From Manuscript to Spotlight: The Book Edit Prize Shortlist Final Week

Our shortlist spotlight series concludes with Himmi Kari and Pip Penman, two compelling voices from 2024's Writers’ Prize shortlist.

Himmi Kari

Himmi is a GP, freelance writer and poet living in London. Greatly influenced by her decade-long medical career, Himmi writes about the challenges in the NHS and the potential for improvement through public health and medical technology. She is also a communication skills tutor at Imperial Medical School and a TEDxNHS speaker coach.

Her works have been published and produced. Most recently, her short play about women’s health, ‘The Phantom Marshmallow,’ was performed at the Marylebone Theatre in November 2024.

Crash Test Doctors

Crash Test Doctors follows three newly qualified doctors as they navigate their rollercoaster first year at the notorious ‘Misery Core’ hospital. Confronted daily with the sad, sick, and dying, they must adapt quickly to the harsh realities of medicine and fight to stay compassionate in the chaos. Can they maintain their humanity or will the relentless pressures consume them?

Pip Penman

Pip Penman is a Scottish writer from Kirkcaldy, Fife, living in New York City. She is co-founder of Women in Soccer, a professional network that advocates for women and underrepresented individuals in the soccer industry. As head of content, Pip writes Women in Soccer’s weekly newsletter with a readership of over 10,000. A Fulbright scholar, Pip completed a master’s degree at New York University. She also has a first-class degree in English Literature and History from the University of Edinburgh.

Ah Coudnae Tell

Escaping a traumatic past, identical twins Scarlet and Kirsty McLeod navigate young adulthood in Edinburgh. Struggling with her past, Scarlet spirals into alcohol-induced scandals that are shared online. Kirsty grapples with Scarlet’s destruction and a secret queer love that pulls her from her role as caretaker.

Set in 2014 and told through alternating narration, we see how technology affects their lives, which, like our own, are under constant digital surveillance.

The sisters’ loyalties are tested after Scarlet's actions lead to a devastating crime. When video footage and eyewitness accounts cannot determine who the responsible twin is, the line between reality and perception blurs.

Thank you for joining us in our series celebrating the depth of talent across our shortlist. Keep following us for news of next year's prize and more opportunities for emerging writers.

From Manuscript to Spotlight: Meet our Book Edit Prize Shortlist Week 3

We're excited to share our next two shortlisted writers, Hannah Foster and David Gill, whose work stood out among this year's prize submissions.

As with our spotlights over the past two years, we continue to champion all our shortlisted writers, knowing how vital visibility can be for emerging voices.

Hannah Foster

Hannah is from St Andrews, where she learned to love folklore and the sea. She has degrees in Social Anthropology and Gender, Policy and Inequalities, and enjoys examining society and humanity in her writing. She was diagnosed with ME in 2019 and now lives on the Isle of Tiree. She won The Octopus Scheme scholarship to work with The Novelry in 2023 on The Gorse in the Gloaming, her first novel.

You can keep up with her on Instagram @hannahfmuses

 The Gorse in the Gloaming

Tiree, 1795 – On a remote island where superstition reigns, the discovery of a mermaid’s corpse will irrevocably alter the paths of the girls who find it: Kate in life, and Effie in death. Inspired by a real letter concerning the exhumation of a mermaid on Tiree, The Gorse in the Gloaming explores the nature of belief and belonging in the spectacular setting of the Hebrides. For readers who loved Burial Rites, Folk and The Essex Serpent.

David Gill

David is from a working class, mixed race family in Cardiff – his grandfather was black. He now lives in Hackney, London. It has gentrified around him. He is old. He has had stories published by the London Magazine, Interzone, Decongested and read at Liars League.

After

Brexit with guns. And blindness.

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From Manuscript to Spotlight: Meet our Book Edit Shortlisted Writers Week 2

We're delighted to continue our shortlist spotlight this week with Alexis Coward and Nancy Edwards, two writers who brought distinct and compelling voices to this year's prize.

Alexis Coward

Alexis Coward is a writer and performer based in Berkshire. Her writing focuses on family, place as a character, and the environment, all subjects she is very passionate about. She has recently graduated with a MA in Creative Writing from Oxford Brookes. She strongly believes in the calm that comes through creative escape. When not writing, Alexis can be found getting lost on walks with her dog.

Blue Sky, Red Dust

Blue Sky, Red Dust is a novel set in rural 1920s South Australia. Three generations of a farming family have survived migration, war, and the unforgiving land, until daughter Rose discovers past lies and a secret grief that has the power to change all their lives forever.

Contact Alexis: alexis.coward@gmail.com

Nancy Edwards

Nancy Edwards is a London-based writer whose work spans fiction, script and poetry, and focuses on queer feminine experiences. She is currently studying Writing for Performance at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, where she is developing her voice as a writer through collaborative and independent works. She wrote and co-produced her debut play, Am I Pretty When I Cry? with Chapter Theatre Company, which played for three nights at The Hope Theatre in 2024.

Cats Who Smoke

Grace and Liv have been next door neighbours since childhood, whiling away summers in their front gardens, dreaming of an escape from their small town on the South coast of England. One summer, Grace gets a job at a recently renovated pub, and when Liv starts an unlikely and intense relationship with a pub regular, she feels a deep jealousy which forces her to confront the truth about her relationship to Liv.

Contact Nancy: nancyedwards2110@gmail.com

We hope you enjoyed this week’s readings as much as we did! Next week we will showcase two more from our fabulous shortlist.

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From Manuscript to Spotlight: Meet Our Book Edit Prize Shortlist

We’re excited to begin 2025 by spotlighting our Book Edit Writers' Prize shortlisted writers.

Over the coming weeks, we'll be introducing you to these writers, and sharing exclusive readings from their shortlisted entries. Each voice brings something fresh to the page – we can't wait for you to discover them.

First up, we have Emma Conally-Barklem and Christine Cordon.

Emma Conally-Barklem

Emma Conally-Barklem is an author, poet and yoga teacher based in Yorkshire. In 2023, she was New Northern Poet for Ilkley Literature Festival. Her collection The Ridings was curated into an exhibition in her hometown, Bradford. Hymns from the Sisters was written after a residency at the Bronte Parsonage Museum. Emma won the Black in White Poetry Prize 2024. She is also a core poet for the BBC’s Contains Strong Language Poetry Festival 2025. Yoga Homicide is her first novel.

Yoga Homicide

Three queer modem women, one ancient spiritual practice, who holds the knife? Magz is a biracial yoga newbie keen to transform her life. Skye, her yoga teacher, seems to have it all but the cracks are starting to show. Amie, former high-school It girl, is practising yoga for all the wrong reasons. Spiritual when wearing the right brands, Yoga Homicide is pacy, sexy and ultimately deadly. In a world where you can be anything, be ruthless.

Contact Emma:

Email: emmaliveyoga@gmail.com 

Instagram @emmaliveyoga

Christine Cordon

Christine Cordon grew up on a trading estate in Gateshead and was the first in her family to go to university; reading law at Balliol College, Oxford. She is a former corporate and finance lawyer and recent graduate of the Curtis Brown Creative novel-writing school. Sycamore is her first novel.

Sycamore

Sycamore is a literary novel set in London in the early noughties. Penny, a young lawyer desperate to gain entry to the privileged world of the one-percenters, discovers the dangerous cost to female success. When her Cinderella dream turns sour, Penny implodes, just like the beloved sister she abandoned to the unemployed council estate where they grew up. A family tragedy and the credit crisis should provide the impetus Penny needs to walk away, but will she?

Contact Christine:

Email: Christinelcordon@gmail.com

We hope you enjoyed listening to these talented writers as much as we did! Next week, we’ll hear from two more.

If you’d like to find out more about how we help writers, do get in touch at info@thebookedit.co.uk, or browse our website for more information on our services. And hit the button below if you want to be informed about the 2025 Writers’ Prize.

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