TLC is delighted to announce the ninth cohort of writers selected from submissions open to LGBTQ+ writers, run during Pride month each year. The LGBTQ+ Free Reads scheme advocates for better representation and accessibility in the worlds of literature and publishing.
As always, the quality of submissions was incredibly high, and it was as tough as ever for our filter readers to select a final five writers. The winners will receive free professional feedback on the first 15,000 words of their novels or novels-in progress from novelist, writing tutor and TLC Editor Michael Langan.
This is the ninth year the scheme is running, with several of our alumni now represented by major literary agencies and securing publishing deals. The scheme has so far supported 50 finalists and hundreds of applicants from the UK’s LGBTQ+ writing community.
Three of the opening extract assessments are funded through the TLC Free Reads scheme (supported by Arts Council England), with two donated by Michael himself. We are extremely grateful to Michael for making this scheme possible and look forward to supporting another cohort of talented writers through our open applications. All applicants are invited to a reading and Q&A with Michael and will also be invited to attend a virtual masterclass with the novelist Michael Donkor.
We are extremely grateful to both Michael and Michael for making this scheme possible once again – and our huge congratulations to the winners, who are showcased below!
Catriona Knox
Catriona Knox is an actor, comic and writer. She’s a graduate from the Birkbeck Creative Writing MA and is writing her first novel. She splits her time between London and the Isle of Skye where she lives with her wife.
Catriona says: I’m thrilled to be one of the finalists in this year’s LGBTQ+ Free Reads. To have something I’ve written recognised is exciting in itself, but to be celebrated as a queer writer and sit alongside other LGBTQ+ writers feels particularly special. We queer writers have natural superpowers. So often we’ve grown up outsiders, been told we’re weirdos or freaks, been despised or underestimated, but in never being granted access to those normcore mores, in watching from the sidelines, we’ve harnessed our freakishness for effect. As we study life through a smeared lense we learn, often unwittingly, how to tell it super-slant. Huge thanks to TLC and Michael Langan for platforming and supporting LGBTQ+ writers. As our trans friends continue to have their very existence questioned, as we remind ourselves how easy it is for hard-won rights to be snatched away, it’s more important than ever for us to speak up, keep on writing and keep on finding creative ways to show we’re not going anywhere.
About the Book: My novel is about parental demise. It’s also a comedy. Dark humour is quintessentially British but it’s also camp and queer. Our collective history is one of horror, loss and being erased, but it’s also of railing against that with the hilarious, the fearless and the outrageous. That’s what I want to try and instil in my writing — keep it bittersweet, never careful, always wild.
Leo Lucas
Leo Lucas is a British/Irish writer based in London. He is co-founder of an independent bookshop specialising in translated fiction and works locally with schools and charitable organisations, developing literary and reading programmes, with a particular focus on elevating international voices. His debut novel-in-progress, Visage, was shortlisted for the inaugural Bloomsbury Mentorship Programme for underrepresented writers in 2024.
Leo says: The hardest part of writing this book so far has been to understand its purpose. Or to put it simply: to deal with the insecure voice in my head which says something along the lines of: why am I doing this, and who will care? Winning a TLC Free Read provides a sense of validation that comes from knowing that the opening has been recognised by industry insiders who read widely and with an expert eye. Above all, though, this is a scheme for LGBTQ+ writers, and this is an unashamedly queer book. Being selected by someone like Michael, who passionately believes in championing queer stories, has given me a new-found sense of self-belief to continue to write and complete this book.
About the Book: Visage is a historical novel set in 1980s London. When Jack discovers a sealed box of letters belonging to his first boyfriend, he finds himself transported back to his youth. As in-house photographer at legendary style magazine, VISAGE, he was one of the early chroniclers of London’s burgeoning clubbing, fashion and music scenes. It was his relationship with Montane, the lead singer of fabled electropop band The Modernists, however, that catapulted him to the epicentre of this world-renowned cultural movement. Set against the backdrop of Thatcher’s Britain, Visage explores their on-again, off-again fated love affair, the price of fame, and the impact of Aids on a community of Britain’s most radical creative minds.
Sereena Shamsi
Sereena is a British-Indian writer exploring fractured identity, socially unacceptable breakdowns, and the mess of modernity. She studied Psychology at UCL before working in Media Rights at the talent agency ICM Partners. Her gender-swapping screenplay won The Bitch List, and she was hired by director Paul Feig to work on two comedy feature films for 20th Century Fox. Her manuscript, One Way Trips, is a dark comedy about identity and illness, combining the raw candour of Meg Mason with the bite of Ottessa Moshfegh. Shortlisted for Curtis Brown’s Breakthrough programme, the manuscript is currently seeking representation.
Sereena says: I’m thrilled to be selected for the Free Read scheme, which continues to spotlight and support under-represented authors. I’m looking forward to learning from Michael and the team at TLC; this is exactly the support I needed and couldn’t access elsewhere. I’m very grateful for this opportunity to polish my fiction manuscript before I begin submitting it to agents.
About the Book: One Way Trips offers luxury holidays with a twist: every trip ends in a bespoke death, for life’s weariest passengers. To Mona, a queer Indian woman reeling from a humiliating break-up, it sounds like the perfect escape. But after surviving her designer death not once, but twice, Mona is hurled into a wild five-country odyssey. Stranded, broke, and inconveniently alive, she must confront the life she was so desperate to leave behind. Find Mona on Instagram @oneway_trips.
Rosie Wilby
Rosie Wilby is an award-winning comedian and broadcaster. She’s appeared on Radio 4 programmes including Woman’s Hour and Four Thought and at major festivals around the world. Her podcast The Breakup Monologues takes an inclusive, optimistic look at heartbreak and followed her trilogy of solo shows about the psychology of love and sexuality. She regularly writes for publications including The Independent, Perspective, Cosmo, Diva and Stylist and has presented programmes for Virgin Radio, BBC and Resonance FM. She’s now working on a debut novel all about her experiences of working as a queer woman in the comedy industry.
Rosie says: I’m absolutely thrilled to receive this positive encouragement and feedback about my debut novel Conversations We Should’ve Had. I’ve found that fiction, even more than standup, provides a writer with an opportunity to tell deep emotional truths. I wanted to find a way to explore the darker, less fun experiences I’ve had as a queer woman working in comedy and to highlight the extreme difference between performing at a queer venue, where you can feel seen safe, and a mainstream one, where you might not feel either of those things.
About the Book: The core of the novel is a sort of anti romcom love story between an out lesbian comedian and a more closeted straight-passing woman. Fortunately my protagonist Lou has a constant source of love and support in her ex, Dee. She provides a safe space for them to discuss identity politics, privilege, cultural appropriation, the nature of performance and responsibilities of a performer. Think a sort of mashup of Sally Rooney’s Normal People, Megan Nolan’s Acts of Desperation, Naoise Dolan’s Exciting Times, Nicola Dinan’s Bellies and Mae Martin’s TV show Feel Good. After hearing Michael speak so wonderfully at a recent TLC Q&A, I’m particularly pleased that my work resonated with him.
Martha Woodward
Martha has been described as a ‘one-person creative hub’. Since moving to Lincolnshire in 2021, her creativity has flourished. Martha’s exhibition 70 recently opened in Caistor, where she lives. 70 is a unique collaborative exhibition about 70 year old women. In July, her science fiction piece Interview was performed on stage in Hull and her writing currently features in an exhibition in Beverley. 2025 will see the launch of her ensemble The Poetry GIRL-RILLAS and the first performance of Halloween Song at Martha’s Poetry & Performance Evening. Her 2026 Caistor Calendar is available from September. Martha is an April Fool.
Martha says: It’s difficult to say what winning a Free Read will mean. The first thing is that it sets me a challenge. A challenge to write a further 13,000 words worthy of being read. I only have the introductory words to my book and no more. There is thinking to be done. About how to approach the task ahead. About how to absorb this new priority into my life. Thinking about how to put flesh on my outline structure and make it come alive. I must have done something right to start with. I can take encouragement from that.In 2021, I moved to Lincolnshire and found creative opportunities through the friends and acquaintances I made. From small beginnings, I have developed a network of creative contacts – friends who are happy to get involved in the things I do. My book will describe how this has happened and how, in tandem, my self-belief has grown. I am pleased to be chosen as one of the lucky five. I was both shocked and delighted when I opened the email from Joe with news of my selection. Now the dust has settled, I know that there is hard work ahead.
About the Book: A transition (My working title). It is a book about two personal transitions: a gender transition and a creative transition. At 66 years old, on 17th May 2021 I took my first small blue 2mg oestrogen tablet. I have not looked back. My book will tell the story of my transition.
