New2theScene

Meet Eilidh McKenzie, winner of our 2026 Novel Competition with her middle grade fiction Finding Calliope — an extract of which is available to read at New2theScene. We sit down with Eilidh to delve deeper into her writing journey, learning what inspires her, drives her, and what she’s doing to fulfil her greatest ambition. Finding Calliope first entered Eilidh’s consciousness when she was thirtee...

Meet Rachel Hickingbotham, winner of our 2026 Winter Short Story Competition with her haunting entry The Sentinel , now available to read at New2theScene. As part of our mission to champion emerging writers, we sit down with Rachel to explore her creative journey, inspirations, next steps, and hopes for the future. Step into Rachel’s world as we uncover the origins of The Sentinel — a chilling, at...

Meet Jenni Thorne , a poet from the Black Country and the winner of our 2025 Poetry Competition. In this episode, Jenni opens up about the imposter syndrome that kept her from pursuing her dream for years, as she watched from the sidelines of a world she felt her background denied her access to. Discover how Jenni challenged her self-doubt, found her voice, and built the confidence now propelling...

Meet Ella Torres , a Brazilian writer, poet, translator, and the winner of our Summer 2025 Novel Competition. In this episode, Ella speaks candidly about her dreams of authorship and the tight-knit community of aspiring writers who inspire and sustain her. Together, we dive into her winning novel extract, The Midnight Saints , uncovering the questions it raises about belonging, transformation, and...

Meet Evie Wild , winner of our 2025 Summer Short Story Competition with her entry Fifteen Forever , which can now be read at New2theScene . As part of the prize, we want to promote new writers, and as such we chat to Evie about her writing journey, inspirations, next steps, and her view on the literary world today. Learn about Evie’s early love of literature that quickly became a need to write, ho...

Meet Tim Collyer, winner of our 2025 Flash Fiction competition with his piece, What Mirrors Cannot Change, now available to read on our winner’s blog page . As part of the prize, we aim to shine a light on emerging writers, and in this episode, we speak with Tim about his remarkable journey into writing, his love for flash fiction, and what’s next for him creatively. Tim’s story is one of transfor...

Meet L.S. Scott, winner of our 2025 Winter Novel competition with her entry  What Pulls Us Under , which can now be read on our winner's blog page. As part of the prize, we want to promote new writers, and as such we chat to Larissa about her writing journey, aspirations, next steps, and view on the literary landscape. Learn about Larissa’s strategic path to becoming a full-time author—how sh...

Meet Joe Pearson, winner of our 2025 Winter Short Story competition with his entry All Equal in Utopia, which can now be read on our winner's blog page . As part of the prize, we want to promote new writers, and as such we chat to Joe about his writing journey, aspirations, next steps, and view on the literary landscape. Learn about Joe's bold decision to become an author by pausing his...

M. Jonathan Lee, author of six novels, shortlisted for The Novel Prize in 2012, and mental health campaigner, returns for his second podcast with N2tS as he's been working on a special project for the site. His new six-part series, 'M is for Meaningless', details his life in writing, including hints and advice he's acquired over twenty years, exclusive to New2theScene, and can...

Meet Kate Bramhall, winner of our 2024 poetry competition with her poem Papa, which can now be read at New2theScene.co.uk. As part of the prize, we want to promote new writers, and as such we chat to Kate about her writing journey, aspirations, next steps, love for literacy, and the difference it can make in people's lives. Learn about Kate's work in prisons, transforming outlooks throug...

Meet co-authors and sisters, Katharine and Elizabeth Corr, creators of The Witches Kiss trilogy, A Throne of Swans duology, and The House of Shadows duology, Daughter of Darkness and Queen of Gods. We chat about their work, writing with a sibling, inspiration, the road to getting published, and upcoming projects. Learn what it takes to get published, the benefits of researching and studying your s...

Meet Eugene O'Toole, winner of our summer short story competition (2024) who wrote Church of Rage, which can now be read on our winner's blog page . As part of the prize, we want to promote new authors, and as such we chat to Eugene about his writing journey, aspirations, next steps, love for literacy, and what a good short story needs. Learn the importance of honing your craft in compet...

Meet Natalie Franks, editor and creator of Clever Crow copyediting, who works with indie authors on developmental, copyediting and proofreading. We chat about the different aspects of the publishing industry, namely editing, how to become an editor, and what you should be looking for when thinking of hiring an editor's services for your manuscript. Learn what it takes to become a professional...

Meet Luke Richards, author of Dave's New World, a dystopian comedy, and winner of the Bath New Comedy award for 2024 for his stand-up routine. We chat about getting published, performing comedy, future projects and more. Learn about entering the comedy scene, accepting that not everyone will like your work, and the difficulty of getting noticed in any creative industry. Get to know Luke bette...

Meet Sylvia Bishop, author of ten novels for a variety of ages, short-listed and winning awards since 2017. We chat about writing for different age groups, performing comedy, writing workshops, Writers with Faces, and more. Learn what it takes to establish a career in writing, how lonely writing can feel if you shut yourself away from the world, and ideas on how to combat that isolation. Get to kn...

Meet Victoria Williamson, author of eight novels, and more, which have been short-listed, long-listed, and won numerous awards since 2018. We chat about her work, the importance of children seeing themselves in literature, school librarians, writing for a variety of genres and purposes, and 90's children's TV programmes! Learn what it takes to get published, the lesser-known struggle to...

Meet M Jonathan Lee, author of six novels, shortlisted for The Novel Prize in 2012, and mental health campaigner, in a podcast that’s been over a year in the making. His article, 'Writing and its mental health benefits', inspried New2theScene to exist. We chat about this, the personal experiences leading to that article, and writing through adversity. Learn what it takes to be an author,...

Meet Samantha Howard-Els, creator of the beautifully illustrated Mungo series for 4-7 year olds. We chat about life as an author in South Africa, the good, bad and ugly of self-publishing, and finding a genre that suits your style. Learn what it takes to be a children's author, the process of working with an illustrator (and friend), and what it means to have total control of a publication. G...

Meet Patricia Marques, creator of Inspector Reis, with The Colours of Death and House of Silence already on our shelves, and Broken Oaths, the third novel in the series, due September '24. We chat about getting a university assignment published, the advantages and disadvantages of crossing genres, and how life can impact the writing process as she struggled to complete her latest instalment....

Meet Chris Nickson, author of over 30 books, including historical crime series featuring Simon Westow and Tom Harper, set in his hometown of Leeds over the last three centuries. We chat about the importance of factual accuracy in fiction, writing several series in unison, following in family footsteps, and penning 50,000 word celebrity books in a month! Learn the reality of paying the bills with y...

Meet Kristen Bailey, author of 10 books, including stand-alone novels Sex Ed, the RNA Romantic Comedy Award nominated Great Sexpectations, and her latest release, Five Gold Rings. We chat about becoming an author, the perception versus the reality of writing for a living, and the imposter syndrome that success doesn't banish. Learn the true ups and downs of being an author, the sometimes brut...