Administered by the Society of Authors, the Sunday Times Charlotte Aitken Trust Young Writer of the Year Award works with a growing network of partners to provide a critical support system to the very best talent at work right now. We are pleased to have partnered with the Sunday Times Charlotte Aitken Trust Young Writer of the Year Award, offering two years’ Library membership to the winner as well as a year’s membership for the shortlist.

The award is given annually to the best work of fiction, non-fiction or poetry by a British or Irish author of 35 or under. It finds and celebrates authors of the highest quality at the beginning of their careers; the award’s alumni list reads like a Who’s Who of modern British and Irish literature over the last 30 years, from Zadie Smith and Sarah Waters to poet laureate Simon Armitage and Robert Macfarlane. The 2021 winner will join Jay Bernard (2020), Raymond Antrobus (2019), Adam Weymouth (2018), Sally Rooney (2017), Max Porter (2016) and Sarah Howe (2015) on the impressive list of recent alumni.

Following a digital edition last year, The London Library returns as a host for the ceremony and the 2021 winner will be announced at the Library on 24 February 2022. In the mean time you can read about the amazing writers who have been shortlisted here https://www.youngwriteraward.com/2021-shortlist-revealed/