Announcing the Short and Long Listed Proposals: February 2023 Call for Submissions

We are excited to announce the shortlisted and longlisted submissions from our February 2023 general call requesting prose for adults and poetry & prose for children.

Thank you to all the writers who submitted for trusting us with your work, and congratulations to the shortlisted and longlisted authors.

In this call we received 161 submissions across genres and we’re particularly happy that a full range across essays, novellas, short stories, children’s novels and children’s poetry (and Flash Fiction) are represented in our shortlist of 11 titles, including a translation proposal.

We’ll choose which submissions to publish from the completed manuscripts. In the meantime, we’d like to celebrate the shortlisted writers and share why we were particularly captivated by these proposals.

Shortlisted Authors

Amber Rollinson with The Blue Hour

A cyanotype artist’s curious nocturnal images prove unexpectedly revelatory in Rollinson’s crisp, intriguing and deeply atmospheric novella.

Instagram: @amberlilyrollinson

Andy Turner’s translation of Wild Boar, by Hannah Lutz

Not a word is wasted in the opening of this Swedish-language polyphonic short novel raising questions of memory, migration and the anthropocene. We also appreciated the translator’s clear vision of the novella and how it would fit within The Emma Press catalogue.

Twitter: @Scandiandy

Cheryl Moskowitz with Greeting Card Lou

The mystery of an unnamed grave begs to be solved in this middle-grade children’s novel. Moskowitz’s intriguing premise and soothing prose has us hooked.

Twitter @cherylmoskowitz | Instagram @c.moskowitz

Ellora Sutton with Sugar, Sweetie, Honey

In Sutton’s words, ‘Mary Berry meets riot grrl’: a captivating, personal, critically-informed essay collection in which the act of baking is the departure point for a series of reflections on queer femininity and culture.

Twitter: @ellora_sutton | Instagram: @ellorarosesutton. 

Emmy Clarke with Fox & Mouse and the Worlds Inbetween

A highly original narrative perspective skillfully steers this children’s novel between the whimsical and the wise. One of our favourite opening lines ever!

Instagram: @starmaid

Frances Cannon with Bitten by the Lantern Fly

Exquisitely wrought images comprise a compelling broader narrative about the relationship between a writer and a scientist in this lyrical microprose collection.

Twitter: @francesartist | Instagram: @frankyfrancescannon

Katie Walters with Planet Alex 

As Walters puts it, ‘a magical story about disability, friendship and finding your place in the universe’: a chaptered YA novella which navigates the big questions with a winning lightness of touch.

Twitter & | Instagram: @sparklyopteryx

Laura Theis with Poem’s from a Witch’s Pocket 

Cleverly crafted, mysterious poems for older children which explore a range of themes in a deft, alluring manner. We especially loved ‘So you want to be a hovel witch’.

Instagram: @wodehouse_and_i

Luke Thompson with Salmon Pulp

Thompson’s strong, assured prose steers us adeptly through a range of genres to question personhood in a collection as unsettling as it is intriguing. We can’t stop thinking about ‘The Trees’.

Twitter: @LukeThompson210 | Instagram: @luke.a.thompson

Lynette Teo with Prefer Not To Say

A bold, fascinating and elusive collection exploring gender and written to skirt censorship: the author’s sharp, confident prose left us wanting more.

Twitter: @lyngering | Instagram: @alyngeringthought

Rob Walton with Please Do Not Read The Footnotes Please

Zingy, playful and warm: Walton has shaped a unique and enticing collection of flash fiction for children. Of course we want to read the footnotes!

Twitter: @robwaltonwriter | Instagram: @robwaltonwriter

Longlisted Authors

Amanda Addison, Rubi and the Rebels

Anna Trevelyan, O.C.Me

Daryl Li, Tenderly, Tenderly

Eleanor Brown, The Thinks that I Think

Estelle Phillips, The Whispering Downs

Jacqueline Shirtliff, Just Like Me

Jake Lewsey, CAT DETECTIVE JOJO

Jenny Vuglar, Strangelands

K. Y. Djassi, Dispossessions

Karla Kane, The Newtspaper (poems from the pond… and beyond)

Kate Carne, A Little Unhinged

Kerriann Speers, The Museum of Personal History

Lucie Schroeder, The Possibility of Swimming

Mark Granier, Pooka In The Back Seat

Matt Essenwise, The Crack in the Pavement (Strange & Spooky Poems for Halloween and All Year Round)

Molly Farrell, violet poesy: a sapphic YA history

Peter Ferry, The Home Girls

Rebecca Rouillard, Ren Breezewing – Child of the Skies

Swithun Cooper, The Troubling Body

[Cover image from Pilgrim by Lisabelle Tay, illustrated by Reena Makwana]