Prizes of £1,000 each to be awarded this year to the best new writers of fiction, life writing, and poetry. The Queen Mary Wasafiri New Writing Prize will be receiving submissions from around the world. Writers who haven’t yet published a book-length work in their chosen genre can enter, regardless of age, gender, nationality, or background, in hopes of winning the £1,000 prize in each category: Fiction, Life Writing, Poetry. As well as the cash prize, winners and shortlisted writers may be eligible for a Chapter and Verse award, courtesy of The Literary Consultancy (TLC), worth £2,000, or Free Reads mentoring, to support them as they grow and develop their work.

In 2020, the prize has a stellar line-up of judges: Penguin editor Simon Prosser (Fiction), journalist Ada Edemariam (Life Writing), and award-winning poet Raymond Antrobus (Poetry). The prize is chaired by publisher and poet Kadija Sesay.

Learn more here.