Louise Austin has been selected for inclusion in the 2024 Undiscovered Voices Anthology. A digital copy of the anthology can be downloaded for free and printed copies are also available to order. Judges commented on Louise’s manuscript, The Undead Journals of Alex Abbott, that “the voice is perfect; I loved it”.

This project, open to UK and EU members of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators and sponsored by Working Partners, aims to help fresh, diverse new voices in children’s literature find agents and publishers. Participants in the previous eight anthologies have gone on to receive publishing contracts for more than 440 books and have been nominated for, or won, more than 200 literary prizes, including the Carnegie Medal, Waterstones Children’s Book Prize, Branford Boase Award, Blue Peter Award, the SCBWI Crystal Kite Award, and more than 30 regional awards.

The prestigious judging panel included: Zoë Plant, literary agent at The Bent Agency; Amber Caravéo, literary agent and Director of Skylark Literary; Jenny Savill, literary agent and Managing Director of Andrew Nurnberg Associates; Saffron Dodds, Associate Agent at ASH Literary; Louise Lamont, literary agent at LBA; Sarah Stewart, Senior Commissioning Editor at Usborne; and Linas Alsenas, Executive Editor at Scholastic UK.

Louise is delighted to have joined the UV family: “the generosity of support from the UV team, my lovely mentor, Anna Brooke, and the wonderful UV alumni has been incredible. It’s such a fantastic community and I’m beyond honoured to see my words alongside so many magnificent stories in the anthology. Best of all, they were written by people who are genuine, warm and bursting with creativity and I’m thrilled to be a UV2024 finalist in such good company.”