The Hilary Mantel Prize for Fiction

Hilary Mantel was one of the greatest and best-loved writers of our time. Over four decades and seventeen books she made an enduring mark on literature and on millions of readers.

When she died on 22 September 2022, she was a very public figure, having won the Booker Prize twice and reached global audiences through stage and screen adaptations of her work.

And since then, Hilary’s friends and colleagues have discovered the true extent of an important feature of her private life – one which might, indirectly, make a mark on the literary landscape for many years to come.

Throughout her life, Hilary encouraged dozens of writers as they developed their own craft, devoting time to correspondence with them, offering critiques, insight, or just plain encouragement. She told very few people about the scale of this activity. It’s only since her death that close friends and colleagues have come to realise the extent of the role she played in helping so many other writers. While she understood that writing is a solitary experience, success almost always requires the guidance and encouragement of someone else. Without that support, talented writers at the beginning of their careers may lose their way or simply lose heart.

Now, three years after her death, to honour Hilary’s role as mentor and inspiration, her friends and colleagues are announcing a new literary prize to help aspiring writers.

The Hilary Mantel Prize for Fiction is being launched by Hilary’s literary agency, A M Heath, and will focus on a novel-in-progress from unpublished writers, offering a mixture of editorial and financial support to assist them in finishing their work. A M Heath will work with the publisher John Murray on this biennial prize.

The panel of five judges for the inaugural 2026 award will be chaired by the bestselling author Maggie O’Farrell, who also benefited from generous support from other authors when she was writing her debut novel. Her fellow judges are Nicholas Pearson, Hilary’s editor of eighteen years, the actor Ben Miles, who played Thomas Cromwell in the RSC adaptations of Hilary Mantel’s novels Wolf Hall, Bring Up the Bodies and The Mirror and the Light, the last of which he co-wrote with Hilary, author Chetna Maroo whose debut novel Western Lane was shortlisted for the Booker Prize and author Chigozie Obioma who has twice been a Booker Prize finalist and was a Booker judge in 2021.

Maggie O’Farrell says: ‘All writers know that encouragement early in your career can be crucial and life-changing, but few put this into action quite like Hilary Mantel did. Somehow, in between creating her own books, she found the time to read and respond to the work of others. She was as brilliant a reader as she was a writer, perspicuous in her insights, always unfailingly generous in championing books, with a special emphasis on those of emerging writers. She held the ladder for those coming up behind her, which is not always the case with someone of her stature. It is entirely fitting that there is now a prize for unpublished writers in her name.’

Nicholas Pearson says: ‘Working for Hilary as her editor and publisher through the last part of her career was the greatest privilege imaginable. No one wrote like her – as a novelist she is unique – and this prize is an attempt to keep alive another important aspect that was ever present: her extraordinary generosity towards other writers she believed in and wanted to encourage.’

Ben Miles says: ‘I am honoured and overjoyed to be a part of this timely award, celebrating one of the greatest writers of our age. In highlighting and encouraging new writers, this prize acknowledges so much of what Hilary Mantel was: a champion of the unknown life, a witness to the capacity for more than is apparent in all of us.’ 

Mary Morris, Artistic Director at Arvon, says: ‘Arvon exists to offer support, creative inspiration and the expertise of established tutors to aspiring writers as they develop their craft. Arvon’s connection to Hilary Mantel goes back to 1989, when she taught her first course at Lumb Bank, staying up until 3am to read the students’ manuscripts with her characteristic commitment and generosity. ‘Some people say they want to write, but in fact simply want to publish books,’ Hilary wrote for the TLS. ‘One thing about the Arvon courses – the people who attend them really want to write.’ We are therefore particularly thrilled to be working in partnership with AM Heath and John Murray in offering this opportunity, in her memory, to an unpublished writer.’

The Hilary Mantel Prize will be open to unpublished and unagented writers living in the UK and Ireland. Entry will be online and open from 22 September to 31 December 2025. Candidates are invited to submit 15,000 words of their novel, a 1,000-word precis, and a short biographical statement.

The first Hilary Mantel Prize will be awarded in early spring 2026. The winner and runner-up will each receive a cash prize and personal mentoring from an agent at A M Heath and an editor at John Murray. The winner will also receive a place on an Arvon residential writing course. The runner-up will receive a place on an Arvon masterclass.

For more information and to enter the prize: https://hilarymantelprize.com

Instagram: @hilarymantelprize