delighted to be supporting their Discoveries writing programme for 2022; helping develop a new generation of women writers,” Audible senior vice-president of international content Aurelie De Troyer said. “On behalf of Audible I’d like to offer huge congratulations to every brilliant writer that has been longlisted by the judges this year.”

The shortlist of six authors will be announced on 26th May, and the winner revealed on 1st June. The winner will be offered representation by Curtis Brown, and a cash prize of £5,000. Additionally, one writer from the shortlist will be named the Discoveries Scholar, and will win a free scholarship place to attend a three-month "Writing Your Novel" course with Curtis Brown Creative, worth £1,800.

All six shortlisted writers will be offered a mentoring session with a Curtis Brown agent, and free enrolment on a Curtis Brown Creative six-week online course.

The inaugural prize was won by Emma Van Straaten, who has since signed with Morris. 

The 16 longlisted writers are

Sui Annukka, “Thursday”
Rachel Brown, “Shadow Dance”
Nancy Crane, “The Most Beautiful Woman in the World”
Sadbh Kellett, “Hunt the Hare”
Nikki Logan, “The Last Card in the Suit”
Nell McGrath, “The Story Library of the Saints”
Rebecca Taylor McKay, “Man & Wife”
Niamh Ní Mhaoileoin, “The Next Life”
Zoe Norridge, “Unsure”
Claire O’Connor, “The Roof of the World”
Katy Oglethorpe, “Stitches”
Tara O’Sullivan, “In the Quiet”
Jude Reid, “Dead Spaces”
Ruth Rosengarten, “Over”
Claire Whatley, “The Refuge”
Sarah Williams, “The Trap”