Lucy Cavendish Fiction Prize announces 2022 longlist

Lucy Cavendish College has announced the 2022 longlist for its Fiction Prize, which has been described as “the leading women’s fiction prize for unpublished and unrepresented writers”.

Founded in 2010, the Prize is awarded to novel manuscripts by unpublished women writers which “combine literary merit with ‘unputdownability’”.

The winner will receive a cash prize of £1,500 and all shortlisted entrants will receive a consultation with literary agents Peters Fraser + Dunlop, who sponsor the competition. The Prize Ceremony also allows winners to meet agents and “industry specialists”.

Since its launch, the Prize has boasted a number of success stories. For example, 2014 shortlisted author Gail Honeyman went on to publish Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine which won the Costa Debut Novel Award and is now being adapted as a film.

2022 judge Tim Bates commented, “It has been another bumper year for the Prize, with a huge volume of entries.

“It’s been an incredibly difficult process, but we’re now thrilled to be able to announce our longlist for 2022, which includes a pleasingly eclectic range of different voices, styles and approaches.”

Chair of the judging panel, Jackie Ashley, added, “This is a cracking longlist – the standard of entries is higher than ever. The judges are enjoying a wonderful variety of genres and themes as we try to whittle 15 brilliant submissions down to a shortlist of six.”

The Prize attracted 572 entries, of which 15 made it to the longlist. The longlisted authors and their works are:

• L M Rees – A Script for Buried Voices
• Elisabeth Ingram Wallace – Alumnae
• Hannah Stapleton – Blue Tears
• Julie Holden – Down Came a Blackbird
• Rose Chen – Jimmy the Food Thief
• Margaret Sessa-Hawkins – Migratory Patterns
• Claire Ackroyd – My Family, Decomposed
• Mary Boland – Bridget
• Natalie Baker – Silent as a Shade
• Sarah Frances Armstrong – The Final Festival of Flowers
• Anne Hamilton – The Island in April
• Anna Latimer – The Language of Birds
• Nancy Crane – The Most Beautiful Woman in the World
• Amy E. Archer – Those Who Came Before
• Chrissy Sturt – Underdog

The final shortlist for the Prize will be announced in early May.

Featured Image Credits: Vysotsky via Creative Commons