For the first time since its launch in 2019, the Mo Siewcharran Prize will focus on non-fiction, under the theme of Reclaiming History.
The prize, named in memory of Mo Siewcharran, Nielsen BookData’s former director of marketing and communications, aims to nurture talent from under-represented backgrounds writing in English. With NielsenIQ BookData as co-sponsors, it is run as part of Hachette UK’s The Future Bookshelf, the home for all Hachette UK’s creative writing programmes. It is hosted by different divisions of the publisher each year, with this year’s being hosted by Trapeze, an imprint of Orion.
This year’s prize is calling for submissions from writers from Black, Asian mixed heritage or Minority Ethnic backgrounds, that explore events from our past through historical narrative, memoir or polemic writing.
The first-round shortlist will be judged by members of Orion and Hachette UK’s THRIVE employee network. The winners and runners-up will then be decided by Ogunṣakin, Olivette Otele, author and research professor at SOAS, Selina Brown, CEO and founder of Black British Book Festival, authors Paula Akpan and Sofia Akel, and one of our literary agents, Emma Bal.
The winner will receive £2,500 prize money, a hamper of Trapeze books, a follow-up online mentoring session with an Orion non-fiction editor, and an introductory meeting with a literary agent. The winner’s entry will also be taken forward to Orion’s acquisitions meeting and considered for publication with a competitive advance against royalties.
Submissions will open on 1st April 2025. Entrants must be un-agented at the time of entry and previously unpublished by a publisher, aged 18 or over, resident in the UK, and from a Black, Asian, mixed heritage or minority ethnic background. Entry requirements are non-fiction proposals of no more than 10,000 words that explore history and the past in a compelling and unique way. Please follow the link here for more information about the prize.
