Returning for its sixth year, the pioneering writer development programme and prize, Discoveries opens for submissions, in the search for original and exciting new voices.

Run in partnership with Audible, the Curtis Brown Literary and Talent Agency, and the Curtis Brown Creative writing school, Discoveries inspires unagented and unpublished women in the UK and Ireland to write their first novels. Completely free to enter, the programme reaches out to and supports women at all stages of their writing journey, with an ongoing commitment to engage writers currently underrepresented in the UK publishing industry. Entrants only need to have written the first 10,000 words of a novel for adults, and share a brief synopsis of how the story will continue.

The 2026 judging panel will be chaired by Kate Mosse CBE FRSL, the international bestselling writer and Founder Director of the Women’s Prize for Fiction and the Women’s Prize for Non-Fiction. This year, Kate is joined by award-winning and global bestselling author Dorothy Koomson (My Best Friend’s Girl, The Ice Cream Girls and The Woman He Loved Before); peacebuilding practitioner and 2025 Women’s Prize for Fiction shortlisted author Dr Nussaibah Younis (Fundamentally); Curtis Brown literary agent Ciara Finan; and Founder and Managing Director of Curtis Brown Creative, Anna Davis.

Submissions are open from 16 September 2025 until 11:59pm on 12 January 2026. The longlist and shortlist will be announced on 30 April 2026 and 14 May 2026, with the winner and scholar announced on 28 May 2026.

 

Our aim, in setting up Discoveries in 2020, was to play a part in inspiring, supporting and encouraging writers from all communities, in all genres, of all ages and backgrounds – especially those women who had never previously thought that their voices might be heard – to believe in their talent and their stories.

Kate Mosse CBE FRSL, writer and chair of judges

As we launch Discoveries 2026, we are thrilled to share that the programme is seeing a rapidly increasing number of alumni deals and publications. Out of the 80 longlisted Discoveries alumni from the first five years, 15 writers have gone on to secure publishing deals for their debut novels; 32.5% (26) of its longlisted writers are signed with literary agents, increasing to 50% of those shortlisted.

Already in 2025, three Discoveries writers have published their debut novels, with the inaugural winner Emma van Straaten’s This Immaculate Body published in February by Little, Brown in the UK and US (as Creep); Red on the Inside by Elizabeth Kuligowski (2021 Longlist) in March by Burton Mayers Books; and Ordinary Saints by Niamh Ní Mhaoileoin (2022 Shortlist) from Manilla Press in April; alongside the paperback publication of Jenny Quinn’s Rise to Fame by Olivia Ford (2021 Longlist) from Penguin in the UK and US. They join the two Discoveries writers who have published Audible Originals (Sui Annukka’s The Mother Sun, 2023, and Paige Cowan-Hall’s The Shouts Beneath, 2024).

And that’s not all – seven further Discoveries alumni have novels publishing in the next year:

  • No Oil Painting by Genevieve Marenghi (2021 Longlist) / Burton Mayers Books (October 2025).
  • We Call Them Witches by India-Rose Bower(2023 Longlist) / Michael Joseph, UK and Poisoned Pen Press, US (January 2026).
  • Dwell by Rue Baldry (2021 Longlist) / Northodox Press (February 2026).
  • Over, by Ruth Rosengarten (2022 Shortlist) / New Menard Press (May 2026).
  • It Comes In Waves by Rukky Brume(2021 Longlist) / Merky Books (June 2026).
  • The Call of the Void by Rebecca Taylor McKay (2022 Longlist) / Dialogue (July 2026).
  • The Windhover by Lorna Elcock(2021 Shortlist) / Dead Ink Books (July 2026).

Discoveries helped me realise that I was a writer long before I was comfortable calling myself that. Of course, I knew the prize for winning would be an offer of representation from an agent at Curtis Brown, which was beyond my wildest dreams, but I hadn’t expected the community that rose up around Discoveries, and the true friendships I have made from it. I’m so proud and fortunate to be a part of this incredible initiative amplifying women’s voices and the stories we want to tell. Don’t hesitate – work on your 10,000 words and go for it.

Emma van Straaten, winner of Discoveries 2021

The winner of Discoveries 2026 will receive an offer of representation from Curtis Brown and £5,000; one promising writer, named the ‘Discoveries Scholar’, will win a free scholarship to attend a three-month Writing Your Novel course with Curtis Brown Creative (worth £2,000); the shortlist of six authors (including the winner and scholar) will each be offered a one-to-one mentoring session with a Curtis Brown agent plus a free place on a six-week Curtis Brown Creative course of their choice; while sixteen longlisted authors will each receive a place on a bespoke, two-week online Discoveries Writing Development Course taught by Laura Barnett, plus an Audible subscription.

So, what are you waiting for? If you have a brilliant idea for a novel, head to our Discoveries page to find out more and enter on the Curtis Brown Creative website here.

If you’d like to write a novel and have the beginnings of an idea – then now’s the time to give it a go. If you’ve been struggling with a writing project for a long time, how about getting back to it? And if you’ve written novels that have ended up in the bottom drawer, maybe it’s time to try something new? You don’t need qualifications or credentials to become a novelist – all you need is something to write with, something to say and the determination to see it through.

Anna Davis, Curtis Brown Creative, and Ciara Finan, Curtis Brown