The London Library is proud to announce the publication of the fifth annual volume of From the Silence of the Stacks, New Voices Rise, an anthology of work from the 2023-24 cohort of The London Library Emerging Writers Programme. A digital version of the anthology is available now on The London Library website, on Kindle and a hard copy is available to buy through the online shop. All proceeds go towards supporting the Emerging Writers Programme.
The anthology showcases 38 exciting new voices and a diverse range of writing which spans fiction, poetry, memoir, narrative non-fiction, playwriting, screenwriting, writing for children and young adults and, for the first time, translation. The contributions delve into a vast array of histories, ideas, cultures, landscapes and real and imaginary worlds. Tales of war and climate change, colonialism and politics, home and migration, sex, death and food traverse time, cross the globe and are told in a multitude of forms.
Contributors to the fifth volume include 2023 Tony Craze award-winning playwright Maryam Garad, Rosie Kellett, whose cookbook In for Dinner will be published in 2025, Eric Gregory Award-winning poet Yanita Georgieva and 2023 Guardian/4th Estate Short Story Prize winner Tian Yi.
40 participants were selected from a field of almost 1,400 applicants, a record-breaking number, by a panel of judges comprising poet and playwright Caroline Bird, screenwriter, playwright and children’s author Moira Buffini, non-fiction writer Travis Elborough, novelist and short story writer Zoe Gilbert, novelist Ayisha Malik, and literary agents at Aitken Alexander Emma Paterson and Chris Wellbelove.
The London Library’s Emerging Writers Programme is a year-long programme, geared towards supporting writers who have not yet published a full-length work of fiction, non-fiction, collection of poems, or had a full-length work professionally produced for stage or screen. Participants benefit from one year’s free membership of The London Library alongside a programme of writing development and networking opportunities, peer support, and guidance.
Membership to The London Library includes: access to its collection of around one million books and periodicals (almost all of which can be borrowed), a vast eLibrary, atmospheric workspaces in a beautiful building, a members’ suite, free nationwide postal loans, and discounted tickets to the Library’s popular public events programme. The annual Emerging Writers Anthology celebrates each member of the Programme by showcasing extracts from projects they worked on throughout the year.
Previous members of The London Library Emerging Writers Programme have gone on to achieve considerable success. Published or soon to be published writers include novelists Abi Daré, Amber Medland, Lianne Dillsworth, Russell Franklin, Krystle Zara Appiah, Sarah Marsh, Flora Carr, Katie Buckley, Lucy Steeds, Carole Hailey, Xenobe Purvis, Eli Zuzovsky, Thomas Peermohamed Lambert and Lisa Smith; poets Anastasia Taylor-Lind, Isabelle Baafi, Oakley Flanagan,Natalie Linh Bolderston, Courtney Conrad, Helen Bowell, Lisa Kiew, Eve Ellis and Zakia Carpenter-Hall; non-fiction writers Marina Gerner, Gaar Adams, Sarah Clegg, Alexis Keir, Harriet Rix, Carla Montemayor and Grace Quantock; graphic novelists Ella Baron and Miriam Gold; children’s writers Gita Raleigh, Gayathiri Kalamakanthan and Natasha Hastings; and screenwriters and playwrights who have had work commissioned and/or produced across TV/film, radio and stage include Paolo Chianta, Ayad Andrews, Megan Smith, Daniel Marc Janes, Sid Sagar, Esohe Uwadiae, Jess Edwards, Zia Holloway and Temo Majekodunmi.
Claire Berliner, Head of Programming says: “This year’s anthology is another stunning collection of work from the outgoing cohort of Emerging Writers. It is full of beautifully written, insightful and revelatory pieces, wide and diverse in scope and a testament to the richness of the Programme, the spirit of The London Library and the talent of each one of these wonderful writers as they head into a bright literary future.”
In total, The London Library’s Emerging Writers Programme has supported 238 previously unpublished writers. Applications for the next London Library Emerging Writers Programme will open on 9 January 2025.
