JOFFE BOOKS PRIZE 2023
WINNER OF THE JOFFE BOOKS PRIZE 2023
Joffe Books is thrilled to announce the winner of the Joffe Books Prize 2023: Renita D’Silva, for her compelling psychological thriller, The Neighbour. She receives a two-book publishing deal with Joffe Books, a £1,000 cash prize, and a £25,000 audiobook deal from Audible for the first book. This is one of Britain’s biggest crime prizes.
The Joffe Books Prize for Crime Writers of Colour was established in direct response to the paucity of diverse voices being published in crime fiction. Its explicit aim is to actively seek out writers from communities that are underrepresented in our genre and support them in building sustainable careers, while simultaneously discovering brilliant new talent to join our bestselling list.
Since its launch in 2021, the Joffe Books Prize has been enthusiastically received. This year, submissions included gritty climate thrillers and wrenching domestic suspense, pharmaceutical thrillers to cyberpunk detective mysteries.
The judges, including bestselling author Nadine Matheson, literary agent Nelle Andrew and Joffe Books editorial director Emma Grundy Haigh, considered each manuscript in terms of both the strength of the writing and marketability. The judges unanimously awarded the Joffe Books Prize 2023 to Renita D’Silva.
From the judges: “A wide ranging, ambitious cast of characters and stories that interlock but don't overwhelm. It’s varied and interesting and above all controlled and the clear stand-out in terms of both what it promised and what it was aiming to achieve. I really wanted to know about Gemma, Sapna and Edith and above all I cared about what would happen to them and why. The slow boil of discovering each woman's past while the present unfolded, the complex relationships and the hidden histories: it was a joy.”
Renita D’Silva fell in love with stories at the age of six when her father presented her with her very first story books: Andersen and Grimm Fairy Tales. She's published ten historical fiction novels, the most recent of which is The War Child. Her short stories have been published various magazines and anthologies, and been nominated for the Pushcart prize, shortlisted for the LoveReading Very Short Story award and longlisted for the BBC National Short Story award. The Neighbour is her first psychological thriller.
Renita says: “I'm beyond thrilled to win the Joffe Books Prize 2023 and very excited to be signing with Joffe. I feel humbled and privileged to have such a brilliant team backing my books and to be joining such an amazingly talented cohort of writers.”
Emma Grundy Haigh says: “It’s a privilege to have been able to read so many submissions with such fantastic potential, but it was Renita’s brilliant domestic thriller that shone out to me straightaway. It’s immediately hooky, with a breath-taking opening scene. Renita’s forte is in her strong, relatable, well-drawn characters and that delicate prose which effortlessly carries the tension through a web of secrets, lies and betrayal.”
BRITAIN’S BIGGEST CRIME PRIZE SEARCHES FOR THE NEXT BESTSELLING WRITER OF COLOUR.
The Joffe Books Prize is looking for a talented new crime fiction writer of colour, with one of the UK’s largest literary prizes for the winner.
The judging panel includes Nadine Matheson, bestselling author of The Jigsaw Man, and literary agent Nelle Andrew.
The prize invites submissions from unagented authors from Black, Asian, Indigenous and minority ethnic backgrounds writing in crime fiction genres including: electrifying psychological thrillers, cosy mysteries, gritty police procedurals, twisty chillers, unputdownable suspense mysteries and shocking domestic noirs.
The winner will be offered a prize package consisting of a two-book publishing deal with Joffe Books, a £1,000 cash prize, and a £25,000 audiobook offer from Audible for the first book.
The submission period ends at midnight on 30 September 2023.
HOW TO ENTER
Entrants are invited to submit their full-length manuscript, written in English, along with a synopsis of the book and author biography, to prize@joffebooks.com.
This prize is open to UK residents and British citizens (including those living abroad) only. The opening date for entries is 1 June 2023. The competition closes 30 September 2023, 23.59 GMT. No entries received outside this period will be accepted.
Read the full Terms & Conditions here.
ABOUT THE PRIZE
The winner will be offered a prize package consisting of the following: a two-book publishing contract with Joffe Books on its standard author agreement terms; a £1,000 cash prize; a two-year membership to the Society of Authors; a £25,000 audiobook contract with Audible for the first book. The prize is a package and can only be accepted in its entirety.
The prize will be offered to the selected winner. Joffe Books may choose an alternative winner if acceptance is not confirmed within one week.
Northumberland-based Christie J. Newport won the inaugural prize in 2021, followed by Sam Genever in 2022. Christie’s winning entry and debut novel, The Raven’s Mark, is available online and in all good bookshops now!
THE JUDGES
The 2023 judges are Nadine Matheson, Nelle Andrew, Emma Grundy Haigh, Jasper Joffe and Kate Lyall Grant. The winner of the competition will be selected by these judges based on the quality and commercial potential of the work.
NADINE MATHESON, BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF THE JIGSAW MAN: “I’m beyond excited to be judging the Joffe Books Prize. There are so many talented writers and the Joffe Books Prize is the perfect way for the voice of an exciting new writer to be heard. I’m looking forward to being part of the journey.”
NELLE ANDREW, AWARD WINNING LITERARY AGENT: “I am really excited to be part of the judging panel for this prize. It had such a stellar year last year and I can't wait to discover the next cohort of new voices this year.”
EMMA GRUNDY HAIGH, EDITORIAL DIRECTOR AT JOFFE BOOKS: “I am thrilled to see the Joffe Books Prize enter its third year — it’s been amazing to see how much it has grown. The prize underscores our commitment to amplifying a far greater diversity of talent, and we’re reaching more crime writers of colour than ever before. With Audible’s involvement, we now also offer the largest prize package for crime fiction in the UK. I can’t wait to dive into this year’s submissions!”
ABOUT NADINE MATHESON
Nadine Matheson lives in London and is a criminal solicitor. In 2016, she won the City University Crime Writing Competition and completed the Creative Writing (Crime/Thrillers Novels) Master’s Degree with distinction in 2018. In 2019, Nadine signed with A.M. Heath Literary Agents and her debut crime fiction novel, The Jigsaw Man, was won by HQ (HarperCollins) in a six-publisher auction. The Jigsaw Man was published in 2021 and has been translated into fifteen languages and optioned for television.
ABOUT NELLE ANDREW
Nelle Andrew represents an array of internationally bestselling and award-winning authors across both fiction and non-fiction. Among those on her list are Sara Collins (winner of the Costa Debut fiction award), Jing-Jing Lee (a longlistee for the Women’s Fiction Prize and Walter Scott prize), Beth Underdown (HWA Goldsboro Award winner) and six Richard and Judy book club picks, such as the bestselling Heidi Perks, Bryony Gordon and Elizabeth Day.
Nelle was crowned Literary Agent of the Year in 2021 at The Bookseller Awards; the most prestigious accolade for a literary agent in the UK. Before then, Nelle was a Bookseller Rising Star in 2016. She is now a Trustee for the Royal Literary Fund.
ABOUT JOFFE BOOKS
Joffe Books is one of the UK’s leading independent publishers of excellent commercial fiction, especially crime and mystery fiction. Joffe Books is renowned for working closely with authors from across the world to create fantastic books and turning them into bestsellers. Since 2014, Joffe Books has published more than 500 books by more than 70 authors and has sold over 10 million books. The publisher’s roster of award-winning authors and New York Times, USA Today and Amazon bestsellers includes Joy Ellis, Faith Martin, Robert Goddard, Rick Mofina, Volker Kutscher, Simon Brett and Stella Cameron. Joffe Books won Trade Publisher of the Year at the Independent Publishing Awards in 2023 and was shortlisted for Independent Publisher of the Year at the British Book Awards in 2023 for the fourth year in a row.
While Joffe Books maintains open submissions for all authors, this competition is designed to offer an opportunity to Black, Asian and minority ethnic writers, who are particularly underrepresented in crime fiction publishing.
Click here to go to our submissions page.