New York, New Stories: Celebrating Our Writers in the City 

Last week, Jericho Writers headed to New York City for one of the highlights of our year: our annual Ultimate Novel Writing Programme celebration. Bringing together our wonderful students, alums, literary agents, publishing professionals, and several of our Premium Members, we were proud to be able to showcase the culmination of months, and in many cases years, of hard work, persistence and creativity from our students (with several walking away with agent interest by the end of the evening!) 

The celebrations began the day before when we met up with our New York based Premium Members in Brooklyn. It was wonderful to finally meet so many in person, put faces to familiar names (including a strange happenstance that all the men in attendance were called Michael – it certainly made it easier to remember everyone’s names!) and hear how everyone was progressing with their novels. The conversations were a reminder of the incredible creativity within our community and we learnt more about the many exciting projects our members currently have in the works!  

The following day, our students came together again for a relaxed brunch in Manhattan, hosted for our 2025/26 Ultimate Novel Writing Programme cohort, where we were also delighted to welcome Soumeya Roberts of HG Literary, who generously offered her time to meet and talk with our students about the publishing industry and answer their questions. 

We then headed over to Poets House in Lower Manhattan for our Drinks Reception and Reading. Here we were delighted to welcome literary agents Tyler Monson of Sterling Lord Literistic, Sophia Kim of Trident Media Group, Giuliana Vasile and Chloe Knapp of Dunow, Carlson & Lerner Literary Agency, and René J. Kooiker of Dystel, Goderich & Bourret.  

The event kicked off with a special reading from tutor Mateo Askaripour to warm up the crowd, from his upcoming novel Pure Ox (which is excellent, we have to say, so make sure to pre-order your copy now!) 

It was then our students’ turn: reading from excerpts spanning historical fiction, crime, fantasy, memoir and contemporary fiction, each offering a glimpse into the novels they have spent the past year developing and refining for the agents in attendance, and showcasing the breadth of talent and promise across the programme.  

It’s no secret that it’s terrifying to speak aloud, yet alone share your writing with a room of other writers and agents (!), however every speaker was fantastic at the podium and read brilliantly, and everyone was so supportive of one another.  We were so proud of all our students, not only for having the courage to put their work out into the world (and for many, walking away with a full manuscript request or two from an agent!) but for the support and community they fostered with one another – which is what Jericho Writers is all about.  

We came away incredibly inspired by the talent, determination and generosity of our writers, and immensely proud of everyone who took part. Whether reading from the stage, networking over a glass of wine or cheering on fellow authors from the audience, every attendee contributed to making the event such a memorable occasion. 

A huge thank you to everyone who joined us in New York, to the agents and publishing professionals who generously supported the event, and to Poets House for hosting us. Most of all, congratulations to our writers. We cannot wait to see where your stories take you next. ✨ 

Could this be you next year? To find out more about the Ultimate Novel Writing Programme., visit the web page or fill in this form and we’ll send the brochure straight to your inbox.