Introducing Originators, the Women’s Prize Trust’s mentorship and development program, presented by CHANEL, dedicated to supporting emerging women fiction writers from across the United States.
Building on the charity’s 30-year legacy and shared mission with CHANEL to support women, Originators provides mentorship, funding, and industry access for new literary talent—unlocking potential, boosting confidence, and increasing skills and knowledge.
At the Women’s Prize Trust, we believe that every woman’s voice has the power to elicit and inspire change—regardless of age, race, nationality, or background—and we put their words, their stories, and their ideas, into the hands of readers around the world. The Originators program embodies the essence of this mission, drawing a golden thread between the hundreds of authors celebrated by the Women’s Prize for Fiction, and the next generation of writers, with CHANEL serving as a vital partner in bringing it to life.”
Claire Shanahan, Executive Director of the Women’s Prize Trust
Originators is presented by CHANEL, reflecting the House’s long-standing commitment to creation through a wide range of initiatives in the fields of dance, cinema, exhibitions, and literature. For CHANEL, literature is a foundational source of inspiration, freedom, and transmission, which needs to be sustained through literary creation and diverse voices. CHANEL supports women writers through the Literary Rendezvous at Rue Cambon and the Nouvel Obs Literary Prize, which celebrates creativity and emerging talent. The House also takes part in the “Mot pour Mots” festival, reissues of works, and editorial projects through 7L Editions. With Originators, CHANEL aims to bring the same ambition, impact, and opportunity to the American literary field.
Originators invites emerging, unpublished novelists from across the U.S. to apply for mentorship by submitting a writing sample of 5,000 words, a synopsis, and information about themselves.
The selection panel is chaired by writer A.M. Homes, who won the 2013 Women’s Prize for Fiction for her sixth novel May We Be Forgiven, and is Professor of the Practice, Creative Writing, at the Lewis Center for the Arts at Princeton University. She is joined by Virginia Evans, who won the 2026 Women’s Prize for Fiction for her debut novel The Correspondent, a film adaptation of which is currently in development from Lionsgate, starring Academy Award®–winner Jane Fonda; V.V. Ganeshananthan, who won the 2024 Women’s Prize for Fiction for her second novel Brotherless Night, and is McKnight Presidential Fellow at the University of Minnesota; novelist Tayari Jones, who won the 2019 Women’s Prize for Fiction for her fourth novel An American Marriage, and is the Charles Howard Candler Professor of English and Creative Writing at Emory University and the A.D. White Professor-at-Large at Cornell University; and Nicole Krauss, who has been twice shortlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction for The History of Love (2006) and Great House (2011), and is the recipient of the prestigious Guggenheim Fellowship.
The five selected writers will benefit from a bespoke mentorship program designed to support their professional and artistic development. The selection panel of A.M. Homes (Chair), Virginia Evans, V.V. Ganeshananthan, Tayari Jones, and Nicole Krauss will work with the writers to refine and present their work to the wider literary world, with additional support provided by publishing experts, industry leaders, and creatives.
In partnership with CHANEL, each writer will receive a grant to support their writing project and will come together in New York City in the spring of 2027 for the winner announcement and a celebratory gathering with the selection panel.
This new initiative complements the Women’s Prize Discoveries program for writers in the UK and Ireland, which was launched in 2020 and focuses its outreach on those most underrepresented in arts and culture. In its first five years, the program has inspired thousands of women to share their writing for the first time. Of the 96 Discoveries alumni selected for the intensive program, 20 per cent have secured publishing deals for their debut novels, with over a third now signed with literary agents.
“We have heard many, many times in our 30-year history about the essential role that community and peer support play in shaping a writing career. Originators will provide a unique opportunity for five exceptional writers to receive mentorship from distinguished writers dedicated to paying it forward, supported by a wider roster of publishing and entertainment professionals.”
Claire Shanahan, Executive Director of the Women’s Prize Trust
Submissions are open from September 30, 2026, to November 30, 2026, at 6.59 PM (EST).
To find out more and to enter Originators, visit: https://womensprize.com/originators/
