Tom Newlands, a 2021 London Writers Awards Alumni, took home the McKitterick Prize at the 2025 Society of Authors Awards.
Tom Newlands’ debut novel, Only Here, Only Now, was awarded the McKitterick Prize at the Society of Authors Awards last month. The prize commends a first novel by an author over 40.
Six novels were in the running for the prize, of which judge Rebecca Foster said: “Each of these six novels has a fully realized style. So confident and inviting are they that it’s hard to believe they are debuts. With nuanced characters and authentic settings and dilemmas, they engage the mind and delight the emotions. I will be following these authors’ careers with keen interest.”
Ashani Lewis, another London Writers Awards alumni of the same year, took home two prizes at the awards.
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The London Writers Awards is our annual writer development programme, designed to launch the careers of writers underrepresented in UK publishing, including those who are Black, Asian and Global Majority, low-income, working-class upbringing, LGBTQIA+, and d/Deaf and disabled. The Awards are free to participate in, bursaries are available for writers on a low-income and there is also an access fund for disabled writers.
Submissions for the 2026 programme will open in September.