With yesterday’s news that the Sobol Award was canceled after a sustained outcry still reverberating, the contest sponsored by notable UK agency Christopher Little – a 1,500 pound prize available for students on the creative writing course at City University in London – sticks out even more. The difference? The agency, most famous for representing J.K. Rowling, offers the chance of representation by the agency upon receiving and judging the first three chapters and a synopsis of the book they must write as a course requirement, instead of a locked-in requirement that they represent the book.
Patrick Janson-Smith of the Christopher Little Literary Agency said: “Considering the number of trees chopped down to feed this industry, real talent does not grow on them. We feel this is a practical way to seek out authors who are fresh and original, who have a particular voice and are not same old, same old.”