First Novel Prize 2021 Shortlist


We are thrilled to announce the 2021 shortlist


Akeem Balogun– The District

Alison Fogg – The Norfolk House

Angie Spoto – The Grief Nurse

Annis Cohen – Break in the Blinding

Dini Armstrong – Why Daisy Set the Hermit on Fire

J.I. Ackroyd – The Birds Showed Her

Matt Zarb – Residents

Richard Tunley – In Memory

Rick Bland – Thick

Sascha Harrison – Threewaters


Congratulations to the ten shortlisted writers!

We are looking forward to announcing the winners of the First, Second and Third Prize on the 31st of August 2021.

We would like to extend our thanks to every writer who has shared their novel with us by entering it in the Prize. Selecting ten entries out of many hundreds means making agonising decisions to leave out a lot of promising and exciting talent. The subjectivity of publishing means that every manuscript that makes it to publication was once accepted by someone while being rejected by many, many others.

This year a record number of 102 non-shortlisted writers will receive some form of feedback from us.