If your dream is to become a published author, you may have noticed the launch of our first-ever literary competition earlier this summer. Working together with Rachel Mills Literary agency — whose clients include Elizabeth Day, Pandora Sykes and Bryony Gordon — the aim of the Stylist Prize for Feminist Fiction 2021 was to not only discover the next big female writing talent, but to support that author in their journey to seeing their work in print by offering them a £1,000 prize and a guaranteed offer of representation.

With everything to play for, we were thrilled to see the entries pour in throughout June and July, with over 450 budding writers submitting the first three chapters of their future novels for consideration. It was then down to our panel – Sara Collins, the Costa-winning author of The Confessions Of Frannie Langton; Harriet Bourton, acting publisher at Viking Books; Nelle Andrew from Rachel Mills Literary and recently named Literary Agent of the Year; and Lisa Smosarski, editor-in-chief of Stylist – to handpick their favourites.

According to all four judges, deciding on just a handful of entries to go through to the next stage was a long and difficult process (no doubt entailing hours curled up with manuscripts – poor them!). But after much careful consideration, today they are pleased to announce the Stylist Prize for Feminist Fiction 2021 longlist.

Says Stylist editor-in-chief Lisa Smosarksi: “We have been absolutely overwhelmed by the calibre of creativity and writing that was submitted and already feel we’ve discovered many great authors in the making. The stories on the longlist are very diverse – from futuristic novels on AI and memory to historic fiction tackling race – so we already feel it’s going to be very hard to choose a winner.”

While judging is now underway to select the final shortlist (check back here at Stylist.co.uk on Thursday 21 October for the names of the writers who made it), here is the longlist:

The full longlist of entries for 2021’s Stylist Literary Prize

The Gelder - CA Sutcliffe

Synthia 2.0 - Bryony Stubbs

The Stories We Tell Ourselves - Suad Kamardeen

The Little Shell Collector - Rachel Marangozov

24 Windows - Orsolya Kiss-Toth

Warrah Place - Kate Kemp

The Awakening Of Lily Ash - Alice Fowler

A Case of Half Truths - Hattie Clarke

More Than a Creeping Thing - Joanna Hemmings

Bargaining with Grace - Allie Lane

Foreign Bodies - Ali McIlroy