What the Festival of Writing can do: real stories from 2025 Friday Night Live finalists

Ever read the first few lines of a story and just had to keep going? That’s exactly what the Friday Night Live (on a Saturday) competition is all about with the London Festival of Writing, but it’s also about so much more. For example, last year’s winner Kate Emilie kindly put together a guest article for us sharing her experience of the festival, competition and how it helped her land a two-book deal.

Don’t just take it from us. Let’s hear from some of last year’s finalists. They’ll tell you what the festival was like, how they found community and how those first few hundred words changed their writing game.

Tori Howe, 2025 Friday Night Live finalist

The London Festival of Writing was an incredible experience for me personally. I decided I had nothing to lose by entering the Friday Night Live (FNL) competition not expecting to get selected so when the email landed in my inbox telling me I was a finalist I was shocked & delighted.

I was nervous to read on stage, but I want to continue to grow as a writer and set an example to my children to ‘feel the fear and do it anyway’ in life. It was the first time I’d shared my romantic comedy material publicly, to hear laughter from the audience felt very gratifying and receiving live feedback from the judges was invaluable. 

At the festival I also had a One-to-One booked with an agent who gave me fantastic advice and encouragement. I left our meeting with my first full manuscript request and a renewed sense of focus on finishing the final third of my first draft. 

When I began querying a few months later I was fortunate to receive five offers of representation and have signed with my lovely agent (Sarah Brooks at Darley Anderson). 

I couldn’t have predicted any of this before the festival. The Jericho Writers team were a pleasure to deal with, their website is a treasure trove of resources. Meeting and chatting to other authors on the day and hearing inspiring talks were also highlights.

It’s a cliche but the writing community really is the best. All the FNL 2025 finalists have stayed in touch, and we continue to support each other a year later. 

Isabel Norris, 2025 Friday Night Live finalist

The London Festival of Writing was the very first writing event I attended, and I’m so glad I did. It was a truly transformative weekend for me. For a year beforehand I’d been working on my novel, watching the video masterclasses with Jericho, and even completed the Self-Edit Your Novel course, but it was the festival, where I had the opportunity to meet agents, industry professionals, and connect with fellow writers, that I finally felt like a ‘real’ writer. 

The Friday Night Live competition was the cherry on top of the cake of the weekend. To be chosen among so many talented writers was a thrill in itself, but to share the opening of my novel with the judging panel and a room full of my peers was both challenging and so rewarding. Though I didn’t win, I was approached by so many people that evening and the next day of the festival, many of them complimentary and excited by my work (one comment that my writing reminded them of Throne of Glass will stay with me forever!). That, and the bond I made with the other finalists, really gave me the confidence to start querying. Later that year I signed with an amazing literary agent, and I’m now preparing to get a new novel out on submission to publishers with them.

I left the festival with a notebook full of ideas, new connections that kept me sane through the tribulations of querying (and no doubt will support me as I go on submission), and a beautiful sense that the writing community is truly something special. My advice to any authors considering attending? Go for it!

Laura Daniels, 2025 Friday Night Live finalist

The London Festival of Writing 2025 gave me a fabulous opportunity to meet industry professionals, experience a mix of writing craft and community, and submit to the competition. 

On hearing I had made the final of Friday Night Live, my excited shock quickly turned to panic. I was advised by friends to video myself reading my opening pages, which I duly did. It was initially toe-curling, but it gave me the opportunity to practice, and on the night, it helped me get on stage. 

Facing a ballroom full of industry professionals and writers was daunting, but once I began to read from SMILE WHEN I WAKE, I realised many in the audience were not looking up at me as they were listening intently, which made it less intimidating. 

Receiving positive feedback from the panel members and other writers was a huge boost and has encouraged me to hone my novel. 

As I embark on the submission process to agents, being in the Friday Night Live final is a lovely accolade to include in my covering letter and a memory to treasure. I am excited to return to this year’s festival!

Larry Reynolds, 2025 Friday Night Live finalist

Attending the Jericho Writers London Festival of Writing was an immensely beneficial experience – great workshops and a wonderful opportunity to meet other writers. Being shortlisted for the Friday Night Live event was a huge boost to my confidence. For the first time I felt like my work might be good enough to get published. I’ve stayed in contact with my fellow FNL finalists and have found their ideas and practical support invaluable. More recently I’ve received some incredibly useful feedback from a Jericho Writers editor and now I’m ready to start querying!

Davina Bhanabhai, 2025 Friday Night Live finalist

It’s fair to say that the 2025 London Festival of Writing aligned my writing constellations and helped me secure agent representation!

I was initially invited by Becca Day as a speaker to the Festival, to present a workshop about Authenticity Editing. I’d never been to a writing festival before and was thrilled that Becca gave me the push I needed (thanks Becca!), to attend both as a speaker and a writer. I invested in myself and bought tickets to the whole weekend and enjoyed a stay in our gorgeous capital city, London.

The weekend was packed full of great sessions and workshops, talks by authors such as Ruth Ware, Sophie Flynn, Becca Day, Nikesh Shukla and Aliya Ali-Afzal, advice from industry professionals and helpful feedback from agent one-to-ones.

I entered the Friday Night Live (on a Saturday!), not expecting anything given I’d never entered before. To my astonishment, I was one of eight top finalists, chosen to read the first 500 words of my fiction novel. I was nervous, but I enjoyed reading my writing to an audience of over 300 people and a panel of judges, who gave positive, live feedback afterwards. Though I didn’t win on the night, it still ended up being a winning month for me as I secured agent representation from one of the judges on the panel. The night also gave me the confidence and motivation to complete my fiction novel, which was subsequently longlisted for Simon & Schuster’s New Chapter competition. I’m now on submissions for a non-fiction book, as well as working on edits on my fiction book.

If you’re considering attending, do it. A day, two days, the whole weekend, it’ll help get your creative juices flowing and you’ll meet a community of fellow writers who enjoy the same things you do, ‘get’ your writing obsession and open up conversations with “So, what are you working on/writing?”, and who will become good writerly friends. It may just give you the push you need to believe in your dreams, network with an exceptional team of trusted experts at Jericho Writers (Kat, Laura, Emily, Tanya, Imogen to name a few!), to help you along the way…maybe it’ll help align your writing constellations, too!