We have some wonderful news to share. Natalie Gordon, one of Jacqui’s coaching clients – and a member of our School for Fiction – has been shortlisted for the Libraro Prize 2026 – a brand-new literary award that is already shaking up the way emerging fiction writers are discovered. The winner is announced tonight, 13th May 2026, and we’re rooting for Natalie.
What is the Libraro Prize?
Launched in January 2026, the Libraro Prize is a genuinely fresh concept in the literary world. Rather than relying solely on the judgement of editors and industry insiders, it was shaped by Libraro’s online community of over 15,000 readers and writers – giving the audience an active role in championing new voices. It’s a prize built on the belief that great writing deserves to be found, and that readers are perfectly placed to do the finding.
The stakes are significant. The winning author receives a £50,000 prize package from Libraro, along with a book deal with Hachette UK, one of the world’s leading international publishers. For an emerging writer, this is the kind of opportunity that changes everything.
The inaugural shortlist is a wonderfully varied one, featuring six writers from the UK, Ireland, and the United States, across genres spanning literary fiction, historical fiction, thriller, horror, fantasy, and women’s fiction. And among those six is our very own Natalie Gordon.
Meet Natalie Gordon
Natalie is a Cumbrian-based writer who has spent more than twenty years building a career in business while raising a family. Then she did something brave: she took two years out to write the novel she had been carrying inside her. Natalie worked on her fiction, both as one of our Founder Jacqui Lofthouse’s one-to-one clients, and also as a member of our Literary Community and Mastermind.
The result is Yours, Everlasting – an empowering historical novel set during the Second World War, inspired by bundles of love letters Natalie inherited from a couple she befriended in her teens. Those letters became the emotional heart of her book, and it’s clear from the response that readers have felt it.
Natalie is no stranger to writing: she has previously self-published two children’s books on Amazon, and her title Mr Nobody was longlisted in the 2014 Times/Chicken House children’s fiction competition. She shares her love of books and life in the Cumbrian hills regularly on Instagram at @natgordonwrites.
Being shortlisted for the Libraro Prize – out of thousands of entries, in a competition judged by an engaged community of passionate readers – is a genuine testament to the quality and resonance of her writing.
Working with The Writing Coach
Stories like Natalie’s are exactly why we do what we do. Writing a novel is an act of faith – in your ideas, in your characters, and in yourself as a writer. It takes sustained effort, resilience, and the kind of long-term thinking that doesn’t always come easily when life is busy and the world is loud.
At The Writing Coach, our work is always in service of that longer journey. Watching a client reach a national shortlist is one of the great joys of this work, and we are enormously proud of Natalie.
If you’d like to read more about Yours, Everlasting and the other shortlisted titles, you can find the full Libraro Prize 2026 shortlist at libraro.com. The announcement is tonight – we’ll be watching with everything crossed.
Good luck, Natalie. We’re cheering you on.
Creative Future Writers’ Award
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