2023 Writing Award Longlist

I have a veterinary degree and PhD from Cambridge, and spent twenty years in Kenya researching a disease of cattle and wildlife which no one outside Africa has ever heard of. I travelled throughout the region and worked closely with international and local scientists as well as the diplomatic

I am a graduate of the Curtis Brown Creative Novel-Writing Course, winner of the 2021 Blue Pencil Agency Pitch Prize and have been long listed for Mslexia Novel Writing competitions. The Hollow Mountain is my third novel. I trained as a pharmacist, ultimately heading up a department supporting

I recently completed a 20-year career in public health. Prior to that, my life varied from a period spent in the military as a United Nations Peacekeeper in the Middle East to employment as a refugee relief worker in a camp for Bosnian Muslims in Croatia. To date, excerpts from my novel, A Cypress

Peter Trivelas was First Runner-up for the 2022 Darron L. Wright Writing Award. His short stories have appeared in Deadly Writer’s Patrol, Blood & Bourbon, Thema Literary Journal, Line of Advance and other publications. In 2021 his fiction was read in a WordTheatre worldwide presentation honoring

I'm a proud native of Suffolk, but now live in Wiltshire, divorced with two adult sons, in a small house with a garden I've made from scratch, and two loving, beautiful, mischievous and entertaining Burmese kittens. I've been writing since I was a small child, and began my first published book at

When I'm not writing, I work as a Sonographer. It was a great career to work in while I finished college with a degree in photography. My goal was to get my Master's degree in Bio-communication and become a Medical Illustrator. I was lucky enough to find a job right out of college as a Medical

Drew Louis was born and raised in Albany, NY - the setting for his debut novel DRAINPIPE DREAMS. He later received his BA from SUNY Plattsburgh (NY) and his MFA from American University in Washington DC. Drew now lives in Albuquerque, NM with his wife and two children and works as a Best Boy Rigging

I’ve dabbled in writing of all sorts: news articles for the national edition of the Deseret News, poetry published in small literary journals, contest-winning short stories, and a peer-reviewed science article. I have yet to publish a novel, however. With my B.S. in Physics, my fantasy has a sci-fi

Masha Shukovich (she/they) is a writer, poet, storyteller, folklorist, teacher, independent scholar, and intuitive chef with ancestry and indigenous roots in the Balkans; the Mediterranean; and West, Central, and Northeast Asia (Siberia). She is a mother, demigirl, neurodivergent person, practical

I'm a storyteller who didn't really find my writing voice until later in life. My novels are "what if" explorations, always told in first person and present tense, allowing the reader to experience the story as I imagine I would.

Alon Lankri is an author of genre fiction, with a focus on fantasy and satire. He has spent way too many years in academia, amassing degrees in writing, economics, management, and teaching. When he isn’t imagining new worlds, Alon dances salsa with his wife, children, and labrador and occasionally

Riv Begun is a writer from Atlanta, Georgia. She combines her love of history, travel and family stories to create multigenerational tales inspired by her own family's past. She is a POSSE Foundation alumni and graduated from Boston University with a BFA in screenwriting. She has short stories in

I am a self-employed GP, living and working by the sea in Malta. My first book, Strangers I’ll Never Forget, a collection of non-fiction stories, was published in Malta by Ede Books in 2021, and on Amazon KDP. In 2021/22 I wrote my first novel, as part of the year-long 'Ultimate Novel Writing Course

I grew up in Manchester, the daughter of a botanist and a South African Indian immigrant who became a mental health social worker. I spent much of my childhood in the Herbarium of Manchester Museum, where my father worked and on which the Herbarium in The Blue Poppy is based. I travelled widely with

Diane Corso is a San Francisco Bay Area blogger at The Corso Papers, where she enjoys writing about bad (and good!) horror films. Her latest novel, Broken Things, placed second in the Horror/Paranormal category of the Pacific Northwest Writers Association Contest for 2023. She recently guested on

Megan Catana (formerly Schikora) lives in the US. Her work won third place in prose in the 2020 New South Writing Contest and was nominated by Flash Fiction Magazine for the 2019 Pushcart Prize: Best of the Small Presses. Her short fiction and creative nonfiction can also be found in The Rumpus, The

I have been awarded second place in the final judging of Hastings Litfest, (a submission from a previous crime thriller), and ‘Sins of the Fathers’ reached a longlist of 20 in the Bridport Prize. (1629 entries). It also achieved a Highly Commended 4th place in the Yeovil Novel Prize, the longlist of

I am an author, playwright, and freelance writer loving life in the American Southwest. Surviving and fleeing my upbringing in the Chicago area under the tutelage of white supremacist parents, I wandered until I found my true home here, inspired by the mystical landscapes, unique cultural history

Chris Berg Chris Berg was born in the '50s in Gridley, California to a state game warden and his Army nurse, wife. Except for a short stint living in New York City, he's lived on the left coast all his life. After graduating with his B.S. from San Jose State University he made his way to his true

Hi! I'm Nurse Jenn. A wife, mother, ER nurse and author. After over 14 years in the emergency room, I've learned a thing or two, usually that thing is you have no idea what's going to walk through the door next. My debut novel, Nursing Intuition: How to Trust Your Gut, is a mix of Eastern meet

I'm a writer, actor, and story coach from Edmonton, Canada. After working for years in a technical field, the company I worked for went under. Seeing it as an opportunity rather than a drawback, I decided to follow my passion of writing and film fulltime. With numerous produced screenplays and

Alida Winternheimer is an award-winning writer, editor, and teacher. The creator of the Story Works Round Table podcast, the Story Works Fiction online school of creative writing, and developmental editor and writing coach at Word Essential, she has published two craft books, and multiple stories

I grew up in Great Britain on the borders of Wales in a Tudor house on the banks of the River Wye. As LP Fergusson I write serious historical fiction dealing with the Second World War and the War of Spanish Succession. As Loraine Fergusson I write cozy mysteries inspired by my time working in one of

I am a senior acquiring editor of middle grade and young adult fiction for Jolly Fish Press and Flux, the author of several children’s nonfiction books, a 2019 Pitch Wars mentee, and a graduate of the MFA in Creative Writing program at Antioch University L.A.

Ankit Gupta is a young passionate Author and a TEDx speaker based in London, United Kingdom. He is a Certified Financial Specialist, accredited by Financial Planning Standards Board, USA, currently recognized globally in 27 countries. Ankit is extremely passionate about Personal Finance and that is

The genre I prefer to write is erotic romance, but I have written thrillers and sci-fi fantasy novels under a different pseudonym. My stories are always about the human connection and how precious that can be, no matter the genre. Being loved, truly loved, is what we all hope for. Between everyday

Len Cobb is an emerging author and recovering structural engineer. He has completed one novel and is polishing his second. Len lives in Puerto Rico with his wife, two dogs, and three paddleboards. When not writing or stuck in his day job, he can be found surfing small waves or bicycling. He is not

OWEN LEVY is the author of two well-received novels, the seminal A Brother’s Touch, set in the early days of the Stonewall liberation movement, and Goodbye Heiko Goodbye Berlin plays out in the early turbulent days after the Fall of the Berlin Wall and move toward German Reunification. A Fellow of

Jilly Carrell has been an army wife for the past 18 years, and her husband’s six Afghan tours with the British Army were the inspiration for her submission. Following his death, two years ago, she took a year long sabbatical to spend time with her young daughters and to complete an MA in Creative

Gustav Temple has been editor of The Chap, a British men's style magazine, for 20 years. This career has allowed him to develop strong writing and editing skills within journalism, while he has also been busy writing fiction in his spare time. As well as Hotel Quarantine, his submission to The Page

Darrell Bowling, after a career in corporate aviation spanning fifty-five years, I now follow my favorite pastime, storytelling. With a thirty-year history as a pilot, part-time dealer, and pit boss for Nevada casinos, my background lends me to a life most only dream of. An old Chinese proverb reads

Ben Alvord has been writing across many different mediums since he was a kid. He's worked in screenwriting, slam poetry, live storytelling, sketch comedy and his original love, fiction. Ben lives in the Hudson Valley of New York with his wife and pitbull mix. When he's not writing, he's working his