Posted by Monica Cardenas on 2 August 2022, in News
Byte The Book, a network for authors and publishing professionals, is pleased to announce two winners of the Hachette UK Bursary for Debut Authors: Angelita Lapuz Bradney for Wildwood and Viktoria Dahill for Compassion Fatigue. Winners will receive an annual membership to Byte The Book and debut author support package worth over £600.
Angelita Lapuz Bradney is a half-Filipina, half-British writer, who holds an MA in creative writing from Goldsmiths, University of London and is a graduate of the Faber Academy. Her atmospheric novel, Wildwood, is set in the Philippines and the UK’s Forest of Dean and tells a tumultuous family story inspired by her mother’s memories of growing up in the rural Philippines. ‘Wildwood also explores the nuances of being mixed-race in the UK today, and draws on my fascination for folklore and superstition,’ said Bradney.
Viktoria Dahill holds an MA in creative writing from Bath Spa University. During the London Library Emerging Writers Programme, she wrote prose and poetry about the English countryside, including a poem that was shortlisted for the 2022 Creative Future Writers Award. Her novel Compassion Fatigue has been shortlisted for RWA's Stiletto Award, The Novel Studio Scholarship, and the Grindstone Novel Prize. 'As a long-time agriculture worker turned farm veterinarian, I have drawn from hundreds of hours of working across the UK to inform my prose,' said Dahill.
‘We were truly impressed with the standard of these submissions, and found it difficult to select our two winners,’ said Justine Solomons, founder of Byte The Book. ‘Angelita and Viktoria deserve a hearty congratulations, and we are looking forward to working with them to take their projects forward.’
‘We are so pleased that there are two winners of a high calibre, and we hope they benefit from their bursary,’ said David Shelley, CEO of Hachette UK.
Applicants to the Debut Author bursary were as-yet unpublished writers on a low-income or from under-represented groups.
