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.

Spotlight on 2023’s Book Edit Writers’ Prize Shortlisted Novelists

Continuing our series of spotlights on 2023’s Book Edit Writers’ Prize shortlist, this week we hear from Jenni Brooks and Ramya Julian.

Jenni Brooks' short fiction and poetry has been published in The Paul Cave Prize for Literature Anthology and Streetcake Magazine. Her spoken-word film 'Women and Autism', won the Best Professional Short Film, in the National Autistic Society’s Autism Uncut Awards, hosted at BAFTA. She is currently working on her first short story collection, Autism-Friendly Mom Jeans for Adult Women and a novel, Teggies.

Contact: brooksjenni434@gmail.com

Teggies is a novel about 12-year-old Keziah, who tells the story of how she became sex-trafficked to a necrophiliac client she is waiting for. The client is prepared to pay Keziah’s pimp £100,000 to rape and kill her. Keziah, however, has a plan to escape. She has stored a mobile in her vagina, and has been instructed by fellow victim, Lucia, to call for help, once he is on the way. 

Author, illustrator, and dentist, Ramya Julian wrote her first novel when she was ten. She says it was very well-received, though it was read only by her brother. When she’s not guilt-tripping her daughters into good behaviour, she can be found devouring books, crafting poems, and chuckling at her own witticisms. She grew up in India and now lives in London. She has experienced so much joy through the artistry of many creators, that she aspires to share at least some of it through her writing. Read more at www.ramyajulian.com

Malathi

Malathi, a twenty-year-old aspiring physicist, agrees to an arranged marriage with Prasad. However, struggling academically and facing discord with Prasad while grappling with the complexities of a large family, she flees. Malathi finds solace in building the school in her grandmother’s village, Malliyoor, until tragedy strikes. However, Prasad and his sister, initially at odds, join forces with her. Together, they create the change required in this tale of family, growth, and love.

Congratulations, Jenni and Ramya! We hope you enjoyed their readings as much as we did.

Next week, we’ll hear from more of our shortlisted writers so watch this space!

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Author Spotlight: Rebecca Ley

With just over a week left until The Book Edit Writers’ Prize deadline, we wanted to share the profiles of some of the brilliant authors The Book Edit has supported in the past to inspire submissions to the competition. Last time we looked at the phenomenal Hannah Begbie, prize-winning novelist of Mother (2018) and Blurred Lines (2020) both published by Harper Collins. Today we’re looking at the work of Rebecca Ley, whose debut novel, For When I’m Gone, came out with Orion in September 2020.

Rebecca Ley is a journalist and author who worked with The Book Edit on a full developmental edit of her debut, For When I’m Gone (Orion, 2020). With the feedback she received, Rebecca was able to redraft the book, secure an agent and within a few months she had sold the book to Orion. She says of the experience: ‘I found using The Book Edit brilliant. It was invaluable to have an experienced editor look at my work before trying to find an agent. The suggestions she made were extremely perceptive and useful in the redrafting process.’ 

For When I’m Gone is narrated by a young mother, Sylvia, dying of breast cancer. The novel is a guidebook, written to her husband, about their family life with a secret at its heart. Though the subject matter is dark, the novel is uplifting and masterful in its exploration of the minutiae of daily parenting. It’s a novel that stays with you long after reading. 

 

Rebecca is currently working on her second novel for Orion, due out next year. She also ghost-wrote a memoir, Hope Not Fear, for the inspirational Hassan Akkad, a Syrian refugee and Bafta-winning filmmaker who volunteered to work as a hospital cleaner when the pandemic hit and then persuaded Boris Johnson to extend the bereavement scheme to cleaners, porters and healthcare assistants. 

You can read more about Rebecca Ley and her writing process in the interview she did for The Book Edit where she gives advice to new writers and talks further about her process and the themes of her work. Click here for that interview in which she also explores ghosting as a metaphor for motherhood and being absent from the self.

Or take a leaf out of Rebecca Ley’s book and send your work to The Book Edit by submitting to The Book Edit Writers’ Prize. Aimed at supporting talented writers who might not otherwise have access to the industry, the prize is open to unpublished novelists from communities and backgrounds currently underrepresented in British publishing. You can see the full competition rules and details here. We can’t wait to see who will be next to join our list of writers whose work we have supported and continue to champion. The deadline for submissions is 22nd October 2021.

 
 
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