Discoveries 2023
Discoveries is a pioneering programme seeking the most talented and original new female writing voices in the UK and Ireland.
The Women’s Prize Trust, Audible, Curtis Brown literary agency and Curtis Brown Creative have partnered to run the Discoveries writing development programme for a third year.
Discoveries is more than a traditional writing prize, it is a pioneering development initiative which offers practical support and encouragement to aspiring female novelists of all ages and backgrounds, from across the UK and Ireland. The programme culminates with awarding the Discoveries Prize for an unpublished novel-in-progress.
In just two years, this writing development programme has grown in popularity, with over 2,500 entries received in 2022.
So far, 12 longlisted writers from 2021 and 2022 have gone on to gain literary agent representation, including the 2021 winning author Emma van Straaten, who is completing her novel and is represented by Curtis Brown agent Lucy Morris and 2022 winner Sui Annukka, who has accepted an offer of representation from Curtis Brown agent Jess Molloy.
Discoveries 2023 is now closed for entries. Click the link below to find out more about Discoveries 2024.
Winning the Discoveries Prize has been extraordinary. It was hugely encouraging to know that the judges enjoyed reading my work.
Winner of Discoveries 2022
Judging panel
Kate Mosse
Kate Mosse is the chair of the 2023 Discoveries judging panel. Kate is the author of nine novels & short story collections, including the No 1 bestselling The Joubert Family Chronicles – The Burning Chambers and The City of Tears – as well as the multimillion selling Languedoc Trilogy – Labyrinth, Sepulchre and Citadel – and No 1 bestselling Gothic fiction including The Winter Ghosts and The Taxidermist’s Daughter, which she adapted for the stage for 2022. Her books have been translated into 38 languages and published in more than 40 countries. Her latest book, part detective story, part family history and part dictionary of 1000 women missing from history - Warrior Queens & Quiet Revolutionaries: How Women (Also) Built the World - will publish in October 2022. She has also written three others works of non-fiction – including An Extra Pair of Hands (Wellcome Collection, 2021) – four plays, contributed essays and introductions to classic novels and collections. Her novel for Quick Reads, The Black Mountain, came out in April 2022 and she’s one of twelve writers contributing a story to a new Miss Marple Collection of Short Stories – Marple – publishing in September 2022. A champion of women’s creativity, Kate is the Founder Director of the Women’s Prize for Fiction – the largest annual celebration of women’s writing in the world – and sits on the Executive Committee of Women of the World. She was awarded an OBE in 2013 for services to literature and women and was named Woman of the Year for her service to the arts in the Everywoman Awards and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.
Anna Davis
Anna Davis is the founder and Director of the Curtis Brown Creative writing school. She is the author of five acclaimed novels which have been published in twenty languages. She has been a journalist and Guardian columnist, as well as a Curtis Brown literary agent. She taught creative writing at the University of Manchester and in many other settings before founding Curtis Brown Creative in 2011.
Lucy Morris
Lucy Morris is a literary agent at Curtis Brown, where she represents a list of commercial and literary fiction, and narrative non-fiction. Lucy joined the Curtis Brown Books Department in September 2014 from Bloomsbury Publishing. Her clients include Hazel Barkworth, Cash Carraway, Chịkọdịlị Emelụmadụ and Gillian McAllister.
Chibundu Onuzo
Chibundu Onuzo started writing novels and short stories at the age of ten and less than a decade later became the youngest woman ever signed by Faber. Her debut novel, The Spider King’s Daughter shortlisted for the Dylan Thomas Prize and the Commonwealth Book Prize, and won a Betty Trask Award. Her most recent novel, Sankofa, was published in June 2021 and was an October 2021 pick for the Reese Witherspoon Book Club. Chibundu was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2018. The short film Dolapo Is Fine, which Chibundu co-wrote and co-produced won the 2020 American Black Film Festival, HBO Short Film Competition and was longlisted for a BAFTA. The film was adapted from Chibundu's short story Sunita.
Kiran Millwood Hargrave
Kiran Millwood Hargrave is the Sunday Times-bestselling author of nine novels for children and adults, including the British Book Awards Children's Book of the Year The Girl of Ink and Stars, Betty Trask Award-winning The Mercies, and most recently Florence Welch's Between Two Books book club pick, The Dance Tree. Her work has been optioned for film and TV and won or been long- or shortlisted for major prizes such as the Costa Awards, Waterstones Book of the Year, the Jhalak Prize, and the Carnegie. She lives in Oxford with her husband and two cats.
How to enter the prize
Discoveries invites all unpublished women writers aged 18 and up, currently residing in the UK or Ireland and writing in English, to submit their works of adult fiction to the Discoveries Prize.
The prize doesn’t require writers to have finished a novel – only to have started one – and it is free to enter. We're looking for writing that shows real potential, not necessarily polished drafts. We would also like to encourage applications from writers who have previously submitted to the prize and have continued working on their story.
- Submissions are open from 26 September 2022 until 11:59pm on 15 January 2023.
- The longlist and shortlist will be announced in May 2023, and the winner in June 2023.
The prize will accept novels in any genre of adult fiction and entrants will be required to submit only the first 10,000 words of their novel with a synopsis of up to 1,000 words (but if you can, keep it shorter than that – 500 words is plenty).
Discoveries 2023 is now closed for entries. Click the link below to find out more about Discoveries 2024.
Prizes
First Prize
The winner will be offered representation by Curtis Brown Literary Agency and a cash prize of £5,000.
Shortlist
One promising writer, named the ‘Discoveries Scholar’, will also win a free scholarship to attend a three-month Writing Your Novel course with Curtis Brown Creative.
All six shortlisted authors will be offered a mentoring session with a Curtis Brown agent, plus a free place on a six-week online writing course with Curtis Brown Creative.
The shortlisted writers will also take part in a studio session focused on writing and recording for audio with Audible.
Longlist
All sixteen longlisted authors will receive a bespoke, two-week online Discoveries Writing Development Course. The course will be taught by taught by Women’s Prize shortlisted author Charlotte Mendelson and it focuses on the works-in-progress of the longlisted writers, using one-to-one tutorials, live teaching on Zoom, writing exercises and group discussions on Curtis Brown Creative’s online learning platform.
Learn more about the Discoveries Writing Development course
All 16 writers will also receive an annual Audible subscription.
Supporting writers
Every novel starts with a first line, every career with a first moment of inspiration and we want to reach out to writers in their communities to offer them encouragement and practical support at the beginning of their creative journeys.
As well as the prize this programme includes free online content. This will include everything from interviews with publishing industry professionals to practical advice and inspiration from former winners and shortlistees of the Women’s Prize for Fiction, as well as a series of teaching notes by Curtis Brown Creative Writing School to help writers craft their submissions. Online workshops will also be hosted with a range of partners to reach as many aspiring authors as possible.
Read our latest Discoveries writing advice blogs
A recording of our ‘Your Novel: How to Get Started’ webinar is now available to watch, featuring a panel of Curtis Brown agents, authors and Discoveries judges, chaired by Kate Mosse. Don't miss out – this webinar will be available to view until Jun 2023.
The Discoveries Prize is wonderful and unique in that no one is expecting a polished final draft.
Winner of Discoveries 2022