2021 Writing Award Shortlist

Jaya Padmanabhan is a journalist and columnist, writing the “In Brown Type” Sunday column for the San Francisco Examiner. Her byline can also be found in PBS Next Avenue, Forbes, Medium (Elemental and The Bold Italic), and India Currents. Jaya's collection of short stories, "Transactions of

I am a first time author and a full time surgeon. Around ten years ago, I had an idea for an alien world accessed through a child's dreams. Bit by bit the idea grew and I needed to get it out of my head and onto paper. Over the last two years I've had the opportunity and the time to realise this and

Amanda Mack currently resides in Savannah, Georgia where she works in a law office to support her cat, Frankie, and provide her with all of the things she never had growing up. She kept most of her writings to herself until the age of fifteen when she became the youngest staff writer for The Ring

Best described as 'a unicorn in pyjamas', I spend most of my days consuming too much coffee, writing contemporary YA, fantasy and murder mysteries and travelling around my home country of Australia. I am lucky enough to be working as a hiking tour guide in the middle of a global pandemic, which is a

I am a former barrister who was published here and in the US 30+ years ago (WH Allen, Grafton and St Martins Press). I turned to full-time writing when I retired in 2016, since when I have had a series of six legal crime thrillers published by Sapere Books, the seventh due out this autumn. They

Rebecca Danzenbaker is a member of SCBWI and IWWG. Her manuscript, The Colors of My Soul has been long-listed for the Chanticleer CYGNUS award. While running her award-winning photography business in Ashburn, VA, she has published articles in Click Magazine and Macaroni Kid. When she's not editing

I'm an author who writes stories about humans, pushed to their limits in fantastical worlds. As a reader, I love books that show LGBTQIA+ characters without centering the plot around that single facet of their identity. I also enjoy stories that can show strong characters without reverting to

I'm a multi-award nominated (and winning) actress and singer from Yorkshire, predominantly working in the West End, but I've always harboured dreams of being a writer. After several other novels in draft stages, this is my first to make it through a full set of edits to potentially go out into the

Ruth Millington is an award-winning writer, passionate adventure world traveller, and creator and host of Ruth Millington's Extreme Holidays Podcast which was rated in the top 10% of podcasts worldwide within two weeks of its launch in September 2021. Read it here: https://bit.ly/39mltgK She has a

Alice Deby is a debut author who loves retro rom-coms and writing all night. A former teacher and magazine editor, she now writes full-time, with an ambition to deliver many books for many readers. In 2021, she was Highly Commended in the Page Turner Awards, and a prize winner in the Romance Writers

Louise writes novels, short stories and flash fiction, which have won prizes, placed on shortlists, and have been read out on BBC radio. Her short fiction has appeared in more than twenty print anthologies and magazines. Some of these are also online, links to which can be found on her website. She

Having retired from teaching, I have spent much of my spare time writing, learning from my mistakes and discovering how much I enjoy the writing process, despite its many frustrations. I have been successful in several competitions, mainly in writing Flash Fiction, and my play, "So Quick", was

Claire is an author of psychological thrillers, with a primary focus on two opposing forces of nature ― darkness and light. Formerly in hotel and catering, and a law enforcement reporter, she loves nothing more than to craft stories about ordinary people in terrifying situations. Her novels owe much