Attention all Women Writers

The Virginia Prize for Fiction

We are once again searching for the best new fiction by a woman writing in English.  The winner will receive £1,000 and a conditional offer of publication by Aurora Metro Books.

This biennial prize was launched in 2009 as a tribute to Virginia Woolf who wrote her first novel, The Voyage Out, whilst living in Richmond.  The prize’s founder, publisher Cheryl Robson, hopes that “by naming this prize in Virginia Woolf’s memory we will inspire women to find their voice and contribute to the pantheon of great women writers.”

The prize is open to any woman (over 18) around the world, writing in English. The novel can be of any genre but cannot have been published or self-published before.   The closing date is 31 October 2015.

Previous winners

The Leipzig Affair by Fiona Rintoul, which won in 2013, was dramatised for BBC R4’s Book at Bedtime. Read by Douglas Henshall and Indira Varma it was broadcast in March 2015.

Mary Hamer who won in 2011 with her novel Kipling & Trix is keeping busy in this Kipling anniversary year (150 years since his birth). As the current Chair of the Kipling Society she is giving a host of talks across the country about her novel and his life.

Louise Soraya Black who won the inaugural prize in 2009 for her novel Pomegranate Sky, which Fay Weldon described as “Vividly written, fresh and eloquent” has now given up her law career to pursue writing full-time.

Could you be next?  For more information about the prize and to enter.

 

The Virginia Prize for Fiction Prize is sponsored by ea Change Group, a Richmond-based company which provides Change Management Services globally.