The London Library Magazine - Summer 2022 issue features interviews with the esteemed author, Lady Antonia Fraser; poet and playwright, Inua Ellams; and art historian and broadcaster Katy Hessel. We also meet member AJ West, who tells us how much faster he can write in the Library.

We are delighted to announce the newest members of our flagship Emerging Writers Programme, now in its fourth iteration, which supports writers at the very start of their careers.

Forty participants were selected from a field of almost 950 applicants by a panel of judges comprising YA novelist and essayist Yassmin Abdel-Magied (Chair), non-fiction writer Simon Garfield, playwright and novelist Nell Leyshon, poet Rachel Long, screen and children's writer John McNally and literary agent Eli Keren.

This year’s cohort is working on a diverse array of projects. Spanning the globe from the US to India, the Philippines to Israel, France to Trinidad, they explore the Troubles and the Arab Spring, twelfth-century York, nineteenth-century Northumberland and present-day London; they delve into topics as diverse as neurology, art, cryogenics, the countryside, sexuality and storytelling; and feature selkies, bats, whales and a platypus.

Of the forty writers, eleven are novelists, eight are writing for stage/screen, seven are working on non-fiction or graphic non-fiction, five are short story writers, five are writing for children or YA and four are poets. The writers span an age range of early twenties to early fifties.

The London Library’s Emerging Writers Programme is 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/screen. The 2022/23 Programme will run from 1 July 2022 to 30 June 2023.

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 cohort will be following in the footsteps of the many writers, readers and thinkers who have made the Library their home for over 180 years.

Yassmin Abdel-Magied, Chair, and London Library Trustee said: ‘It has been an absolute pleasure to chair the judging panel of this year’s Emerging Writers Programme. As a panel, we were bowled over by the sheer volume and outstanding quality of submissions we received, not to mention the diversity of discipline/genre and the scope of the storytelling. Whittling down to forty was not easy but we are so excited by the talent of those we chose to be on the programme and we can't wait to see where they take their wonderful array of projects over the course of the year.’ 

Philip Marshall, Director of The London Library said: ‘I am delighted that we are able to welcome forty new writers into membership through the Emerging Writers Programme. Not only does the Programme support writers at the start of their career through workshops and networking opportunities, it enables participants to use the Library’s extensive resources – resources that have fuelled and provided a home for creativity and inspiration for over 180 years.’

VIEW THE 2022/23 COHORT

The winners of this year's Jhalak Prize were announced on Thursday 26 May 2022; they are graphic novelist, Sabba Khan, winner of the Jhalak Prize and children’s author, Maisie Chan, winner of the Jhalak Children’s & Young Adult Prize.

Sabba Khan won the Jhalak Prize for her ‘impeccable’ and ‘striking’ graphic debut novel The Roles We Play (Myriad), which was praised by the judges as a "powerful, moving and thought-provoking story which shimmers with hard-earned wisdom and wonder". It is the first time a graphic novel has won the Prize. Sabba Khan is also a designer and architect, and co-director of Khan Bonshek, an architectural practice set up by her and her partner in Stratford, London, where both are completing the final stages of their self-build home. Sabba was supported in her writing of the novel by Jerwood Arts and an extract from The Roles We Play was shortlisted for the Myriad First Graphic Novel Award.

Maisie Chan, based in Glasgow, won the Jhalak Children’s and Young Adult Prize for her "warm and funny" children’s novel Danny Chung Does Not Do Maths (Piccadilly Press). Already shortlisted for the Blue Peter Awards 2022 and chosen as the Scottish Book Trust’s Book of the Month in July 2021, the novel was praised by the judges for "the warm-heartedness, humour and nuanced way it approaches the challenges of being a child negotiating multiple identities." Both winners are published by small independent publishers, Myriad & Piccadilly Press, recognising the remarkable success of the independent publishing sector.

The Jhalak Prize 2022 judges were authors Mary Jean Chan, Chimene Suleyman and Stephen Thompson. The judges for the Jhalak Children’s and Young Adult Prize 2022 were authors Sufiya Ahmed, Nii Ayikwei Parkes and Patrice Lawrence. Previous winners include Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi, Patrice Lawrence, Johny Pitts, Guy Gunaratne, Reni Eddo-Lodge and Jacob Ross.

We are excited to welcome the winners to the London Library with two year's complimentary membership, alongside the short listed authors who will also receive a year's membership.