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Non-Fiction

Nobrow Short Story Competition

Information

Closing date: 
9 December 2019
Entry: 
Open to all writers of 18 and over with an unpublished and not yet submitted story or creative non-fiction piece. No entry fee
Prize: 
The overall winner will receive £2000, all selected contributors will receive £150 and two complimentary copies of the book

Nobrow Short Story Competition for writers! Up to twelve winning entries will be published in our short story anthology, and this beautifully illustrated book will celebrate the best short fiction and non-fiction writing.  Read more

Nan Shepherd Prize for Nature Writing

Information

Closing date: 
10 September 2019
Entry: 
Open to previously unpublished and self-published writers based in the UK No entry fee
Prize: 
An advance of £10,000, editorial mentoring and the option of literary representation with Jenny Brown Associates

A new literary prize for underrepresented voices in nature writing

Canongate has launched the Nan Shepherd Prize for Nature Writing, as Oscar-nominated actor Tilda Swinton records the audiobook of Shepherd's The Living Mountain (Canongate)  Read more

Deborah Rogers Foundation Writers Award 2020

Information

Closing date: 
31 October 2019
Entry: 
Writers writing in English and resident within the British Commonwealth and Eire, who have not yet published or self-published a full-length book No entry fee
Prize: 
First Prize £10,000, 2 runners-up £1,000

Applications for the 2020 Deborah Rogers Foundation Writers Award are now invited.

Submissions can be made from 1st June 2019 until 31st October 2019.

The Judges of the 2020 Award will be Ian Rankin (Chair), Sarah Perry and Max Porter.  Read more

The Sunday Times/University of Warwick Young Writer of the Year Award

Information

Closing date: 
15 June 2019
Entry: 
Open to a published or self-published work of fiction, non-fiction or poetry by a British or Irish author aged 18-35 years No entry fee
Prize: 
£5,000 with three awards of £500 for runners-up

The Sunday Times/University of Warwick Young Writer of the Year Award is an annual award, made possible by the Sunday Times and the University of Warwick.  Read more

The International Rubery Book of the Year Award 2019

Information

Closing date: 
31 March 2019
Entry: 
Open to all writers internationally who have published or self-published their work Entry fee £37
Prize: 
£1500 plus £150 for at least three category winners

The Rubery Prize is a prestigious international book award seeking the best books by indie writers, self published authors and books published by independent presses, judged by reputable judges.

It is open to all writers internationally and is awarded to a book published in print or ebook form. Books published by independent presses and self published books are eligible to enter  Read more

The Sunday Times/PFD Young Writer of the Year 2018

Information

Closing date: 
8 June 2018
Entry: 
Writers of published fiction, non-fiction and poetry between the ages of 18 and 35 in the UK and Ireland, published or self-published No entry fee
Prize: 
First Prize £5,000 plus a 10 week residency and a year of mentoring, three runners-up £500

Submissions are being accepted until June 8 in one of the industry's longest-named awards, The Sunday Times / Peters Fraser + Dunlop Young Writer of the Year Award. The prize programme is designed to honour fiction, non-fiction, and poetry writers between the ages of 18 and 35 in the UK and Ireland.  Read more

Polari First Book Prize 2018

Information

Closing date: 
1 May 2018
Entry: 
Books must have been published in English by a writer born or resident in the UK, but self-published books are eligible
Prize: 
None

Submissions are now open for this year's Polari First Book Prize, which celebrates the very best debut books that explore the LGBT experience, whether through poetry, prose, fiction or non-fiction.

Deadline for submissions is Tuesday 1 May, 2018.  Read more

Deborah Rogers Foundation Writers’ Award 2018

Information

Closing date: 
13 December 2017
Entry: 
Entrants must write in the English language and reside within the British Commonwealth and Eire. No entry fee
Prize: 
£10,000

An award of £10,000 will be presented to a first-time prose writer whose submission demonstrates outstanding literary talent and who would benefit from financial support to complete their work:

Submissions should take the form of 20-30,000 words of a work in progress, fiction or non-fiction, which is not under option or contract.  Read more

Galley Beggar Press open submission

Information

Closing date: 
31 July 2017
Entry: 
Open to all No entry fee
Prize: 
Possible publication

Norwich-based independent publisher Galley Beggar Press is opening up general submissions of adult literary fiction and narrative non-fiction in order to "keep [itself] open to surprises and the wider world".  Read more

The Sunday Times PFD Young Writer of the Year Award 2017

Information

Closing date: 
2 June 2017
Entry: 
Published and self-published British and Irish authors of fiction, non-fiction and poetry aged 18-35
Prize: 
£5,000

Self-published authors are being encouraged to submit to this year's The Sunday Times/Peters Fraser + Dunlop Young Writer of the Year Award, along with traditionally-published writers.

Submissions are now open for the £5,000 prize, which is given annually to the best work of fiction, non-fiction or poetry by a British or Irish author aged between 18 and 35.  Read more

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'The most dangerous profession'

21 October 2019

‘I had always wanted to be a writer as a child but couldn't spell out this dream to myself because during the Cultural Revolution all writers were condemned. To be a writer was the most dangerous profession. I wrote my first poem aged 16 and destroyed it. When I was working spreading manure in the paddy fields aged 16 and 17, I was always writing in my head.  Read more

'Read, read, read everything - trash, classics, good and bad, and see how they do it. Just like a carpenter who works as an apprentice and studies the master. Read! You'll absorb it. Then write. If it is good, you'll find out. If it's not, throw it out the window.'

— William Faulkner

14 October 2019 - What's new

October 2019
  • ‘First of all, I'm always writing from a point of view. I decide what the purpose of the scene is, and at least begin with some purpose. But, even more important, from whose point of view is this scene seen?
  Read more