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JUDGE: Margaret Busby

UP-AND-COMING black and Asian female writers are set to benefit from a brand new book prize honouring unpublished fiction.

The Soroptimist International (SI) Leeds Literary Prize will be handed out in October at the Ilkley Literature Festival in west Yorkshire.

Organisers said they hoped the prize would help them discover talented fiction writers from a group largely under-represented on mainstream, commercial bookshelves.

The winner of the inaugural prize will receive £2,000 and, with the author’s consent, independent publisher Peepal Tree Press will consider her manuscript for publication.

The runner-up will take home £750, and £250 will be given as a third prize.

Writer and broadcaster Bidisha, who is one of the Prize’s patrons, said: “The Prize is a testament to the importance and manifest talent of women, and a tribute to the gift of cultural, national, ethnic and linguistic diversity.”

The award is open to UK residents aged 18 years and over, an entry fee of £15 is required and judges are looking for unpublished novels or collections of short stories of no more than 50,000 words.

The deadline for manuscripts is June 1.

Among the judging panel is Britain’s youngest and first black female publisher, Margaret Busby. Busby, a writer, broadcaster editor, critic and literary prize judge said she hoped the award would inspire the next generation of black and Asian female fiction writers to pick up their pens and help diversify the industry.

The Soroptimist International of Leeds, an organisation dedicated to the development and support of women, created the prize.

To find out more about the prize or to enter, visit www.sileedsliteraryprize.com.