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Eve White Literary Agency and Spread the Word launch programme for non-fiction writers
Spread the Word, London’s literature development agency, is launching There Is Only Narrative: Non-Fiction Demystified with the Eve White Literary Agency. The aim of the programme is to find and develop new non-fiction writers from backgrounds traditionally underrepresented in UK publishing.
There Is Only Narrative will launch on 18th November 2025 with an online survey to better understand the barriers to writing non-fiction and the support writers require from the publishing and agenting industries. The survey will also include a sign-up link to a document helping writers develop a book proposal.
A free online panel event with editors Beth Eynon, Assallah Tahir and Shammah Banerjee, chaired by Eve White and Ludo Cinelli, will be hosted on 9th December. The session will explore opportunities in the non-fiction market, with the aim of demystifying the processes of acquiring and commissioning non-fiction books. A further agents’ online panel event will take place on 22nd April.
"We have followed Spread the Word’s crucial work closely for many years and we are delighted to partner with them on this project," White said. "We aim for it to be a springboard for many future non-fiction classics."
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Three free online masterclasses exploring different aspects of writing non-fiction will be held on 28th January, 25th February and 17th March. The workshops will be led by Damian Le Bas, author of The Stopping Places (Vintage), Rae Earl, author of My Mad Fat Diary (Hodder Paperbacks) and Eleanor Bruce and Lucilla Gray, authors of Things We Found in the Ground (HarperNorth).
Moreover, Spread the Word will be running a competition for disabled, working-class upbringing, LGBTQ+, low-income and Black, Asian and Global Majority writers on from 22nd April to 23rd June 2026. Six writers will be selected for further development opportunities, including a group session with Le Bas.
"We often find non-fiction overlooked in writer development programmes, but it is a genre essential to global narratives," agent and managing director of Eve White Literary Cinelli said. "We are excited to find those real-life stories that writers are dying to tell."
Gray and Bruce added: "All stories should have an opportunity to be told from underrepresented perspectives. We’re looking forward to sharing our experience as debut authors for our masterclass with There Is Only Narrative: Non-Fiction Demystified and hope to encourage others to pick up the pen and write their stories from unlikely or even muddy places."
Bobby Nayyar, programme manager at Spread the Word, commented: "We are delighted to be working with the Eve White Literary Agency and a fantastic range of non-fiction editors and authors. There is an urgent need for more investment into developing talented new writers in this space. We are excited to be working with the team at Eve White and look forward to seeing what new writing comes out of it."
