WriteNow is Penguin's award-winning programme which aims to find, nurture and publish new UK writers from communities under-represented on the nation's bookshelves, giving you the tools, information and access needed to get published.

This year WriteNow is open to writers of middle grade, chapter and picture books – in other words, books for children aged 0-12 years old. We will be accepting fiction and non-fiction applications.

Everyone who applies to WriteNow in 2021 will be invited to join a free online workshop on ‘how to get published’, with a specific focus on children’s books.

50 shortlisted writers will receive one-to-one feedback from a Penguin editor with expertise in their genre, to get feedback and tailored advice on their writing. Following these one-to-one sessions a final five writers will be invited to join the WriteNow editorial programme, where they'll be matched with an editor to help work on their manuscript and get it ready for publication.

To date, 10 writers discovered through WriteNow have been published by Penguin Random House UK, with a further four recently acquired. Six writers have gone on to be published or acquired by other publishers.

To find out more and to apply, visit our website

Deadline: 11 July 2021 at 23:55