Welcome to our Genesis Writers!

Wed Sep 10 16:01:29 BST 2025

https://jewishliteraryfoundation.co.uk/

September 10, 2025

Meet our Genesis Emerging Writers

The new cohort for our Genesis Emerging Writers Programme has just been revealed and we couldn’t be more thrilled for them - congratulations!

Now in its fifth year, the programme has helped launch the careers of 50 authors to date across fiction, non-fiction and poetry. With a track record of writers securing publishing deals following the programme, we’re immensely proud of this initiative run in partnership with the Genesis Foundation.

Read on to meet the talented new voices joining our cohort.

John Studzinski

Founder and Chairman of the Genesis Foundation

“The fifth cohort of emerging writers explores topics that are compelling in their relevance, diversity, and depth. The mentor-mentee relationship remains essential to an artist’s development, and the Jewish Literary Foundation has carefully selected outstanding mentors to support and guide these talented writers.

This programme reflects our mission over the past 25 years: to foster and nurture creative and emerging talent. We hope it serves as a meaningful stepping stone in the careers of these promising writers.”

The new voices joining our cohort

IN FICTION

** Lia Martin
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A British-Romanian teacher and writer from London. She has been shortlisted for competitions including the Bridport short story prize, and was one of the London Library’s Emerging Writers in 2023-24. She is currently working on her novel-in-progress.

** Arran Davage
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Currently working on her debut novel, whilst also exploring poetry and short fiction. Coming back to a creative life following years in the wilderness has been invigorating. Currently living in Stockport, originally from the Highlands and forever dreaming of a return to the sea.

** Irene Morlino
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An academic specialising in Humanitarian Aid and International Relations. She holds a PhD in International Relations from LSE where she is currently a Visiting Fellow. Her fiction writing lingers on themes such as Italy’s brain drain and the condition of “liquid modernity,” tracing the fragile borders of belonging and change.

** Christina Carè
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An Italian-Australian writer in London. She holds an MA in Creative Writing from Royal Holloway and was first runner up for the Evening Standard Short Story competition 2022. She has taught on practicing sustainable creativity for Spread the Word, and is working on her debut novel.

IN NON-FICTION

** Stav Meishar
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An award-winning performance maker, interdisciplinary artist, researcher and educator. Their work seeks to intersect history and current affairs by mixing together tools from the worlds of theatre, circus, and contemporary performance, exploring the power of art as an investigative tool for inciting change.

** Laura Godfrey-Isaacs
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An interdisciplinary writer and artist. She was artist in residence at Tate in the 1990’s, and has works in the Arts Council and many private collections. In 2016, she qualified as a midwife. Her writing centres on the politics of the female body, particularly around women’s health, birth and mothering.

** Lottie Whalen
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Holds a PhD in English Literature and is the author of Radicals and Rogues: the Women Who Made New York Modern. She was shortlisted for Spread the Word's London Writers Awards 2019. Her writing is inspired by recovering lost voices and histories, with a focus on working-class women's stories.

IN POETRY

** Chloe Yale Pinto
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A writer and lecturer focusing on gendered antisemitism and Jewish identity in literature. She was a Visiting Research Fellow in Critical Antisemitism Studies at the Woolf Institute, University of Cambridge and Assistant Professor in English and Creative Writing at Northeastern University London.

** Catherine Norris
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A poet and PhD candidate at the University of Birmingham. Her writing has been published in various digital publications. She has recorded experimental spoken word for Err, Miracle Pond and Spirit Duplicator Records under the name Plastic Moonrise and will be performing at the 2025 Line Up experimental music festival.

** Gemma Barnett
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An award-winning filmmaker and published poet. She was a finalist for BBC Words First 2022 and her poem ‘My Abortion was Funny’ was selected for the Verve Poetry Festival Anthology on Protest and commended in the Southbank Centre Outspoken Poetry Prize 2023.

** Explore debut authors
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** on JLF Player
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Murder in Constantinople (https://jewishliteraryfoundation.co.uk/videos/murder-in-constantinople)
Waking Lions and Chains of Sand (https://jewishliteraryfoundation.co.uk/videos/waking-lions-and-chains-of-sand)
Elena: A Hand Made Life (https://jewishliteraryfoundation.co.uk/videos/elena-a-hand-made-life)
EXPLORE OUR JLF PLAYER (https://jewishliteraryfoundation.co.uk/jlf-player)

** BOOK OF THE WEEK
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Foreign Seed

By debut novelist Allison Alsup

Why do we love it?

It’s rare to find a book so finely imagined, particularly from a debut novelist. Foreign Seed takes us to China in 1918, where young American Vice-Consul Samuel Sokobin is sent inland to investigate the disappearance of fellow countryman Frank Meyer. What begins as a routine assignment becomes something far more personal, as Sokobin - accompanied by Mr Lin, a Chinese interpreter - finds himself pursuing issues of memory, grief, belief, and identity. Alsup’s poised, thoughtful prose lingers long after the final page.
READ THIS BOOK (https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/foreign-seed-allison-alsup/7440729?ean=9781684429974)

HAPPENING TODAY!

Shameless: Exploiting the Holocaust

with Tanya Gold

Don’t miss this vital discussion at 5pm BST today.

Tanya Gold will be joined by Mark Glanville as she examines the self-serving exploitation of the Holocaust in bestsellers and streaming hits, exploring how the destruction of the Jews has become a plot device as the truths of history and the dead are violated.

In partnership with the Jewish Quarterly and Lockdown University.
Book this free online event (https://jewishliteraryfoundation.co.uk/events/shameless-exploiting-the-holocaust)

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