Nearly sixty years ago, a young man from Northern Rhodesia received a letter from a publisher in London, intrigued to be opening a window into African history and culture. It was a letter that changed the course of that man’s life, launching a career that spanned decades and saw over 140 million global book sales. That man was, of course, Wilbur Smith.
Every published author was once a debut author and, just like her fellow ‘proudly South-African’ author, Wilbur Smith, Zee knows what it’s like to have a burning passion for writing and a wish to share it with the world.
Zee is a proud supporter of the Wilbur and Niso Foundatation – the Foundation founded in 2015 to support writers, promote literacy and advance adventure writing as a genre. Through the Foundation they work across the globe, with readers and writers of all ages.
New Voices
The New Voices Award is a literary prize designed to support writers who are yet to be published or represented by a literary agent. It caters to those in the early stages of their work, and the five winners are provided with nine months of mentorship and editorial guidance to take their work-in-progress to completed manuscript. The award is exclusively for unpublished writers and new work, ensuring that emerging voices get a chance to break through. We are dedicated to giving a platform to voices who have been underrepresented in fiction, seeking entries from writers of all backgrounds and perspectives.
Could you be the next New Voice?
Just as Wilbur shared his unique and original tales of Africa with the wider world, this foundation, too, are looking for voices with a new story to tell. Diverse voices keep adventure writing exciting and evolving, taking us to places we’ve never been and uncovering stories we’ve never heard. They want to champion writers from every walk of life and enable them to share these stories.
Your work must be intended for an adult readership and set in our world, whether contemporary or historical. It should be narrative fiction and commercially viable, which is an important thing to consider. The judges are looking for distinctive, transportive and ‘unputdownable’ entries that take readers on a captivating journey.
Enter the New Voices award competition HERE
Good luck!