The MonteGrappa Writing Prize For UAE Residents

Claudine Pabst, winner of the Montegrappa Writing Prize 2015 with Luigi Bonomi and Charles Nahhas, MD Montegrappa ME

If you are a writer living in the UAE, seeking to get your first novel acknowledged, it means hours and hours of hunkering down in the writing cave and getting on with the business of well, writing. If it's lack of an incentive that's holding you back, then a great one to aim for would be The Montegrappa Writing Prize, launched by Emirates Airline Festival of Literature in 2013 with Montegrappa and Luigi Bonomi Associates. 

This is a Prize aimed exclusively at UAE residents who have never had a novel published. All entries are read by Luigi Bonomi Associates and the winner receives a trip to London Book Fair and lunch with Bonomi. The top 5 participants will be able to discuss their work with Luigi Bonomi at Emirates Airline Festival of Literature 2016. 

Writers have got until October to write their masterpieces, which is when the Prize opens for submissions. This means that by October you should be ready to submit a synopsis of 400 words and the first 2,000 words of your manuscript, which will be read and judged by top UK Literary Agent, Luigi Bonomi. Any submissions not adhering to this strict format and word count will be automatically discounted.

The 2015 Prize was won by Claudine Pabst, whose young adult fantasy manuscript ‘The Reluctant Thief’. Kim Adams was first runner-up for her contemporary novel, ‘The 9 Lives of Catherine Lewis’, and second runner-up for 2015 was Steven Bainbridge for his Japan and Korea-set mystery story, ‘Comfort Men’.

To find out more about the prize's rules and regulations as well as its previous winners, click HERE.