Press & Media

An exciting new events and workshop schedule is coming to The Novelry in 2026. Alongside our flagship sessions, such as Story Clinic, Golden Hour, and our much-loved guest events, our writers will enjoy incredible masterclasses, writing coach conversations on craft techniques, genre clubs, an expanded editorial program, and even more panel events. We’d love to see you there!

The Novelry is proud to welcome two new members to the team: editor Navah Wolfe and writing coach Sarah Turner!‍

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Navah is a two-time Hugo Award-winning editor and finalist for the Locus Award for best editor and has worked with authors including Catherynne M. Valente, Amal El-Mohtar, Max Gladstone, Neal Shusterman, Benjamin Alire Sáenz, Margaret Peterson Haddix, and Katherine Rundell. Navah will be working with writers in the SFF, horror, speculative fiction, YA, and middle-grade genres.‍

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Sarah is the multiple Sunday Times bestselling author of Up Lit, witty contemporary fiction, and parenting diaries. She has written three non-fiction parenting books inspired by her popular blog, The Unmumsy Mum, and two fiction novels, with her debut, Stepping Up, becoming a Richard and Judy Book Club pick. Sarah is coaching writers in the contemporary and women’s fiction genres, as well as Up Lit and memoir.

We are thrilled to share that Katalina Watt is joining The Novelry as a writing coach specializing in gothic, horror, and speculative fiction. Katalina is a Royal Society of Literature Awardee, UNESCO Writer in Residence, and Hugo Award finalist with a decade of experience in the book industry. Their debut epic fantasy novel, Saltswept, is forthcoming from Hodderscape in 2026, with the sequel to follow in 2027. Welcome, Katalina!

Please join us in congratulating Janice Okoh—who was introduced to her agent at Madeleine Milburn Literary Agency by The Novelry—on her book deal with Penguin Random House (U.S.) and HarperCollins (U.K.) for her debut novel, Girl Number Eight. And congratulations to Ali Jacoby, who signed with agent Sophie Cudd at The Book Group with her debut romance, Help is On The Way.

The public vote has been counted and the judges have made their final decision. Head to our blog for all the details.

Graduates of The Novelry had much to celebrate in September! In publishing news, Lynn Tavernier’s debut novel, The Lost Hours, was published by Crooked Lane Books, and TM Fritz signed a book deal with independent, Virginia-based Brandylane Publishers for her debut novel, Once Upon a Midnight Shift. And there were literary agent signings! Theo Clarke signed with Ella Kahn at DKW Literary Agency, Michael Lawson signed with Mia Dakin at Greene & Heaton for his debut novel, The Coast is Queer, and Ali Jacoby signed with Sophie Cudd at The Book Group for her debut novel, Help Is On The Way. Congratulations to you all!

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What started as a wild idea to launch the world’s largest prize for new writers and break down barriers to the publishing industry turned into a history-making literary event with over 22,500 entries for the $100,000 prize.

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Thank you to everyone who entered, believed in themselves, and took that first step to making their writing dreams come true. Now, after much careful deliberation, we are excited to share the eight shortlisted entries.

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The public vote is open until October 5 at midnight EST. Read the shortlist here, choose your favorite, and help guide our judges in picking a winner!

Discover books by our author coaches in stores and on screen across September! Bea Fitzgerald (Girl, Goddess, Queen) and Ella McLeod (The Map That Led to You) published their novels Stateside, L.R. Lam published Pantomime (L’s version) in the U.K., and the TV adaptation of Lesley Kara’s book The Rumor premiered on Channel 5 in the U.K.! Congratulations to all.

Graduates of The Novelry had a lot to celebrate in August! Emma Nanami Strenner’s My Other Heart (Penguin Random House) was a Read With Jenna pick on The Today Show, Allie Gardner signed with the Jane Rotrosen Agency, John Van Rys signed a book deal for his debut Milksop (Chicken House Press), and Anna Brook-Mitchell revealed the cover for Motherfaker (Pan Macmillan). Congratulations to you all!

Join us for The Big Write and finish a complete draft of your novel by the holidays! Launching Monday, September 8, with a live kickoff session in our online community featuring our famous author coaches—who’ll be taking the challenge too. This is where we all gather at the starting line—limbering up together for The Ninety Day Novel Class. This isn’t just your challenge. It’s our challenge. We’re in it with you. Learn more about The Big Write on our blog.

We can now reveal that over 22,000 writers took a chance on themselves and entered their first three pages for The Next Big Story prize. To those writers, we say: Bravo! They are part of The 22K Club—writers who dared to begin. To find out what happens next, keep an eye on our dedicated prize page—the shortlist announcement will be released on September 28.

July was a busy month for writer success stories at The Novelry! Joss Wyatt signed with The Soho Agency, and we saw debut publications from Nikki Allen with The Hideaway (Pan Macmillan), Shylashri Shankar with Blood Caste (Canelo), and Emma Nanami Strenner with My Other Heart (Penguin Random House, U.K.). Plus, Rosie Storey and Mona Tewari revealed the covers for their own debut novels. Congratulations to all!

Thank you to all the writers who submitted their work to The Next Big Story Prize. We’re delighted to have received so many powerful stories from around the world! Here’s what happens next...

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Key Dates:

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• Shortlist Notifications: Between Sunday, September 21 and Sunday, September 28, 2025
• Public Vote: Sunday, September 28 to Sunday, October 5, 2025
• Winner Announcement: Sunday, October 12, 2025

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Good luck to everyone who entered!

With a feature on our founder, Louise Dean, and The Next Big Story in Forbes magazine, and coverage in Book Riot, interest in the prize has been at an all-time high during its final month! Writers from dozens of countries are submitting their work in droves for The Next Big Story, which closes July 31 at midnight EST. On target for over 15,000 submissions, The Next Big Story prize has soared into the number-one spot of the world’s largest judged fiction contests.

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Founder, Louise Dean, says: ‘We’re thrilled and delighted not only at the number of submissions but at the quality of the entries. Our team of bestselling and award-winning coaches are looking forward to reading each and every one. We hope entering the prize helped you start a new story—or fall back in love with the one you’ve already begun. Whether or not you make the shortlist, taking a step forward in your writing journey is something to be proud of—and we salute you.’

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Key dates—what happens next:

• Entry Deadline: Thursday, July 31, 2025 at 12.00am ET (New York time)
• Shortlist Notifications: Between Sunday, September 21 and Sunday, September 28, 2025
• Public Vote: Sunday, September 28 to Sunday, October 5, 2025
• Winner Announcement: Sunday, October 12, 2025

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We’ll email the eight shortlisted writers directly between September 21 and 28. Please check your spam or promotions folders for messages from thenovelry.com. If shortlisted, we’ll arrange a short Zoom call to confirm your identity. The shortlisted entries will be published anonymously on our website. Public voting will run for one week. The winning story will be revealed on our website and blog.

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GOOD LUCK!

With just two weeks to go until submissions close for The Next Big Story, the Washington Post Book Club shares: ‘you might win a full year of mentorship and $100,000. (That’s not a misprint!),’ while a Publishers Weekly interview with our founder, Louise Dean, reminded readers that the prize is ‘aimed at reaching writers outside traditional publishing circles.’ There is still time to submit—don’t miss your chance!

One month to go! Entries for The Next Big Story prize are open until July 31, 2025, with one winner receiving a life-changing $100,000 prize and a full year of expert guidance to turn their story idea into a published novel. Our founder Louise Dean appeared on Magic Classical radio in the U.K. today to talk about the competition and encourage budding writers to enter. Good luck! Louise says: ‘We are delighted with the entries we have received for The Next Big Story and we’re looking forward to reading more! We’re looking for an exciting storytelling voice, and people who have never considered writing before should absolutely give it a shot, because the more natural and unpracticed the voice, the better! Our advice would be to relax and tell the story as if you’re speaking to friends, and leave out the purple prose and adverbs. We share tips at our blog on how to come up with an idea and write a great entry.’

Congratulations to The Novelry graduates on their June successes! Holly Race hit the Sunday Times bestseller list at number 7 with the publication of Six Wild Crowns (Hachette), Amanda Weisheit was signed by The Book Group, Sidra Ansari signed with literary agent Hannah Sheppard, Susie Bower published The Invisibles (Pushkin Children’s Press), and Penelope Slocombe’s novel Sunbirds published in paperback (Hachette). We are thrilled for you all!

Booker Prize-winning author of Life of Pi and a judge for The Next Big Story, Yann Martel, gave us an exclusive interview on the keys to storytelling, kicking off a special podcast mini-series from the expert team at The Novelry. Plus, founder Louise Dean and The Next Big Story featured in Woman&Home magazine, praised as an initiative in acknowledgment that publishing a book is ‘something that many women may dream of, but don’t feel able to break into while juggling careers, caring responsibilities, and everyday life.’

It’s been an exciting month for the launch of The Next Big Story prize. From BBC radio to the pages of People magazine, Us Weekly, the Guardian, and The Times—The Next Big Story is being heralded as the next big thing! BookBrunch writes: ‘Louise Dean is not a woman who hangs about. The Betty Trask Prize-winner and Booker long-listed author started the enormously successful The Novelry online fiction-writing school in 2017, when she realised that writing could be a collegiate process... Dean’s passion is evident—you cannot help but hope she finds a winner worthy of the Prize’s avowed intent. Moreover, The Novelry itself is the precise opposite of gatekeeping publishing’s secrets. Instead, it throws open the doors and ushers you inside, sits you down in the glow of the creative fire.’ People magazine calls The Novelry ‘the world’s top-rated online creative writing school’ and heralds The Next Big Story as ‘a new contest [that] will award one debut writer the opportunity of a lifetime.’ Us Weekly interviews Bridgerton author and The Next Big Story judge, Julia Quinn, who calls the contest ‘innovative’ and ‘exciting!’ and declares, ‘Let’s see what somebody can do in three pages.’

The Novelry launches The Next Big Story prize—a contest designed to discover fresh literary talent. All entrants need is the idea for a story and the first three pages of what could be a novel, for the chance to win a grand prize of $100,000. The judging panel includes movers and shakers from the book world, including Emma Roberts, Tayari Jones, Zibby Owens, Zosia Mamet, Brady Lockerby, Yann Martel, Carley Fortune, Jackie Oshry, and Kimmy Nwokorie. They’ll be looking for the next big story. Could it be yours? Good luck to all!

This April sees the publication of the books of six of our graduate success stories. Congratulations to you all!

The Novelry has launched a special VIP club for our published authors, giving them our continued support with PR opportunities and promotions to build their author brand platform.

We are excited to announce some bold new additions to our trusted literary agencies, to whom we submit our graduates’ manuscripts when they’re in tip-top shape and deal-ready! We look forward to working with Levine Greenberg Rostan, Frances Goldin Literary Agency, Stuart Krichevsky Literary Agency, BookEnds Literary Agency, The Friedrich Agency, and Folio Literary Management. See our complete roster below!