Bloomsbury Writing 2023

In 2023, in partnership with Bloomsbury Publishing, we ran a creative writing competition to give girls, young women and non-binary writers aged 19 or under the opportunity to have their creative work appear alongside bestselling authors Madeline Miller and Jennifer Saint. We asked entrants to submit a piece of creative writing of 1500 words or less, inspired by the classical world, and there were hundreds of amazing entries. See below for the results: huge congratulations to all of the long and short listed writers!

Winner

Cait KremensteinIn the Bad Times

Cait’s brilliant story has been selected as the overall winning entry and will be published by Bloomsbury in the upcoming Women Re-Creating Classics: Contemporary Voices, co-edited by Dr Emily Hauser (author of the acclaimed For the Most Beautiful) and Dr Helena Taylor, where they foreground discussions and interviews between writers and academics, reflecting on why classical creative retellings are so popular now, and showcase fantastic contemporary receptions of Classics by women writers. Make sure to look out for this exciting publication and read In the Bad Times!

Listen here to our podcast interview with Cait about the inspiration for her winning story.

Runners Up

Hafsa TifowAn Ouroborosian Odyssey

Hettie NolanOur Penelope

Final Shortlist

Maddy BrowneOrpheus at Temple Meads

Chloe Choi Chu CamThe Hetaera Confesses in the Whispered Dark

Emelia DobsonA grapevine grows

Salma ElsaidA Daughter Betrayed

Roberta Jenkins The Weavers

Jay T. A. MillerHe Is Apollo

Evie PattersonWomen are Stained with Blood

Sophie PowersDaphne

May RobinsonPomegranate Juice

Lily ShahataTo Pygmalion

Lily WhiteA Woman Scorned

Angelina WuChicken

Shortlisted

Saskia Grace BlackerAn Heir’s Loom

Isobelle CatherineBloodlust

Penelope CeccatoPenelope

Chloe Choi Chu Cam Clytemnestra Auditions for the Role of Lady Macbeth

Almila DükelHidden Islands

Maria Louise GreenOdyssea

Isobel GurnettBurning of Alyssa

Maisie HarrisLosing my religion

Esme HobbsIn the future we cannot see the stars

Mathilda IngallDaphne Lauri

Charlie JamesThe Tenth Muse

Keira JuddGoddess of Vengeance

Vilkas KrakerAd Infinitum

Raadhikhaa KumaarrOde to Venus

Sophie LaithwaiteAmidst the Ash

Aashi LalitBetrayal requires a vulnerable soul

Vanessa LeungBlood Flower

Amy LuongThe world burns for her

L.A. MacariThe Eleusinian Mystery

Camille MartyWhat is Aspasia?

Annie McDowellFallen Verdigris Leaves

Phoebe MeyerCaryatid

Peregrine NegerUnravelled

Lucy NicholsonI watched, I wove

Hettie NolanAndromeda in Ecstasy; Spinster

Rose RidleyClytemnestra

Madeleine Riley-SmithMiss Fortune

Nico RondelliIphigenia

Olivia SaundersThe Silent Women of Tragedy

Zoe SayersLucretia’s Elegy

Hannah ScotlandMusings on Death

Olivia Lauren Strudwick I sing of arms

Maryclare TanLucretia

Helen TottyAphrodite

Imogen VernonA Poet’s Tyranny

Kitty VolinoLittle Bird

Jasmine WalesThe Red Amphora

Violet Wan (Ching)Eniautos daimon

Ruby WarrenThis is what happened to spring

Cherie WongThe Lost Pleiad: Wife of Sisyphus

Anastasia ZelenskayaFallen

Judging Panel

Emily Hauser, classicist and author

Rani Selvarajah, author of Savage Beasts (2023)

Holly Smith, prizewinner, CA 2022 Competition

Brenna Akerman, Bloomsbury Academic

More awards & competitions