New Writing is an annual anthology of new literature in English from the UK and the Commonwealth, subsidised and administered by the British Council and published by Granta. It provides one of the few opportunities in the UK for unknown writers without an agent to get published by a leading fiction publisher.

The first New Writing was published in 1992 by the British Council to act as an international shop-window for writers, but also to be a showcase of new work and fresh talent for British audiences.

Many important writers have been discovered or first published between the covers of New Writing, including David Mitchell, who had an extract of his acclaimed debut novel Ghostwritten published in New Writing 8, and Trezza Azzopardi who was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize in 2000 for her novel The Hiding Place, which had an extract published in New Writing 9 the same year. Charlotte Mendelson who won the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize in 2004 for her novel Daughters of Jerusalem had her first short story published in our New Writing 7 anthology. 

Over 8,000 copies are printed annually and many go overseas. Each issue is keenly awaited by journalists and literary critics. Some of their opinions are reproduced below.

'This is a gleaming showcase of talent, which is stimulating, provocative and fun.'
- Rachel Haliburton on New Writing 9, Times Literary Supplement

 

'If you want to know which writers people will be talking about next year, buy this now.'
- Ruth Scurr on New Writing 11, The Times Online

 

'The British Council's annual trawl of famous names and feisty newcomers again hauls in a tasty anthology.'
- The Independent on New Writing 12

 

'A successful showcase for the diversity of literary talent in Britain, it is a pool of delights to be dipped into at leisure.'
- The Daily Yomiuri on New Writing 7