The Wilbur and Niso Smith Foundation Adventure Writing Prize shortlist for the 2021 prize has been revealed!

The Wilbur Smith Adventure Writing Prize, administered by Wilbur and Niso’s charitable Foundation, celebrates the best adventure fiction of the last year, submitted by publishers and selected by librarians and library staff. ‘An Adventure for Everyone’ is the essence of the Prize, which recognises the books that honour the traditions of adventure and do something new. 

Six authors, representing the UK, New Zealand and Ghana, are all in the running to win the £10,000 prize fund. They are:

The Deep Blue Between, Ayesha Harruna Attah (Pushkin Press)

City of Vengeance, D.V. Bishop (Pan Macmillan)

Otto Eckhart’s Ordeal, Niall Edworthy (Universe)

Miss Benson’s Beetle, Rachel Joyce (Doubleday)

Total Blackout, Alex Shaw (HQ)

Rogue, James Swallow (Bonnier Books UK)

Congratulations to all the shortlisted authors! 

The shortlist for the Wilbur and Niso Smith Foundation Adventure Writing Prize for Best Unpublished Manuscript, in partnership with Bonnier Books UK, has also been revealed. The shortlisted authors are:
 
The Errand Boy: North by Garry Cochrane (UK)
Out Here, in this Country by Elena Croitoru (UK)
The Black Water Code by Sumanta Ganguli (India)
White Gold by Victoria Hopkins (UK)
Rajah Hawke by Paul Raffaele (Australia)
The Hound at his Heels by Alan Stone (UK)
Deadly Twist by Kendall Talbot (Australia)

The award has been a partnership between The Wilbur & Niso Smith Foundation and Bonnier Books UK since 2018. It is an international award open to writers of any nationality, writing in English. This year, the Foundation received entries from eighteen countries. Designed to launch the careers of aspiring adventure writers, the seven authors are now in with a chance of securing a world rights publishing deal with Bonnier Books UK and representation with The Bravo Blue Agency.
 
Over the next two months the seven writers selected for the shortlist will all receive one-to-one support to develop their manuscripts with Literary Consultant, David Llewelyn. The support is intended to help each writer reach the standard necessary for submission to agents and publishers, regardless of who is the final winner.

Previous winners of the award who have secured publication include The Hum of the Sun by South African author Kirsten Miller, now published by Kwela Books; Blood in the Dust by Australian Bill Swiggs, published by Bonnier Books UK; 2019 winner The Long Journey Home by Cecily Blench, who is from the UK and is also with Bonnier Books UK – her book publishes in June 2021; and Cave Diver by Jake Avila, who is from Australia and publishing with Bonnier Books in the UK and Echo Publishing in Australia in August 2021.

The winning manuscript will be announced in an online ceremony on 8th September 2021, alongside the winners of the Best Published Novel award and the Author of Tomorrow, young writers’ short story competition for those aged 21 and under.

For more information on the prize, and the shortlistees, visit the Foundation website at https://www.wilbur-niso-smithfoundation.org/