Hachette UK’s The Future Bookshelf is running the Mo Siewcharran Prize for its fifth year to help discover unpublished UK fiction writers from Black, Asian, mixed heritage and minority ethnic backgrounds. For 2024, the prize will be hosted by Hodderscape, an imprint of Hodder & Stoughton, and we are looking for fiction writing in the genre of the moment: fantasy.
Entrants must be unagented and previously unpublished, aged 18 or over, resident in the UK and from a Black, Asian, mixed heritage or Minority Ethnic background.
Entry requirements are a synopsis of the plot of the novel of up to 700 words and no more than 10,000 words from the start of the book.
Prizes
The winner will receive £2,500 prize money plus,
• A detailed letter from a Hodderscape editor giving feedback on their entry, and a follow-up online mentoring session.
• Introductory meetings with at least two different literary agents;
• An introductory session with the Hodder & Stoughton rights team;
• A meeting with the Hodder & Stoughton marketing and publicity teams;
• A ticket to London Book Fair 2025
The winner’s entry will also be taken forward to a Hodder & Stoughton’s acquisitions meeting and considered for full publication with a competitive advance against royalties. Hodder & Stoughton does not guarantee that the winner will be offered a publishing contract.
The runner up will receive £1,500 prize money plus,
• A detailed letter from a Hodderscape editor giving feedback on their entry
• A hamper of Hodderscape books
A second runner up will receive £750 prize money plus a hamper of Hodderscape books.
The prize is sponsored by John Seaton, Mo Siewcharran’s husband and co-founder of the prize, and Nielsen BookData.
Hodderscape is the magical sector of Hodder & Stoughton, where fantasy, sci-fi and horror lovers can hang out and talk books.
Find out more
here
Deadline: midnight on 1 May 2024