MEET OUR WINNERS
We set up the Primadonna Prize because we wanted to open up access to the publishing industry.
We wanted more people to be able to tell their stories. And we wanted everyone to feel welcome to participate. None of these people had ever been published before. Come along to this year’s festival and experience Primadonna’s magic for yourself. You never know, it could be you next.
These are the kind of small scale but life-changing impacts that Primadonna is all about. We know it changes lives.
ELISSA SOAVE
HONORIA BEIRNE
GAYATHIRI KAMALAKANTHAN
JO MOREY
NATALIE GREGORY
AND THERE'S MORE...
Came as a festival-goer, left with a book deal!
Louise Mumford
Louise was born in South Wales where she still lives today. In the summer of 2019 Louise experienced a once-in-a-lifetime moment: she was discovered as a new writer by her publisher at the Primadonna Festival. Louise’s debut novel Sleepless was published in December 2020 by HQ HarperCollins. A UK Amazon Kindle Top 50 bestseller, it was the Asda Karin Slaughter Killer Read for July 2021. Her second thriller, The Safe House, was published in May 2022 and her latest novel, The Festival, is published in August 2024.
Anita Lehmann
Anita won the inaugural Make Sioned Laugh competition at Primadonna 2019, performing in front of (then) Radio 4 commissioner for comedy Sioned Wiliam. She is a prize winning children’s author and also writes for adults under the pseudonym Walburga Appleseed, publishing The Princess and the Prick in October 2020 with a new book coming out in autumn 2024.
