Today I am in conversation with not one but three guests! We're talking about the incredible impact of the Women's Prize Discoveries from three perspectives - 2026 Judge and Curtis Brown literary agent Ciara Finan, 2022 shortlistee and author of the extraordinary debut novel Ordinary Saints, Niamh Ni Mhaoileoin and Alice Trew, 2024 shortlistee who has just secured a 2 book deal, the first of which The Hungry Dark, will be out in 2027.

Ciara talks us through her work as a literary agent and what she'll be looking for amongst entries in the 2026 prize, and Niamh and Alice talk about their experiences as shortlistees and the incredible impact it has had on their careers and their community as writers.

The Women's Prize Discoveries is open to all women aged over 18 who are unagented and unpublished, resident in the UK and Ireland, and writing in English, in any adult fiction genre. The deadline for the 2026 prize is January 12th. Submission is free and requires 10k words and a synopsis. See the link below for more details.

Links

Women's Prize Discoveries

Ordinary Saints - Niamh Ni Mhaoileoin

Curtis Brown Creative

Ciara Finan at Curtis Brown

Alice on Instagram

Niamh on Instagram

This series of the podcast is sponsored by award winning audio book app xigxag

Listeners of Not Too Busy To Write can receive their second book FREE

To redeem, download the xigxag app from the App Store or Google Play. 

Go to My xigxag/Settings, then click on Account. 

Under Vouchers, click on the ‘Enter code’ button and add your voucher code TOOBUSY to your account. 

After your first purchase, your second title will be free!