Autumn Newsletter

The Deborah Rogers Foundation

Autumn Newsletter 2024

This year’s David Miller Internship Programme drew to a close with a very impressive presentation delivered by our intern, sharing all she had learned from her intensive six weeks in the world of foreign rights. Throughout the process, Leanne's lively updates were brimming with enthusiasm and it was inspiring to hear how well she was progressing from the companies who offered placements.

We now turn our thoughts to the other initiative of the DRF, the Writers Award which will be running again in 2025.
Gill Coleridge, Founder of the Deborah Rogers Foundation

Looking ahead

The DRF Writers Award 2025 opens for submissions 1^st January 2025 – 31^st March 2025. A longlist is drawn up in September and judging takes place in October. 

The winner of the Writers Award will be announced in November 2025.

The DMIP will run again in September-October 2025.

Applications open in April, and the selection process starts in May in partnership with Creative Access.

News

The DRF Writers Award

The DRF Writers Award was the first initiative of the Deborah Rogers Foundation set up in memory of the much loved and respected literary agent, Deborah Rogers. In keeping with Deborah’s special talent for nurturing and supporting emerging new writers, the Award gives £10,000 to a previously unpublished writer whose submission demonstrates literary talent and who needs financial support to complete their first book. The submitted work can be fiction, non-fiction, children’s or short stories. The biennial award returns in 2025 when entries will be invited in January with the winner announced in November. 

We are delighted to announce that the judges for the 2025 Writers Award will be Erica Wagner (chair), Inua Ellams and Natalie Haynes. The DRF is thrilled that such talented writers are giving up their time to do this, and we are extremely grateful to them all for their support.

Erica commented:

‘I’m completely thrilled to be the chair of the DRF Writers Award in 2025. This valuable award demonstrates a commitment to nurturing talent: keeping an eye out for up-and-coming writers who are making the world new is something I've always held close to my heart. To be involved in a prize like this is very meaningful to me, and I look forward to exciting discoveries.’

Introducing the judges

Erica Wagner is a writer and literary critic. Her first book was a collection of short stories, Gravity published by Granta in 1997. Her other books include Ariel’s Gift: Ted Hughes, Sylvia Plath and the Story of Birthday Letters, Chief Engineer, A biography of Washington Roebling, the man who built the Brooklyn Bridge, and most recently, Mary and Mr Eliot: A Sort of Love Story. Her poems have appeared in the TLS and PN Review and her stories have been widely anthologized. She reviews regularly for The New York Times, writes for the New Statesman and is Consulting Literary Editor for Harper’s Bazaar, UK.

She has judged many literary prizes; the Man Booker, the Orange Prize, the Goldsmiths Prize, the Whitbread First Novel Award, and the Forward Prize. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and a Goldsmiths Distinguished Writers’ Centre Fellow.

Inua Ellams is Nigerian-born British poet, playwright and curator. He has been honoured with an MBE for Services To The Arts, and an Honorary Doctorate from University Of The Arts, London. Inua has written for the Royal Shakespeare Company, the National Theatre and the BBC. He is an ambassador for The Ministry of Stories and The London Library, a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and Royal Society of Arts, and board members of The Poetry Translation Centre, Complicité Theatre, The Royal Society of Literature and Cheltenham Literature Festival

He is a cross disciplinary artist, an internationally touring performer, a poet, playwright, screenwriter, graphic artist & designer. His published books of poetry include Candy Coated Unicorns and Converse All Stars, Thirteen Fairy Negro Tales, The Wire-Headed Heathen, #Afterhours, The Actual and The Half God of Rainfall. His first play The 14th Tale was awarded a Fringe First at the Edinburgh International Theatre Festival. Others include Barber Shop Chronicles and Three Sisters.

Natalie Haynes is an English writer and broadcaster and – according to the Washington Post – a rock star mythologist. Her first novel, The Amber Fury, was published to great acclaim on both sides of the Atlantic, as was The Ancient Guide to Modern Life, her previous book. Her second novel, The Children of Jocasta, was published in 2017. Her retelling of the Trojan War, A Thousand Ships, was shortlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction and has been translated into multiple languages. Her most recent non-fiction book, Pandora's Jar: Women in the Greek Myth reached number 2 in the New York Times Bestseller chart. Her novel about Medusa, Stone Blind, was published in 2022.

She writes for the Guardian and appears regularly on BBC Radio 4, including nine series of her show, Natalie Haynes Stands Up for the Classics. She has spoken on the modern relevance of the classical world on three continents, from Cambridge to Chicago to Auckland.

Previous Winners

The Award has a strong track record in recognising writers who have gone on to launch international careers. Sharlene Teo was the winner of the inaugural 2016 DRF Writers Award for her novel Ponti, when Imogen Hermes Gower was a runner-up for her novel The Mermaid and Mrs Hancock, and in 2018, Deepa Anappara was the winner for her novel Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line.

2025 will see publication of three previous winners of the Award: Mathelinda Nabugodi’s non-fiction work, The Trembling Hand: Reflections of a Black Woman in the Romantic Archive will be published by Hamish Hamilton, ‘Pemi Aguda’s novel The Suicide Mothers will be published by Virago and Neil Rollinson’s novel The Dead Don’t Bleed will be published by Jonathan Cape.

David Miller Internship Programme

Leanne Francis completed the DMIP in October, having spent an intensive six weeks learning about foreign rights at some of London’s finest literary agencies and publishers. We are particularly grateful to the Gallaghers who hosted Leanne during the internship, to Creative Access who managed the recruitment and offer ongoing support, and to the companies who provided such engaging placements, namely, Penguin Random House, Faber, Profile Books, David Higham, Greyhound Literary, ILA, PEW Literary and Eccles Fisher. The culmination of the programme was a visit to the Frankfurt Bookfair. Leanne produced a highly professional vlog of her experience which you can watch on the DMIP page of our website.

Leanne commented:

‘The David Miller Internship Programme has been a truly life-changing experience for me. I am incredibly grateful to the DRF, along with the collaborating agencies and publishing houses, for their invaluable support throughout the internship. I feel so excited to begin a career in publishing, confident in the knowledge and skills I have gained from this programme.’

Leanne is now looking for her first job in publishing rights. We wish her every success.
 

Drinks to mark the end of the DMIP 2024, kindly hosted by Faber

L-R Stephen Page, Catherine Eccles, Hattie Nikodem, Leanne Francis, Sam Edenborough, Gill Coleridge, Margaret Hewson, Prema Raj, Dotti Irving, Laura Turner-Blake