The London Writers Awards is Spread the Words’ flagship writer development programme. Originally launched in 2018, the London Writers Awards aims to increase the number of writers from under-represented communities being taken up by agents and publishers. It has supported 120 writers and has become the most successful writer development scheme in the UK with 50 writers agented and over 35 book deals.
In a series of blog posts we will list the writers who completed the programme and the first books that they have published. You can find out more about the other cohorts on these links: Cohort 2 – 2019, Cohort 3 – 2021, Cohort 4 – 2022.
Cohort 1 – 2018
Commercial Fiction
Arun Das
Chris Simpson
Esther Poyer
Iqbal Hussain, Northern Boy, 2024
Nina Duttaroy
Literary Fiction
Kira McPherson, Higher Education, 2023
Koyer Ahmed
Riley Rockford
Sara Jafari, The Mismatch, 2021
Sofia Fara
Tice Cin, Keeping the House, 2021
Poetry
Annie Hayter
Helen Bowell, The Barman, 2022
Jamie Hale, Shield, 2021
Jemilea Wisdom-Baako
Lily Paine
Merrie Joy Williams, Open Windows, 2019
Narrative Non-Fiction
Bunmi Ogunsiji
Elaine Williams
Marta Bausells
Stacey Ng
Stephen Wrench
YA/Children’s Fiction
Alex Falase-Koya, Marv and the Mega Robot, 2022
Alexis Rigg
Anne Chen
Lui Sit, Land of the Last Wildcat, 2025
Priscilla Mante, Jaz Santos vs The World, 2021
Sahar Halaimzai
