How can a writing competition launch a career?

Guest speakers Wiz Wharton, Zahirra Dayal and Marvellous Michael Anson joined us to discuss how writing competitions have helped launch their careers.

To celebrate our First 500 Novel Competition (formerly Friday Night Live Online), we invited three excellent writers who were longlisted, shortlisted or won the competition.

Full of insight, top tips for making your entry stand out and more, this free online event replay is perfect for any writer hoping to submit their work to competitions or prizes.

You can catch up now, using the replay link here.

Wiz Wharton

Wiz Wharton is an author of Chinese-European heritage and a prize-winning graduate of the National Film and Television School. Her debut novel, Ghost Girl, Banana was published in May 2023 by Hodder and Stoughton in the UK and Harper Via in the US, with foreign translations to follow. The adaptation rights to the novel were sold to the UK arm of French super-indie Federation Studios following a three-way auction, with Wharton on board as screenwriter and executive producer. Early versions of the novel were long-listed for FNL and the Grindstone Literary Prize. She was a finalist in the DHA Open Writers Week Initiative and the winner of the 2021 Jericho Writers Bursary.

She is represented by Claire Wilson at RCW (books) and Emily Hayward-Whitlock (screen).

Find Wiz on Twitter: @chomsky1

Check out Wiz’s books

Zahirra Dayal

Zahirra is a Zimbabwean-born writer who lives in London. She is currently working on her debut novel set in post-independence Zimbabwe and is represented by Katie Fulford at Bell Lomax Moreton. She is the winner of the FNL 2021, shortlisted for the Owned Voices Novel Award and longlisted for the Deborah Rogers Writers Award and Mslexia Novel 2021.

Find Zahirra on Twitter: @zahirraD

Explore Zahirra’s website

Marvellous Michael Anson

Marvellous Michael Anson, an Amazon best-selling author of the suspense thriller, His Dark Reflection. She is devoted to giving her readers fast-paced, high-stakes stories that explore the multi-faceted human condition.

Marve is currently working on her fantasy debut, FIRSTBORN OF THE SUN and is represented by Kesia Lupo, THe Bindery Agency. Her manuscript was shortlisted for the 2022 Jericho Writers Friday Night Live Competition and the 2022 Kit De Waal Bursary, was longlisted for the 2023 REVPIT competition, won the 2023 Jericho Writers’ Self Edit Course Bursary and was shortlisted for the 2023 Future Worlds Prize for Fantasy & Science Fiction Writers of Colour.

Find Marve on Twitter: @justmarvebooks

Check out Marve’s books

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Free event: Beyond the First 500 Competition

How can a writing competition launch a career?

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Free event: Beyond the First 500 Competition

How can a writing competition launch a career?

Your Event Speakers

Bio

Connect with Wiz

Bio

Connect with Zahirra

Bio

Connect with Marve

ULTIMATE NOVEL WRITING COURSE

UNWC success story

C.A. Lupton: The Ultimate Novel Writing Course and Beyond

UNWC success