Tom Newlands’ novel, Only Here Only Now, has been shortlisted for two prizes at the Society of Author Awards. It’s the only book to receive a double nomination.
Published in June last year, Only Here Only Now has had praise heaped on it. This January the novel was also shortlisted for the 2025 Gordon Burn Prize.
Tom is an alumni of the London Writers Awards: he completed the programme in 2021. The London Writers Awards is our annual writer development programme that aims to increase the number of writers from underrepresented communities being taken up by agents and publishers.
The annual Society of Authors’ Awards recognises the best and most promising literary voices of the year. Only Here Only Now is on the shortlist for the ADCI Literary Prize, which encourages greater positive representation of disability in literature, and the McKitterick Prize, for a first novel by an author over 40.
The winners will be announced on Wednesday 18 June at Southwark Cathedral and will share a prize fund of over £170,000.
Congratulations and good luck Tom!
class="post-74964 post type-post status-publish format-standard has-post-thumbnail hentry category-news"London Writers Award alumna Natasha Brown among 2025 Orwell Prize finalists
London Writers Award alumna Natasha Brown has been named among the finalists for this year’s Orwell Prize.
Natasha’s latest novel, Universality, is described as a “a fabulous fable about the politics of storytelling” by the Guardian, that “examines what it means to be truthful – and who really benefits when facts come to light.”
Natasha’s debut novel Assembly, developed during her time on the London Writers Award programme, was Foyles Fiction Book of the Year, shortlisted for several awards, and translated into 17 languages. She was a 2023 Granta Best of Young British Novelist and a 2021 Observer Best Debut Novelist.
The Orwell Prize is awarded for writing that meets the spirit of George Orwell’s own ambition “to make political writing into an art.” This year’s finalists are:
- Dream Count by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie,
- heart be at peace by Donal Ryan,
- Parallel Lines by Edward St Aubyn,
- Precipice by Robert Harris,
- The Accidental Immigrants by Joe McMillan,
- The Harrow by Noah Eaton,
- There are Rivers in the Sky by Elif Shafak,
- and Universality by Natasha Brown
The winners of the 2025 Orwell Prize will be revealed on the 25 June 2025.
Huge congratulations Natasha!
class="post-74946 post type-post status-publish format-standard has-post-thumbnail hentry category-opportunities"Volunteers needed to help tell our story
This year, Spread the Word turns 30! We’re looking for two volunteers who can help us tell the story of the organisation during the last 30 years.
We have an extensive archive which includes lots paper records from our earlier years. We need your help to go through the artefacts and documents we have, to identify interesting stories and create a digital record of the many incredible writers, artists and partners we have collaborated with over the years. This work will support a donations campaign that we will run later in the year to raise funds to support the future of the organisation.
If you are interested in literature, writing and reading, enjoy digging into archive material, searching for exciting stories and looking for links between the past and present, this role is for you.
Volunteer Archivist
Commitment: one day per week during July and early August (from the week commencing 30 June to the week commencing 11 August).
As the archive is in our office at the Albany, this work needs to be done during office hours, from Monday – Wednesday, 10am to 6pm. In the application form we ask you which days and times of day are best, so we can create a project schedule that fits with your existing responsibilities.
An allowance for travel and lunch will be provided.
If you are interested in helping Spread the Word tell our story, please complete the application form and the Equal Opportunities form linked at the end. The deadline to express interest in the role is midday on Monday 16 June 2025. We will be in touch by Thursday 19 June and will organise relaxed conversations with a shortlist of volunteers to check there’s a good fit for the role.
Apply now to be one of our archive volunteers
If you have access needs and would like us to make any reasonable adjustments to the application process, please get in touch via [email protected].
Thank you!
Image: A Night in Sign at Deptford Literature Festival 2025, captured by Kashif Haque.
class="post-74938 post type-post status-publish format-standard has-post-thumbnail hentry category-news"Thank you to Youth First Legacy Fund
We’d like to extend a huge thank you to the Youth First Legacy Fund and the Youth First trustees for supporting Spread the Word.
Youth First provided youth services to the borough of Lewisham. These services have now been brought into the council as the Lewisham Youth Service.
As Youth First wound down their operations, they offered grants to organisations delivering work in line with their purpose and mission: to guide young people to develop their ambition and achieve their potential whatever their background or circumstances; to be attractive and inclusive for all; and to focus on those in society who are most vulnerable, discriminated against and under-privileged.
We’re delighted to have received funds from, and the confidence of Youth First to continue their legacy of impactful youth work in Lewisham. This is not the first time we’ve collaborated with Youth First. In August 2020 we teamed up to deliver creative care packages to young people across the borough who were struggling with their mental health and feeling isolated, restless and anxious due to the pandemic. The programme was launched by our Young People’s Laureate for London at the time, Theresa Lola. In 2022 and 2023 we collaborated again for Deptford Literature Festival. Youth First young people, with the support of Young People’s Poet Laureate Cecilia Knapp, filmmaker Mmoloki Chrystie and artist Kobi Essah Ayensuo, created short films which premiered at the festival.
The money we receive from the Youth First Legacy Fund will be directed towards creative programmes for young people as part of our Lewisham, Borough of Literature campaign. Stay tuned to find out more!
Photo: Young Writers Collective at Deptford Literature Festival 2025, captured by Maddmann Photography.
class="post-74820 post type-post status-publish format-standard has-post-thumbnail hentry category-news"London Writers Awards Alumni shortlisted for Jhalak Prize
Ashani Lewis is a novelist and short-story writer based in London. Ashani was a winner of the London Writers Awards 2021, in the literary fiction category. Her writing has won the Tower Poetry Prize and the Alpine Fellowship Writing Competition, as well as being featured in Harper’s Bazaar and Joyland.
Ashani’s second novel, Everest, has been shortlisted for the Jhalak Prose Prize 2025. The winners will be announced on 4 June.
Congratulations Ashani!
The Jhalak Prize awards seek to celebrate books by writers of colour in the UK and Ireland. Find out more about the prize and other shortlisted and longlisted authors on the Jhalak Prize website.
class="post-74783 post type-post status-publish format-standard has-post-thumbnail hentry category-opportunities"Tender opportunity – new brand and website for Spread the Word
This year, Spread the Word turns 30! It’s a big moment for the organisation and we’re taking the opportunity to finally treat ourselves to a new website (something that is long overdue) and a bit of a freshen-up.
We will continue to be London’s writer development centre, nothing is changing in terms of our values, vision or mission. We will continue to be a small, friendly organisation delivering big impact locally, in our home borough of Lewisham and on a national scale. But with a brand and website that can help us reach new audiences, participants, donors and supporters, enabling us not just to dream big, but to grow in ambition and impact.
We’ve written a brief for this project in two parts and are happy to recieve responses to one or both parts.
The budgets are:
- Rebrand: £10,000
- Website development: £20,000
Both fees are inclusive of VAT.
If you are interested in receiving the brief, please get in touch with [email protected].
The final deadline to send us a proposal responding to the brief is midday on Friday 30 May 2025.
Published 2 May 2025.
Photo: Kashif Haque