Women’s Prize Discoveries: Demystifying Publishing
Event details
Are you an aspiring writer? Or wondered how your favourite author started out? Join us for this exciting panel to help demystify the publishing industry, and offer top tips and practical guidance on how to get your foot in the door.
Discoveries is the Women’s Prize Trust’s writer development programme and prize for unagented and unpublished women writers working on a novel for adults, run in partnership with Audible, Curtis Brown Literary Agency, and the Curtis Brown Creative writing school.
The panel will feature two alumni of the Discoveries programme, Olivia Ford, longlisted for Discoveries in 2021 for her debut novel, Mrs Quinn’s Rise to Fame, and Paige Cowan-Hall, winner of Discoveries 2023 and author of the Audible original, The Shouts Beneath. They will be joined by Harriet Hirshman, publishing manager at Dead Ink Books. The event will be chaired by writer Ayisha Malik, who judged Discoveries in 2022.
For more information about Discoveries, which is currently open for submissions until January 2025, visit: www.womensprize.com/writers/discoveries.
Chester Literature Festival is partnering with the Women’s Prize Trust to present a special day of events at Storyhouse on Sunday, 10 November. Marking the 30th anniversary of the renowned Women’s Prize for Fiction — celebrated as one of the world’s most prestigious honors for female creativity — the day will feature a series of panels, talks, and workshops under the banner of ‘Women’s Prize Day’.
Members: £10.80
Non-members: £12 (each ticket is subject to a £1.50 booking fee for non-members)
Book all 3 Women’s Prize events for £40 (subject to booking fees for non-members)
-
Olivia Ford
Olivia has spent the last ten years in entertainment TV, most recently as a story producer. Inspired by her grandparents, her debut novel Mrs Quinn’s Rise to Fame was longlisted for Discoveries 2021.
-
Paige Cowan-Hall
Paige won Discoveries 2023 as well as the 2021 Desperate Literature Award and was a 2021 Spread the Word Awardee. She is working on her debut novel, Marooned – a historical fantasy that explores race, gender and Obeah and is set in 18th century Jamaica, her family’s country of origin. Her debut audiobook, The Shouts Beneath, is available exclusively from Audible, narrated by Jade Anouka.
-
Harriet Hirshman
Harriet is the Publishing Manager at Dead Ink Books.
About Dead Ink Books:
Based in the North of England, Dead Ink is a publisher unsatisfied with the mainstream.
Our aim is to do whatever we want and do it well.
Over the years we have published award-winning authors, revived cult texts and launched wildly inventive, experimental projects that everybody said would never work.
We invite you to step out of the mainstream and into something more interesting.
This is Dead Ink, we do our own thing.
-
Ayisha Malik
The award-winning London-born author and writing mentor worked as a publicist for Penguin Random House before she wrote her debut book, the heartwarming romantic comedy Sofia Khan is Not Obliged. Her other critically acclaimed novels include The Other Half of Happiness, This Green and Pleasant Land and The Movement. Ayisha was a judge for the Women’s Prize’s Discoveries talent development programme in 2022.
Storyhouse Card
Storyhouse is charity. We would not exist without the support of our Members.
Become a Member and support us for just £4.99 a month and you will get access to:
- 10% off most theatre tickets (up to 2 tickets)
- 10% off cinema tickets (up to 2 tickets)
- 10% off food and drink in The Kitchen
- Priority Booking
- No booking fees
- Free exchanges