Looking for more in Writing and Authors or Applying for the New Writers Awards?
New Writers Awards Showcase 2026
Find out more about our exciting 2026 New Writers Showcase, taking place on Thursday 12 February 2026.
Every year, the New Writers Awards spotlights an amazing array of new writing talent in Scotland. Now is your chance to hear the 2025 awardees read from their own work at our exciting showcase event. Join our fabulous host Gemma Cairney(this link will open in a new window) to enjoy readings from our talented writers, then take their words home with our New Writing sampler!
We'll also live stream the event for you to watch at home – we will update this page with the link and share it on our social channels.
Book your showcase ticket
(this link will open in a new window)Buy tickets
Date: Thursday 12 February 2026
Doors open: 7pm
Main event: 7.30–9.15pm
The Traverse bar will be open after the event until 11pm.
Location: Traverse Theatre, 10 Cambridge Street, Edinburgh, EH1 2ED
Price: £2
Accessibility info and journey planning:
Traverse Theatre has a steep staircase down to the bar and main auditorium, however there is a lift off to the left. Accessible seats can also be reserved – please select whether you need accessible seating when you purchase your ticket so we can facilitate your seating reservation with the front of house team. Masks are welcome.
The Traverse Theatre have listed their available facilities and access information on their website(this link will open in a new window), as well as directions for travel(this link will open in a new window).
You will be able to buy books from previous and current Awardees on the night, thanks to help from the incredible Lighthouse Books(this link will open in a new window) and Gaelic Books Council.(this link will open in a new window)
Spotlighting our New Writers
The prestigious judging panel had the difficult task of selecting our talented awardees from hundreds of entries. Our panellists this year included respected writers Camilla Grudova, Ashley Hickson-Lovence on Fiction and Narrative Non-Fiction, Jay Gao and Joelle Taylor on Poetry, Thomas Clark and Ely Percy on Scots, as well as Tendai Huchu and Serena Patel on Children’s and YA and Cat Hepburn and Tolu Agbelusi on Spoken Word. The Gaelic New Writers Awardee is selected by The Gaelic Books Council.
Meet our awardees
Discover more about each of our New Writers, including short samples of their writing, below.
The New Writers Awards are supported by Creative Scotland, the Dr David Summers Trust and the William Grant Foundation.
Header photo credit: Kat Gollock