Spread the Word, London’s literature development agency, is delighted to announce the names of the 24 writers who have been selected for the 2025 London Writers Awards. The programme has returned for a fifth year thanks to a generous philanthropic donation by Sam and Rosie Berwick. Founding partners are: the Independent Publishers Guild and the Society of Authors, this year’s sponsors are A M Heath, Bell Lomax Moreton, Janklow and Nesbit and Susanna Lea Associates.

In 2025, 24 London-based writers from communities underrepresented in UK publishing – Black, Asian or Global Majority, Working Class, LGBTQIA+, D/deaf and disabled, and writers on a low income – will be supported and nurtured through a ten-month development programme in preparation for meeting with agents and publishers and pursuing their writing careers.

The 2025 cohort comes from a diverse range of backgrounds, writing across Literary Fiction, Commercial Fiction and YA/Children’s Fiction. They include a trainee solicitor, documentary filmmaker, Jordanian-Palestinian playwright, mental health doctor, and an occasional drag queen.

The full list of London Writers Award winners is:

Literary Fiction: Maddy Accalia, Lishani Ramanayake, Laila Obeidat, Meher Iqbal, J. Lian Ho, Jose Ignacio Narciso, Susie Thornberry, V. Matsumari, Swithun Cooper, Judah Abraham-Silas, Sophia Khan, Sukie Wilson

Commercial Fiction: Ally Coker, Daniel Culpan, Nic Falvo, Emily D. Bean, Nkenna Ndujiuba, L.A. Chase

YA/Children’s Fiction: Coggin Galbreath, Victoria Ibbett, Damisi Adetola, Noel Emerald, Rukiya Shanthi, Shivanthi Sathanandan

Oisín McKenna 2025 judge, says: “I was completely thrilled by the quality of the submissions to this year’s London Writers Awards – they are bold, strange, enticing and powerful, written by writers with a remarkable grasp of their own craft and vision. As an alumnus of the programme, I can say with certainty that it’s a career-changing experience. It can make a life and career in writing imaginable and tangible, where before it may have felt remote, nebulous, and difficult to reach, giving participants permission to handle their own work with confidence and seriousness. I’m certain that with the transformative support offered by the London Writers Awards that there are bright futures ahead for these writers.”

Sam Berwick, philanthropist and funder of the 2025 London Writers Awards, says: “Rosie and I have had the great fortune to have worked with Spread the Word over the past three years, and we can’t say strongly enough what a great experience that has been. Now, being in a position to help them bring back such a critical project as the London Writers Award is a huge and very exciting privilege for us. We look forward to helping Spread the Word in this mission, and we would kindly call strongly and hopefully persuasively for both individuals and foundations to join us in further helping them in growing projects like the London Writers Awards. They are needed more than ever in the current environment.”

Ruth Harrison, Director of Spread the Word, comments: “We are delighted to be welcoming a new cohort of writers to this year’s London Writers Awards. Becoming a writer is a precarious endeavour. In this challenging time for arts funding, we would like to thank Sam and Rosie Berwick for their commitment to supporting writers with the craft, connections and community to take forward their careers. Sustained and accessible development opportunities are essential to ensuring we get to read and hear the stories writers want to tell from across our communities. This commitment is needed more than ever, and we welcome conversations on how we can increase the support and opportunities available to writers from underrepresented backgrounds in publishing.”

About the London Writers Awards

The London Writers Awards is the UK’s most successful development programme for writers from communities underrepresented in UK publishing. To date, 50 alumni have been agented and 37 have made book deals as a result of participating in the programme. The London Writers Awards has launched the careers of, amongst others: Natasha Brown, Tice Cin, Ashani Lewis, Cecile Pin, Pam Williams, Santanu Bhattacharya and Tom Newlands, whose debut novel Only Here, Only Now was selected as a Guardian Fiction Book of the Year, and Shortlisted for the Gordon Burn Prize 2025.

Originally launched in 2018, the programme ran for 4 years and supported 120 writers. In 2021, the London Writers Awards was cited by the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Creative Diversity as an exemplary writer development programme. The cohort from our most recent programme in 2022 included writers who have gone on to receive considerable acclaim, including Oisín Mckenna (Evenings and Weekends, Fourth Estate) and Chris Bridges (Sick to Death, Avon).

This new iteration of the programme will support 24 unagented and unpublished London writers of Literary, Commercial and YA/Children’s Fiction each year from 2025 to 2027. The annual 10-month programme is free to participate in and offers bursary and access funds.

The 24 writers begin with a Writers’ Lab on Saturday 22 February. Over the course of ten months, the award recipients will: attend fortnightly critical feedback groups to grow and develop their work; participate in nine masterclasses led by writers and industry professionals; attend two Writers Labs, one with peers, judges and programme alumni and another with editors, publishers and agents; and receive a variety of bespoke development opportunities with editors, agents and the Spread the Word team.

All Awardees will receive 1-2-1 professional development sessions with members of the Spread the Word team to support their development whilst on the programme. Information about the Awardees’ projects will be distributed to over 350 agents and editors. Spread the Word has also set up an alumni network for the 120 previous recipients of the Award, to which 2025 awardees will be invited to join. This includes on-going craft, career and networking opportunities.

#LondonWritersAwards2025

For more information, visit: https://www.spreadtheword.org.uk/projects/london-writers-awards

Published 19 February 2025