The ten selected emerging writers for the 2021 Programme were: Sara Doctors, Sophie Dumont, Madeleine Dunnigan, Linda Ford, Philip Glassborow, Fiona Monahan, Eleanor Myerson, Julie Noble, Karen Skinazi and Guy Stagg. The writers received mentoring, peer support sessions and bursaries, as part of the programme.

Supported by the Genesis Foundation.

Mentors for the 2021-22 Genesis Emerging Writers Programme were Tracy Chevalier, Benjamin Markovits & AD Miller (fiction); Sam Leith & Kavita Puri (journalism); Caroline Moorehead, George Prochnik & Cathy Rentzenbrink (non-fiction); and  Sophie Herxheimer & George Szirtes (poetry).

Booker-nominated novelist AD Miller said,

“To judge by the verve and variety of their submissions, these emerging writers have already emerged.”

The Last Act of Love author Cathy Rentzenbrink said,

“Mentoring is such an enriching pleasure for me and the standard of applications I saw were so high that I would happily have worked with all the writers. I am excited to see how the programme will develop and looking forward to doing the work.”

T.S Eliot Prize and Intetnational Man Booker winner George Szirtes said,

“It was a marvellous shortlist comprising poems about Alzheimer’s, about a Jewish family in Belfast, about beginnings, about living through darkness, and about Piaget, all good, all promising even more.”

Sam Leith, Spectator literary editor added,

“I was very impressed and encouraged by the standard of the submissions I read, their ambition and the range of enthusiasms they showed. I’m hugely looking forward to working with these talented people.”

John Studzinski CBE, Founder and Chairman of the Genesis Foundation, said,

“Congratulations to our ten emerging writers selected. We are looking forward to creative sparks flying, as they team up with their mentors. We are delighted to be working with Jewish Book Week and in our twentieth year, continuing to fulfil our core mission: to support and nurture creative and emerging talent.”