City Writes, City University of London’s termly writing competition, is open for submissions.

Past and present City University London short course writing students: City Writes is back and looking for your fiction or non-fiction. Selected and hosted by the brilliant Rebekah Lattin-Rawstrone, one of The Book Edit’s editors, this term's event will feature guest author Kiare Ladner whose debut novel, the devastatingly good Nightshift, is due out in February with Picador. To join her 'on stage', full competition details are here.

For anyone wanting to attend, it's free, online and lots of fun, just register here.

Deadline for submissions: Friday 5th March

City Writes Spring Event on Zoom: Thursday 1st April at 7pm

Good luck!

Absolutely delighted to hear the news that Novel Studio alumna Kiare Ladner has sold her debut novel. Nightshift, to Picador. Associate publisher Ravi Mirchandani, who acquired world rights to the book, has described it as "an immensely exciting debut, a novel of nights and shifts, between gay and straight, sober and carried away; of how it is possible both to find oneself in the city or to become lost entirely; of obsession and the sheer mysteriousness of ourselves and others”.

Kiare's star has always shone bright. After graduating from City's Novel Studio with flying colours, she secured a place at UEA to do their prestigious MA in Creative Writing and subsequently won the David Higham award for her writing. Her short stories have appeared in Wasafiri, Lightship Anthology 1, New Contrast and Eclectica, and she was recently awarded an HW Fisher scholarship for her place on the Curtis Brown novel-writing course.

Nightshift will be published in 2019 and we cannot wait to read it. Congratulations, Kiare!