The Women’s Prize Trust announces the 2022 ‘Discoveries’ Longlist

The Women’s Prize Trust – the charity championing women writers on a global stage – today announces the 2022 Longlist for its ‘Discoveries’ writing programme.

The Discoveries programme, run by the Women’s Prize Trust in partnership with Curtis Brown literary agency, the Curtis Brown Creative writing school (both part of The Curtis Brown Group) and Audible, aims to find aspiring female writing talent from across the UK and Ireland.

Now in its second year, over 2,500 women submitted their works of fiction to Discoveries (increased from 2,300 in 2021). The programme seeks to provide encouragement and practical support to unpublished women writers of all ages and backgrounds from across the UK and Ireland. 76% of applications for Discoveries 2022 came from women living outside London (compared to 73% in 2021) – with a marked increase in entries from Scotland and Northern Ireland compared with 2021. 25% of entries were from women over the age of 55 and entries from women aged 65-74 exceeded those in the 18-24 age bracket.

16 writers are longlisted by a judging panel chaired by Kate Mosse, bestselling novelist, playwright and Founder-Director of the Women’s Prize; Lucy Morris, Curtis Brown literary agent; Anna Davis, Founder and Managing Director of Curtis Brown Creative writing school; and esteemed writers, Ayisha Malik and Irenosen Okojie. 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

Kate Mosse, Chair of the Discoveries Judging Panel, said: ‘This is our second year of Discoveries, and we were thrilled by the quality of submissions, the ambition of the writers, the diverse and exciting range of stories, writing styles and inspirations. 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.’ 

Aurelie De Troyer, SVP International Content, Audible said: ‘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. On behalf of Audible I’d like to offer huge congratulations to every brilliant writer that has been longlisted by the judges this year.’

Anna Davis, Curtis Brown Creative, and Lucy Morris, Curtis Brown, said: ‘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 a bespoke online Discoveries Writing Development course running over two weeks this summer, designed and hosted by Curtis Brown Creative and with expert tuition from author Charlotte Mendelson and a pitching session with agents from Curtis Brown.

To inspire as many budding writers as possible to enter and to help writers finesse their submissions, the Women’s Prize Trust, Audible, Curtis Brown Literary Agency and Curtis Brown Creative writing school, curated a programme of online content, including interviews with publishing professionals and teaching notes by Curtis Brown Creative. 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?, respectively towards the beginning and end of the Discoveries 2022 submissions window. Events were also hosted with a number of different partners to reach as wide an audience as possible, 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.

Kate Mosse is available for interviews, features and events.

Please contact: Christian Lewis: Christian@womensprizeforfiction.co.uk / 07919324890