New Literary Agent Listing: Ashley Lopez
firstwriter.com – Friday February 6, 2026
Represents literary and book club fiction, grounded speculative, horror, thrillers, narrative and practical nonfiction, as well as select poetry and YA. Send queries by email. Include the word “query” as well as the project’s title in the subject line. Include the first 10 pages of your manuscript (or for a nonfiction proposal, the synopsis and either a detailed chapter outline or a sample chapter) in the body of the email below your query letter. No attachments. If no response within 4-6 weeks, assume rejection.
Bournemouth Writing Festival to return for fourth edition
greatbritishlife.co.uk – Thursday February 5, 2026
Writers and readers will come together for a packed weekend of talks, workshops and literary events.
The Bournemouth Writing Festival will return for its fourth edition from April 24 to 26, filling venues across the town with more than 100 events and activities.
Dominic Wong, festival director, said: “The Bournemouth Writing Festival is all about making writing feel welcoming and achievable, whether you’re just starting out or ready to take your work to the next level.
“We’re proud to offer a wide-ranging programme that mixes top industry expertise with inclusive and accessible events that bring writers together from across the community and the country.”
Writers Are Getting Banned for Writing Like Humans
ucstrategies.com – Wednesday February 4, 2026
A writer got banned from a platform for using em dashes — a punctuation mark she’d used her entire career — because an AI detector flagged her comment as “too polished.” She appealed, confused. The system took 48 hours to admit its mistake. By then, her comment was buried and her reputation questioned.
ChatGPT just quietly changed how it writes to stop using em dashes — explicitly to dodge detection tools that flagged them as an AI tell. The irony? AI learned to overuse them by scraping human authors’ books in the first place. Now professional writers are being punished for the same formal writing habits that trained the AI. The detectors can’t tell the difference, so they’re banning both.
Your writing style is now evidence against you
Human writers are getting flagged as AI-generated for using correct punctuation. One technical reviewer had their work flagged in December for being “too structured” — the appeal took two days to resolve, but the damage was done. Another writer posted as of this week: “I always use em dashes… Has anyone else experienced this issue? I am genuinely confused.”
AI detectors now treat formal writing — clean grammar, proper punctuation, logical flow — as suspicious. The tools were trained to spot “AI patterns,” but those patterns came from scraped human books in the first place. Research shows detectors struggle with false positives on professional writing that looks “too clean.”
Exciting New Opportunity: The Queen’s Commonwealth Writing Competition Reimagined
royalcwsociety.org – Wednesday February 4, 2026
Calling all young writers across the Commonwealth! The Royal Commonwealth Society is thrilled to announce a major evolution of its iconic youth initiative. Formerly known as the Queen’s Commonwealth Essay Competition, this globally celebrated programme now has a fresh new identity: The Queen’s Commonwealth Writing Competition.
This exciting rebrand signals a broader, more inclusive approach to writing, embracing creativity in all forms. From essays to poetry, storytelling, and beyond, young people under 18 can now share their ideas, experiences, and imagination on a global stage.
A Competition for Every Corner of the Commonwealth
The Queen’s Commonwealth Writing Competition has also redesigned its structure to encourage even wider participation. For the first time, winners will be celebrated not only globally but also regionally. Each of the Commonwealth’s five regions will have a dedicated winner, and drawn from those winners will be an overall competition winner. This ensures that exceptional young voices from every corner of the Commonwealth are recognised.
New Magazine Listing: Propel Magazine
firstwriter.com – Wednesday February 4, 2026
Magazine publishing work by poets based in the UK or Ireland who have not yet released a full‑length poetry collection. Seeks up to six unpublished poems per submission window. Reads all work via an online system and may request audio recordings for accepted poems to support accessibility. Accepts submissions six times a year, during one-month submission windows for each Issue.
Fanfiction’s Total Cultural Victory
defector.com – Tuesday February 3, 2026
In 2012, a self-published author of erotic Twilight fanfiction, whose books had gained a large fan base online, was offered a seven-figure contract by a major American publisher. E. L. James's Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy would become the three bestselling titles of the 2010s in the U.S. (even Fifty Shades Freed, the now mostly forgotten end to the trilogy, outsold The Hunger Games). They would also sell over 150 million copies worldwide across 52 languages.
The impact was immediate: Op-eds were written. Bad prose was excerpted. Stock photos of fluffy handcuffs appeared everywhere. And, amidst all the endless discussions about ethical BDSM and "mommy porn" and what, exactly, women might want, fanfiction had suddenly become highly lucrative. Instead of asking what Fifty Shades meant for women, people should have been asking what it meant for publishing.
Leadership Shift at Long‑Running Literary Agency as Aaron Priest Retires
firstwriter.com – Tuesday February 3, 2026
A major transition has taken place at one of New York’s longstanding boutique literary agencies. After more than fifty years at the helm of the company he created in 1974, veteran agent Aaron Priest has stepped away from day‑to‑day leadership. His departure marks the end of an era, and the beginning of a new one under Mitch Hoffman, who has now assumed ownership of the Aaron Priest Literary Agency and will serve as its president.
Priest’s career has been defined by his work with a wide range of bestselling and influential writers. Over the decades, he guided the publishing paths of authors including Erma Bombeck, David Baldacci, Philip Caputo, Robert Crais, Heather Graham, Brenda Joyce, Johanna Lindsey, and Robert James Waller. Beyond his client list, Priest helped shape the agenting profession itself as a founding member of the Independent Literary Agents Association, the group that later evolved into today’s Association of American Literary Agents. His interests also extended to the stage: in 2014 he was among the producers of the Broadway adaptation of The Bridges of Madison County, drawn from Waller’s hit novel.
Book publishers were afraid of building shared universes until they saw how successful the Marvel Cinematic Universe was, according to Brandon Sanderson
thepopverse.com – Tuesday February 3, 2026
The Marvel Cinematic Universe is so influential that it has even changed the way books are published. Publishers and readers are embracing shared universes, such as Leigh Bardugo’s Grishaverse and Jeremy Robinson’s Nemesis Saga. While book series are nothing new, a shared literary universe is different because it can focus on different characters and different time periods in a shared continuity, whereas a series will tell a linear story with the same characters.
Brandson Sanderson, who created the Cosmere literary universe, recalls how the shift began after the MCU took off. “I thought I want to do all these magic systems, all these different planets, and I want to connect them all,” Brandon Sanderson says during New York Comic Con 2022’s Titans of Fantasy panel. “People were really scared of continuity back then. When I was doing this, this was a few years before the MCU came out. Publishers were scared. They wanted one series but they didn’t want this big interconnected thing because the conventional wisdom was this would scare off readers.”
New Literary Agent Listing: Sarah Brooks
firstwriter.com – Tuesday February 3, 2026
Handles bold, voice‑driven fiction for the book club market and women’s fiction, with a strong interest in contemporary and historical narratives that balance commercial appeal with emotional depth and distinctive writing. Seeks high‑concept hooks, character‑led stories, modern romance with wit and warmth, smart concept‑driven novels, uplifting or emotionally resonant fiction, and commercially focused historical fiction that highlights underrepresented cultures or overlooked histories. Also welcomes holiday‑set fiction, sagas, speculative elements with broad appeal, and regency romance with slow‑burn tension and sharp humour.
Brought to book: Alison Healy on some unwise rejections of authors’ manuscripts by publishers
irishtimes.com – Monday February 2, 2026
If you’ve recently heard a collective intake of breath, it’s probably coming from a posse of publishers near you, bracing themselves for the deluge that’s coming. They know that those new year resolutions to get that novel published have been set in motion. Manuscripts have been retrieved from the dusty bowels of laptops and are being dispatched.
And in tandem with the arrival of the swallows, the rejection emails will start to wing their way into the inboxes of many of those hopeful writers. But if your life’s work is rejected, fear not. You are in the best of company, judging by a book I recently read. Rotten Rejections, by editor André Bernard, documents the in-house memos, letters and anecdotes involving the rejection of work by some very familiar names, including many Irish authors.
Back in 1895, poor WB Yeats was castigated for his offering, Poems. “I am relieved to find the critics shrink from saying that Mr Yeats will ever be a popular author,” huffed the person who received the submission – the book doesn’t cite the names of those who were so bold as to reject these titans of literature. “The work does not please the ear, nor kindle the imagination,” the publisher continued. “That he has any real paying audience I find hard to believe.”
Get the free newsletter | Submit a news item or article | Get Writers' News for your website
