Entries for the 2022 SI Leeds Literary Prize for unpublished fiction by black and Asian women have now closed and we have recently announced the longlist. We have a fantastic range of Prizes and support through our Prize Plus programme for successful entrants, including £4,000 for the winning entry, free access to an Arvon writing course, a free manuscript read by The Literary Consultancy and a range of profile raising events and development support for our shortlisted writers, plus cash prizes for the 2nd and 3rd placed entry and the winner of the SI Leeds Readers Choice award, chosen by readers and members of Soroptimist International.
Entries cost £10 and there were bursaries available for low income writers. Please see separate pages for how to enter, the rules or to read more about our Prize Plus programme of writer support. We have had the most fantastic range of writers enter during the first 10 years of the Prize.
Judges
The judging panel for the 2022 SI Leeds Literary Prize is Lianne Dillsworth, Sharon Duggal, Dr Kadija George Sesay and Samar Hammam.
* Photo By: Sophie Davidson
Lianne Dillsworth has MAs in Creative Writing and Victorian Studies and won a place on the London Library Emerging Writers Programme. She was first runner up in the 2020 SI Leeds Literary Prize for Black and Asian women writers in the UK. Lianne lives in London where she works on growing diversity and inclusion. Her debut novel Theatre of Marvels publishes in April 2022.
Sharon Duggal writes novels and short stories. Her second novel Should We Fall Behind (2020) was shortlisted for the Royal Society of Literature’s 2021 Encore Award, selected for Between the Covers, BBC television’s flagship book show and chosen as a Prima Magazine Book of the Year. Her debut, The Handsworth Times was The Morning Star’s ‘Fiction Book of the Year’ 2016 and selected as the Brighton City Reads choice for 2017. Sharon is currently working on her third novel.
Dr Kadija George Sesay (chair of judges), whose research is on Black British Publishers and Pan-Africanism. She is the Publications Manager for Inscribe/Peepal Tree, publisher of SABLE LitMag and editor of several anthologies. She has published poetry, short stories and essays in anthologies, the latest in New Daughters of Africa and a poetry collection, Irki (Peepal Tree, 2013). She is a co-founder of Mboka Festival in Gambia and founder of an app, ‘AfriPoeTree’. She has received awards and fellowships for her work in the creative arts, her research and has judged several prizes. Watch Kadija talk about her work with the Prize since its inception in 2012, and the role it plays in supporting writers.
Samar Hammam founded Rocking Chair Books Literary Agency in 2013 after six years as a Director at Toby Eady Associates. She works across all adult fiction and non-fiction genres and loves stories that are both original and page-turning. She represents authors like Warsan Shire, Laura Coleman, Nydia Hetherington, and Kay Megalia amongst others. You can find out more here www.rockingchairbooks.com
