It’s been a difficult question for me to write or even think about. I cannot say that I have directly experienced any of these bars, but as Spread the Word’s recent research has shown, systemic bars are often covert and ‘unseen’. I am a woman and a northerner by birth, and I am also an author of colour. It’s a delicate mix, and I see many writers with the kind of talent I only dream of having, fall by the wayside.Īs to other types of barriers, it is likely that there are gender and geographical imbalances within the publishing industry. In order to succeed, you need a certain bloody-mindedness tempered by a critical ability to improve your writing through feedback. My lack of self-belief is an Achilles’ heel I have in common with many writers. My first story is going to be published in 2021 as part of an anthology.
What has your experience of being published been so far? What barriers did you face, if any? The awards aim is to increase the number of writers from under-represented communities (writers of colour and working class writers, LGBTQ+ and disabled writers) being agented and published.
Writing under pictures in word writer professional#
The London Writer’s Award marked another step-up in my writing, exposing me to nine months of sustained professional input that developed both my craft and my industry knowledge. I also won the Faber FAB prize along with fellow London Writer’s Awardee, Nadia Attia. This led me, only a few short months later, to be selected as one of six children’s writers to receive a London Writers Award. Rejection didn’t quite manage to kill my writing because I did that thing I always read about in the pages of SCBWI – I kept going, kept applying. It was not to be, and my YA novel was roundly rejected propelling me into a near-terminal writing slump. Attending Book Bound with Author, Sara Grant, Sara O’Connor, Jasmine Richards and Karen Ball was a game changer for me as I subbed my second completed book, a YA novel, Make Me Beautiful. I don’t think it was even from a child’s POV: I had a lot to learn… As my hunger to improve grew, I started entering SCBWI competitions and I took various City Lit writing for children courses under the tutelage of the wonderful Elizabeth Hawkins, Penny Joelson, Sophia Bennett and Lou Kuenzler. My first musing as my son watched the dryer spin cycle for the umpteenth time was a poem: ‘Ode to the washing machine’. After my son was born, I began scribbling in earnest. I was late to writing but always took great pleasure in reading, words and storytelling. More recently, I started my own not-for-profit reading for pleasure initiative in primary school libraries. Tell us about yourself and how you got involved with Spread the Word?Īn escapee from the City, I meandered through a number of life paths: parent chair of the Akram Khan Dance Company volunteer for Home-Start and Doorstep Library. It empowers writers through enhancing their writing practice. Spread the Word is London’s writer development agency that helps London’s writers make their mark on the page, the screen and beyond.
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