Fresher

The Publishing House for New Voices

WELCOME TO FRESHER PUBLISHING

Fresher is a publishing press, established at Bournemouth University to nurture the publishing talent of the future and support writers everywhere. It is also central to the university’s MA in Creative Writing and Publishing.

The Bournemouth Writing Prize is an annual, international competition open to any writers of fiction and poetry. Judges each year include senior figures from the publishing industry, who offer a one-to-one or feedback on winners’ work as part of their prize. We also run the Writing Wizardry Prize for children of 11 years and under.

Please do keep in touch here, or via Facebook/Twitter/Instagram, for details of the Prize, our publications and other special writing-related events.

Please note, we do not currently accept any other work for publication. Unfortunately, as we are a very small publishing house, we are unable to offer any work experience placements.

Best wishes – Emma
Find out more

Literary agent Sophie Scard joins The Bournemouth Writing Prize judging panel

in Updates on

We are delighted to welcome United Agents’ literary agent Sophie Scard to the judging panel of this year’s Bournemouth Writing Prize. Sophie, whose clients include Tessa Hadley, Susannah Dickey and Chris Brookmyre, is no stranger to writing competitions as she has judged the White Review Short Story Prize three times, and co-runs the Pat Kavanagh Prize. “I am interested in… View Post

Story starters for children

in Children's Inspiration on

Struggling to come up with a great way to start your Writing Wizardry entry this year? Take a look at our long list of starters for characters, settings and plots to get you going and get that imagination flowing. Use any of the below individually or maybe put two together for an exciting and original combination. Be as different and… View Post

Resources to start writing for children

in Children's Inspiration on

Some resources for you to get that inspiration flowing and creativity showing! Here you will have links to various online content to prompt you on your writing journey, giving you various activities and writing exercises. National Literacy Trust gives you lots of teacher/parent resources to try out with children of all ages, you can find their website here. They also… View Post

Photograph-of-Mary-Evans

Author Maz Evans to judge new prize for Dorset’s young writing wizards

in Updates on

This year’s Writing Wizardry competition has a special, new prize which will be awarded to the best story entered by a Dorset-based writer. All children from Dorset who enter the Writing Wizardry Competition this year will immediately be considered for the special prize by judges, with the final decision being made by the award-winning children’s author Maz Evans, who also… View Post

The new Bournemouth Writing Prize for all poets and short story writers

in Updates on

Fresher Publishing is delighted to announce the launch of The Bournemouth Writing Prize 2021. The Bournemouth Writing Prize is the new name for the successful Fresher Writing Prize which was launched in 2015 to help launch and support new writers, and has since seen incredible growth and interest. Previous winners have included authors Felicia Yapp and Hannah Persaud, and we… View Post

Author Ali Sparkes to judge this year’s Writing Wizardry Competition

in Updates on

Fresher Publishing is delighted to announce that Ali Sparkes will be ‘head’ Judge of the Writing Wizardry Competition 2021. Ali Sparkes is a well-loved children’s author, who has written over 40 books, including The Shapeshifter series, her Blue Peter Award-winning novel Frozen in Time, and the Monster Makers series. She has been awarded numerous prizes for her book, including five… View Post