We are delighted to announce the longlist for the 2025 Discoveries prize. The Discoveries programme, run by the Women’s Prize Trust in partnership with Curtis Brown literary agency, the Curtis Brown Creative writing school and Audible, aims to find, support and develop emerging female writing talent from across the UK and Ireland.
Between September and January, we received submissions from thousands of writers across the country. They were invited to enter up to 10,000 words of a novel-in-progress, in any genre, with an emphasis on promise over polish.
Our judging panel was chaired by Kate Mosse CBE, international bestselling author and Founder Director of the Women’s Prize for Fiction and the Women’s Prize for Non-Fiction. She was joined by writer and musician Claire Kohda; international bestselling and award-winning author Dreda Say Mitchell; journalist, author and podcaster, Chloe Timms; Curtis Brown literary agent Jess Molloy; and Founder and Managing Director of Curtis Brown Creative, Anna Davis.
Kate Mosse, Chair of Judges, said: “It doesn’t seem possible that this is already the fifth year of Discoveries. We are thrilled with how the programme has developed and so grateful to the thousands of writers who have been courageous enough to share their work with us. The 2025 longlist showcases novels-in-progress of vision and imagination, diversity of genre and subject matter, novels that are moving, invite the reader to think differently, encourage us to stand in other people’s shoes. I can’t wait to see where this Discoveries journey will take each of our sixteen writers.”
Keep reading to meet this year’s 16 longlisted authors and find out how it feels to be longlisted!
Muti’ah Badruddeen
Muti’ah Badruddeen is a Nigerian writer, currently based in the south of England. A recent alumnus of the University of East Anglia’s MA Creative Writing (Prose Fiction), her short story, Yarona, Superhero was longlisted for the 2022 Commonwealth Short Story Prize. Her novel-in-progress, A Bowl of River Water, is a literary historical fiction that explores a woman’s drive for personal autonomy within the context of a rural village in colonial Nigeria, against the backdrop of Yoruba traditions and mythology.
“There are opportunities you don’t let yourself believe you could get, even as you apply for them. This is one such opportunity for me. I am blown away by the thought that the story that began with me honouring my grandmother’s life was considered worthy of this longlist.”
Sophie Black
Sophie (she/her) currently writes in London after graduating with a sociology MA in Gender, Media and Culture from Goldsmiths University in 2022. With nine years of hospitality experience behind her, she enjoys interrogating restaurant dynamics and their representation in popular culture through her Substack, Cover Shift. She is still and always will be available as a freelance waitress for the odd evening. The Pass is Sophie’s first venture into fiction and love letter to all the people who taught and fed her (both literally and spiritually) during her restaurant journey. Writing it has been a welcome change from essays.
“I was absolutely floored when I found out I’d been longlisted and I’m so thankful. It’s made me feel motivated to push myself further as a writer.”
Ciara Corrigan
Ciara Corrigan grew up in Northern Ireland, and spent a decade living in Bristol, New Zealand and London, where she worked in publishing for several years. She recently returned to NI where she now lives by the sea and works in charity communications. Her childhood summers were spent in Donegal, and she has always been inspired by folklore, mythology, and our relationship with the natural world. Her novel, Merrow, explores these themes in a coming-of-age story about family, isolation, and the cost of belonging.
“I’m absolutely thrilled to be longlisted. It feels like the most incredible validation of my decision to take my writing seriously this year, and it’s given me a huge amount of motivation to finish the next draft. This is the first time I’ve shared an excerpt of my novel with anyone, and I can’t quite believe it’s gone so well!”
Shaiyra Devi
Shaiyra Devi works in sustainability in London. She grew up in India, Singapore, and Hong Kong, before living in the US and UK where she earned BAs in Environmental Studies and French, and an MA in Environment & Development. Though her professional and academic careers focus on the natural world, she keeps a foot firmly planted in the written world. Penning stories since she learned to write, Shaiyra finished her first novel at 12. Her current novel combines her love of nature, her global upbringing, and her fascination with the ways in which we unwittingly create our own social, political, and emotional cages.
“It feels incredible! 2025 is the year I will give my writing my all, and it is wonderful encouragement to receive this validation from the esteemed judging panel. It’s given me the boost I needed and I’m excited, motivated, and energised for everything that lies ahead.”
Jac Felipez
Jac Felipez is Head of Languages at a London comprehensive school and fits her writing around the demands of teaching. Previously, she produced and directed television documentaries that focused on African-Caribbean stories, which aimed to amplify underrepresented voices on the small screen. Jac now uses fiction as a creative medium to explore the complex narratives of London’s minority communities. Her novel in progress, A Long Ways from Home, is set in North and East London. It is a story of family discord and chaos stemming from a hidden past of radical activism, deception and murder.
“Receiving the email informing me of my longlist status was a surprise. After jumping around ecstatically for five minutes, I felt a bit stunned by its significance. It meant that the readers and judges recognised some potential in my writing by selecting my novel-in-progress for the longlist. I also felt a sense of pride that by submitting my story I had shrugged off my insecurities about being judged and found wanting.”
Anwen Kya Hayward
Anwen Kya Hayward is a Welsh writer and lapsed classicist, who currently works in the TV industry. She is just over halfway through a challenge to read a book by a woman from every country in the world. In her own writing, she feels strongly about telling the stories of queer, neurodivergent women, placing them back into the historical record from which they’ve been erased. Her current novel uses the Victorian concept of electricity as a framework to explore how it feels to be a visitor in the strange land of grief.
“The first thing I did upon receiving the email was to wake my partner up by screaming quite loudly in her ear! It hasn’t even started to sink in yet. It feels deeply validating – and incredibly strange – to know that others have read my work and actually liked it. I’ve always struggled to find the time to write, as my day job has exceptionally long hours, and being longlisted has really shown me that it’s OK for me to prioritise my time for writing.”
Maria Jackson
Maria Jackson is a freelance business journalist with twenty years of experience in writing non-fiction. Following several years of dabbling in creative writing, on her fortieth birthday she enrolled on an online fiction writing course at the National Centre for Writing. Since then, Maria has been shortlisted for the 2022 Fish Publishing Flash Fiction Prize and the 2023 Mslexia Short Story Competition. Her longlisted novel-in-progress, Lonely Jacksons, evolved from an unsuccessful submission to the 2024 Discoveries Prize, showing that while rejection is dispiriting, it’s a bump in the road — not the end of the journey.
“This is absolutely the peak of my writing career! I’ve been working on this novel for three years — editing, chopping, and restructuring alongside work and family commitments. It’s such a lovely feeling to think that someone has unearthed a seed of potential in it.”
Reema Kausar Majid
Reema grew up in Pakistan before moving to London. Her work explores the interplay of colonialism, migration, faith and language in shaping identity. Her writing has been published in Amaliah under a pseudonym. Her work has also appeared on Writing Our Legacy’s blog. She was a Highly Commended winner of the Faber FAB Prize 2023. She was selected for Writing Our Legacy’s Covert Talent Development Programme 2024-25. Reema has an MA in Creative Writing from Bath Spa University and an MSc in Development Studies from the LSE. She has worked in international development focusing on gender and education.
“I’ve been in a daze since receiving the email! I had to read it a few times to make sure I wasn’t hallucinating. I’m thrilled to have my work recognised by such a prestigious competition. Writing a novel is a lonely journey with an uncertain destination – being longlisted has suddenly placed me with a band of fellow travellers and guides, all of whom I can’t wait to meet.”
Harriet Matthews
Harriet Matthews is an English writer living in London. She was selected for emerging writers programmes at both the London Library and the Jewish Literary Foundation, and was longlisted for the Exeter Novel Prize. Her novel-in-progress, In the Shadow of the Flame, is a female-led retelling of Walter Scott’s Ivanhoe with a focus on the medieval Anglo-Jewish community, exploring themes of memory and trauma. Harriet’s short stories have been published in The Ghastling, and longlisted for the Ink of Ages Fiction Prize. In between writing sessions she can usually be found browsing the nearest bookshop, wishing she had more shelf space.
“It feels utterly astonishing to be longlisted! I know how hotly contested Discoveries is, and I was not expecting it at all. I had to get my partner to read the email to make sure I wasn’t hallucinating. Having the quality and potential of my writing validated in this way is invaluable to me, and I am very excited to find out where I can go from here.”
Beena Nadeem
In a journalistic career of more than twenty years, Beena’s interviewees have included a pet detective, an 84-year-old tantric sex teacher and Basil Brush (along with some politicians). These days, as a copywriter, she pens articles about exotic holidays she never goes on, and healthy supplements she never takes. She won Jericho’s Jessica George Bursary and a few other literary awards. Now writing a novel set in a run-of-the-mill market town, her book is an unsparing portrayal of maternal rejection and the resilience of the unloved across three generations. Growing up in the only Asian family in her Yorkshire suburb, she now lives in (part of) a drafty church conversion in brilliantly cosmopolitan London.
“Honestly, it’s surreal, and a bit emotional, to have my work recognised like this, among what has to be some truely bold and brilliant voices. I’ve put so much into my writing, often quietly, and while juggling lots of life. To know it’s landed somewhere and meant something is huge. I’m excited (and a bit nervous) to learn, connect, and keep growing with everything Discoveries has to offer.”
Nosa Novia
Nosa Novia is a Nigerian-British writer and poet, residing in the sunny hills of Devon. She holds an MA in Writing with Distinction, from the University of Warwick and is an alumna of several prestigious writer development programmes including the 2024/2025 A Writing Chance programme by New Writing North, the Harper Collins Author Academy and the Breakthrough x Black Ballad mentoring programme. She is currently editing her debut novel, Illoi, a historical fiction novel set in precolonial Benin which retells the story of royal succession through the lives of women in the King’s harem. She is the founder of The Reclaim Collective, a social enterprise equipping poets from marginalized backgrounds.
“I was very happy to hear the news. There is a lot of room for doubt as a writer, for constant questioning of the quality of your work and abilities. This news came at a time for me where I needed that encouragement. I am on the right path.”
Anna Kitty O’Connor
Anna Kitty O’Connor is a neurodiverse Irish writer and actor currently completing her MA in Screen Acting at The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. She is a graduate of Bow Street Academy where she studied acting, and University College Cork where she studied BA English as a Quercus Talented Student Scholar. She works as a writing mentor with Write the World and as a bookseller, which has given her a TBR pile that cannot be tamed. She also writes for young people and, when she’s not reading romance, she can be found reading kid’s books or YA.
“It feels baffling and incredible. The idea that people read my pages and liked them enough to longlist me is something I am still wrapping my head around. This story is so special to me, and the fact that Rosie (my main character) is being seen and appreciated means so much. Like me, she is autistic, and a story of autistic joy is not something I often see. So it feels really special for this story to be chosen.”
Rosie Rowell
Rosie is an opera singer and singing teacher from London. She studied her undergraduate degree in English Literature at Durham University and then went on to train at the opera school at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama. In her free time, Rosie is obsessed with pole dance, and is a two-time finalist at the Great British Pole Championships. Her novel, Down by the Stryth, is a thriller about the violence and terror of teenage girlhood, combining the small-town secrets of Anna Bailey’s Tall Bones with the family tragedy of Celeste Ng’s Everything I Never Told You.
“Being longlisted feels absolutely extraordinary. My stomach has been doing backflips ever since I opened the email and shows no signs of stopping. Writing Down by the Stryth has been a long and complicated journey, and it feels incredibly validating to know that the judges enjoyed reading some of it.”
Suman Sandhu
Suman lives in London with her husband and children and is passionate about giving main character energy to people usually neglected in contemporary fiction. Raised in Slough by Punjabi-Sikh immigrant parents, she read History & Politics at the University of Leicester, followed by a master’s at the University of London. Suman has worked in sales and marketing in the charity and private sectors and enjoys film, fashion and travel almost as much as she loves being lost in a good book. Her novel The Luxury of Choice is a family saga exploring themes of love, belonging, forgiveness and intergenerational trauma.
“Amazing. Wonderful. Emotional. It was a complete rush to meet the deadline – I’d returned from a family holiday in January envisaging some uninterrupted time to polish my words but ended up tending to a sick child too unwell for school. Typical! I had zero expectations once I’d hit the submit button, so was elated to receive the email telling me my story had impressed the judges and made the longlist. It’s such a confidence boost on my writing journey.”
Gabriele Sidlauskaite
Gabriele Sidlauskaite is a queer Lithuanian writer based in Oxford. She was shortlisted for the #MerkyBooks New Writers’ Prize 2024/25, and her novel-in-progress, Gutsnag, explores what it means to be an artist, the complexities of queer love, and the sense of insignificance that comes with conforming to the inherited national, political, and cultural identities. A lawyer by training, Gabriele writes characters that don’t quite fit the cookie-cutter mould of acceptability and dare to push beyond the boundaries of insignificance imposed upon them.
“Imagine you find a new café where old wood beams streak the ceiling and half-burnt candle stubs poke out of beer bottles lined on the windowpane. You order a waffle, and it comes out hot with bits of crystalised sugar on the edges. You pull out a really good book out of one of those thick canvas tote bags with a little inside pocket and you don’t need to go anywhere for the afternoon. That’s how it feels like.”
Lauren Van Schaik
Lauren Van Schaik’s short fiction has been shortlisted for the Galley Beggar and The White Review short story prizes, published in the Cincinnati Review and other venues, and named an Other Distinguished Story in Houghton Mifflin Harcourt’s annual The Best American Short Stories in 2021. She has an MA in Creative Writing from UEA, where she won the David Higham Award, and was mentored through The National Centre for Writing’s Escalator scheme. Originally from the U.S., she lives in London with her partner and daughter and works as a copywriter.
“Validating and exciting! I experienced some identity annihilation after having a baby, and this novel was the first substantial thing I’d written in a year. Writing it felt like reconnecting with myself, so it’s really encouraging that it’s resonated with the judges.”
Congratulations to all 16 longlisted writers – we can’t wait to follow your exciting writing journeys!
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