Apply Now: A new opportunity for emerging fiction writers

Published Wed 13 Aug 2025 - By Literature Wales

We are inviting applications from fiction writers looking to develop their skills for a free-of-charge 5-day residency at Tŷ Newydd in November 2025.

Whether you are experimenting with flash fiction, working on a series of short stories, building your novella or starting to plot your first novel, our Writing Fiction course could help you on your journey. The residency aims to enhance your skills in developing captivating characters, engaging plots, and credible worlds.

For this course, we’re looking for fiction writers who are under-represented within the publishing scene in Wales. Further guidance on this can be read in our FAQs section. Emerging writers must be aged 18 or older at time of application. We’re particularly keen to receive applications from writers who have not previously benefited from a free-of-charge Literature Wales programme or retreat at Tŷ Newydd.

We’re delighted to be welcoming some of Wales’ most current and exciting fiction writers as tutors. Anthony Shapland’s concise, stripped-down poetic prose is in stark contrast to Francesca Reece’s plot-driven, page-turning novels – with both sharing the intricate skill of bringing the locations where their narratives are set in different parts of Wales alive as characters in their books. Joshua Jones will join as a guest reader, also a master in creating a sense of place through his short stories, always featuring an eclectic line-up of characters.

All three writers have taken part in writer development programmes associated with Literature Wales and look forward to passing on their learning to the next generation of emerging fiction writers of Wales of all ages.

On the residency, writers will hone their craft through a variety of group workshops and exercises. They will receive individual advice and feedback from both tutors and will hear from representatives within the publishing and literature industry – including Folding Rock, Granta Magazine and Stinging Fly to name but a few – to learn about upcoming opportunities and career pathways. Following the course, Literature Wales will continue to offer support the cohort to reach their ambitions.

The deadline for applications is 5.00 pm on Wednesday 24 September 2025.

You can find more information about this opportunity, including FAQs, eligibility criteria and details on how to apply on the Writing Fiction course page. All documents are also available in large print and dyslexia-friendly formats.

We’re grateful to our funders who has made this opportunity possible: The National Lottery through the Arts Council of Wales and The Fenton Arts Trust.

More about your tutors and guest speaker:

Francesca was the 2019 recipient of the Desperate Literature Prize for her short story So Long Sarajevo/They Miss You So Badly and her debut novel, Voyeur, was published by Tinder Press in 2021 and described by one reviewer as “A sultry, summery book . . . devastatingly witty, compulsively readable . . . like Sally Rooney meeting Martin Amis in Paris.”. Her work has featured in The London Magazine, Banshee and Elle UK. Her second novel Glass Houses (Tinder Press, 2024) was shortlisted for the 2025 Wales Book of the Year Fiction category.

Anthony grew up in the Rhymney Valley and is the co-founder of the artist-run organisation and creative community space in Cardiff, g39. He was shortlisted for the Rhys Davies Short Story Competition for Foolscap, which was later published in the Cree anthology (Parthian, 2022). His work has appeared in various anthologies such as Cymru & I (Inclusive Journalism/ Seren, 2023) and following being part of Literature Wales’ Representing Wales programme, in (un)common (Lucent Dreaming, 2024). Anthony’s work was featured in the debut issue of Folding Rock literary magazine, and his fiction, Feathertongue, was broadcast as part of BBC Radio 4’s Short Works series in autumn 2024. His debut novel, A Room Above a Shop was published by Granta in spring 2025 to wild acclaim, referred to in The Observer as “one of the best debut novels in years”.

Joshua Jones is a queer, disabled writer and artist from Llanelli. He has published various pamphlets of poetry, including A Fistful of Flowers in collaboration with Caitlin Flood-Molyneux (2022), Three Months in the Zebra Room (Hello America Stereo Cassette, 2024), and The City on Film (Bread and Roses). His debut collection of short stories Local Fires (Parthian, 2023) was shortlisted for the 2024 Dylan Thomas Prize and the 2024 Polari First Book Prize. He is the editor of Room/Ystafell/Phòng (Parthian, 2023) and is a Contributing Editor of Folding Rock.