Affirm Press launches creative writing prize with Melbourne Uni

Affirm Press has launched a new prize that will give Melbourne University creative writing students the opportunity to have their manuscripts published by Affirm Press.

The winner of the Affirm Press Creative Writing Prize will receive 20 hours of editorial manuscript development, including mentoring, from Affirm Press; two editorial meetings with Affirm Press; and between four and six weeks’ access to a workspace at the university’s School of Culture and Communication. Affirm Press will have first right of refusal to publish the winning manuscript, which can be in any adult genre except poetry and playwriting.

The prize is open to current students enrolled in postgraduate creating writing studies at the University of Melbourne or former students who were enrolled within the 12 months prior to 31 March.

Affirm Press publisher Aviva Tuffield told Books+Publishing that she approached the University of Melbourne about establishing the prize after Penguin stopped offering the Penguin Manuscript Award, which was supported by the university. Tuffield has worked with a number of writers who have won or been shortlisted for the award, including Emily Bitto, who won the Penguin award in 2011 for her manuscript The Strays, which will be published by Affirm Press in May.

Tuffield said she wanted to establish a prize that included editorial mentoring because this type of professional development is ‘the most valuable for writers’ as it gives them ‘access to someone in a publishing house and a sense of the market’. She said Affirm Press is interested in finding new Australian writers and that gaining early access to unpublished manuscripts is when publishers can ‘make a real difference’.

For more information about the Affirm Press Creative Writing Prize, click here.

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Category: Local news