The Women’s Prize Trust has opened submissions for the seventh edition of Discoveries, its flagship writer development programme supporting unagented, unpublished women novelists, with bestselling Nigerian-British author Oyinkan Braithwaite joining this year’s judging panel.

The panel is chaired by Kate Mosse CBE FRSL, Founder Director of the Women’s Prize for Fiction and Non-Fiction, with Braithwaite joined by author and former litigation lawyer Ela Lee, Curtis Brown literary agent Ciara Finan, and Curtis Brown Creative founder Anna Davis. Run in partnership with Audible, the Curtis Brown Group, and the Curtis Brown Creative writing school, Discoveries is free to enter and open to unagented, unpublished women writers aged 18 and above in the UK, Ireland, or the Channel Islands, who submit the first 10,000 words of a novel-in-progress for adult readers.

The judging process runs across several stages. From the full pool of entries, the panel selects a longlist of sixteen, who each receive a two-week Discoveries Writing Development Course and an Audible subscription; a shortlist of six then advances to Curtis Brown agent mentoring, a free Curtis Brown Creative course, and an Audible studio day; one shortlisted writer is named the Discoveries Scholar and awarded a fully funded three-month novel-writing course; and the overall winner receives an offer of literary representation from the Curtis Brown Group alongside a £5,000 bursary. Submissions close January 11, 2027, with the longlist announced May 6, the shortlist May 20, and the winner and scholar named June 3.

Now in its seventh year, the programme has built a track record hard to argue with: since launching in 2020, Discoveries has drawn more than 16,000 entries, and of the 96 writers selected across its first six years, over a third have signed with literary agents and 19% have secured publishing deals, with eleven alumni already published and seven more debuts confirmed through 2028 from houses including Little, Brown, Michael Joseph, Gollancz, and HarperCollins imprints. Niamh Connolly, the 2024 winner whose novel We Go Way Back publishes with Hodder & Stoughton next April, credited the programme with something less tangible than a book deal: confidence. “The voice of self-doubt can be very loud, and I will forever be thankful to the Women’s Prize Trust and Discoveries for quietening that doubting voice,” she said, describing the programme’s community as an “army of champions” for what is otherwise a solitary occupation.

Oyinkan Braithwaite’s appointment brings particular weight to this year’s panel. Her debut novel, My Sister, the Serial Killer, a darkly comic thriller about two sisters and an inconvenient body count, was shortlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction and has since been translated into 30 languages, establishing her as one of the most widely read Nigerian novelists of her generation. Alongside her fiction, she works as a screenwriter, with several television and film projects currently in development. Her most recent novel, Cursed Daughters, extended that momentum into 2026, earning shortlist nods for both the Nero Awards and the British Book Awards’ Book of the Year: Audiobook Edition.

Braithwaite’s presence on the panel also reflects Discoveries’ own track record of turning first-time novelists into published authors. Since launching in 2020, the programme has drawn more than 16,000 entries; of the 96 writers selected across its first six years, over a third have signed with literary agents and 19% have secured publishing deals, with eleven alumni already published and seven more debuts confirmed through 2028 from houses including Little, Brown, Michael Joseph, Gollancz, and HarperCollins imprints.

Alongside the submissions window, the Trust and its partners are running a program of events for prospective entrants, including an ESEA Lit Fest workshop with Ela Lee on September 19, an online alumni panel chaired by Nussaibah Younis on September 22, a Cheltenham Literature Festival panel on October 17, and a Curtis Brown Creative “Your Novel: How to Get Started” webinar on November 12.

Submissions for Discoveries 2027 close January 11, 2027, at 11:59pm GMT. Full details and entry information are available at discoveries.curtisbrowncreative.co.uk.