https://www.ellaleith.com/writing-news daily 0.75 2026-11-02 https://www.ellaleith.com/writing-news/guppy2025 monthly 0.5 2026-11-02 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/679a4cf8d0fe3f5a994b6a1f/a1dfb044-4c33-4975-9a81-0f1205c749f7/guppybooks.png news - Shortlisted for Guppy Open Submission - I’m painfully late to write about this, but one major highlight of last year was the children’s novel I’m querying, The Boy at the Wynyates, getting shortlisted for the Guppy Open Submission Competition 2025 - that’s two shortlists in two years! Although I didn’t win, being shortlisted meant that I got an editorial one-to-one with Bella Pearson, the founder of Guppy Books. This was my first time getting to talk about Wynyates with a publisher, and Bella’s comments, questions and suggestions were really insightful and encouraging. She even revealed that Wynyates had been in all of the judges’ top three picks - which is obviously simultaneously extremely gratifying and frustrating! What was particularly useful was gaining insights into marketing children’s literature, and how difficult it is to straddle the tricky middle ground between Middle-Grade (aimed at 8-12 year olds) and Young Adult (13+, but as most readers of YA are in their 20s and 30s, they tend to skew upwards). The Guppy competition was specifically for Middle-Grade novels, and the consensus from Bella and the judges was that Wynyates might be a bit too YA to fit comfortable in this age range, but not quite YA enough to be YA. This chimes with the feedback I’ve received from the agents I’ve queried so far: love the writing, love the story, love the world-building, but would struggle to sell it as either Middle-Grade or YA. https://www.ellaleith.com/writing-news/blog-post-title-two-l3fkz monthly 0.5 2026-11-02 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/679a4cf8d0fe3f5a994b6a1f/1739031939906-H8EFLQ5RWKHUFOJC2ZS6/Screenshot+2025-02-08+at+16.22.02.png news - Shortlisted for the Searchlight Writing for Children Awards! I’m absolutely thrilled: I found out this month that the opening of my work-in-progress, The Boy at the Wynyates, got shortlisted in Searchlight’s Best Novel Opening for Children or Young Adults 2024! The idea for this novel has been percolating since I was eleven years old and came across some folklore connected to a Tudor mansion near where I grew up. A spark was lit in my imagination, and—without giving anything away—I’ve been returning to that attic in my imagination ever since. I finally began exploring the idea as a mystery novel for middle-grade or young teen readers in 2022, and my first draft was longlisted for the Mslexia Children’s and YA Novel Competition that year. I almost didn’t submit it because I knew it wasn’t really ready yet, so the fact that it got longlisted was an enormous surprise, and a gratifying indication that I was on the right track. The feedback provided by the Mslexia judges (including Cressida Cowell of How to Train Your Dragon fame, excuse me while I shamelessly fangirl for a bit!) was extremely helpful in planning my revisions, so based on that and invaluable feedback from my lovely beta readers, I’ve been developing the manuscript ever since. I’m now at the infuriatingly close-to-the-finish-line stage of making sure the ending resolves every plot line in a satisfying, non-clunky way… so the news about the Searchlight shortlist is perfectly timed to give me a boost of energy at this crucial moment! https://www.ellaleith.com/publications daily 0.75 2026-06-10 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/679a4cf8d0fe3f5a994b6a1f/54c1bb0d-71da-4744-93a4-fe750271d82d/%5B1+option+2%5D+ABHARTACH+MAGAZINE+%284%29.png publications https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/679a4cf8d0fe3f5a994b6a1f/734f760b-4be0-482f-a221-66a6a20a4585/%5B2%5D+HaresPaw-Logo-High.jpg publications https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/679a4cf8d0fe3f5a994b6a1f/18504ac0-ea98-48c0-86d5-da2c9214d606/icarus.png publications https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/679a4cf8d0fe3f5a994b6a1f/ec4f044a-2af3-47b5-ab2e-9f00d05ee36c/%5B4.2+%28alt.%29%5DMoonlit+Path+2.jpg publications https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/679a4cf8d0fe3f5a994b6a1f/c39565fc-c71a-49f1-9d55-48f38752873d/%5B5+option+2%5D+FF2+Quill-and-book-photo-300x300.jpg publications https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/679a4cf8d0fe3f5a994b6a1f/3e9d150c-d398-4d94-99d5-18fc883e468b/%5B6%5D+KTQ_SMLogo.jpg publications https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/679a4cf8d0fe3f5a994b6a1f/9b1fe8c8-77d8-4f18-9163-cfd68a650ff0/%5B7%5D+Gramarye.jpeg publications https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/679a4cf8d0fe3f5a994b6a1f/894a95e9-6f9b-42ab-9527-cf021f3bbc27/%5B8%5D+Lit+Times+monochrome-simple-magazine-cover.jpg publications https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/679a4cf8d0fe3f5a994b6a1f/294cc478-1997-471e-91de-6508f31cee5a/%5B13%5D+Matter.jpg publications https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/679a4cf8d0fe3f5a994b6a1f/d3f58d5b-6129-4e6f-b0dc-031ba1dbc054/%5B14%5D+Dear+Damsels.png publications https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/679a4cf8d0fe3f5a994b6a1f/5a16b2bb-205b-42b9-835a-7107ab0b18a5/%5B15%5D+The-Auroras-Blossoms-Haiku-Anthology-Volume-1.jpeg publications https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/679a4cf8d0fe3f5a994b6a1f/93ad9854-3577-4b77-a71c-c3f67a5df2c8/3fa62975-8e6d-4f63-a262-3cbc4d5c20a8_1280x1280.webp publications https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/679a4cf8d0fe3f5a994b6a1f/2f27283c-e70b-439d-9b65-a950cfbaf3a1/logo-ekphrastic-review_1.jpg publications https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/679a4cf8d0fe3f5a994b6a1f/3c2bdeed-5f8d-4f47-861d-899e9dd9e54f/%5B10%5D+Herbology+News.png publications https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/679a4cf8d0fe3f5a994b6a1f/58e1f38b-e841-4150-9610-6b16c8130558/%5B11%5D+HN+The+Change+Issue.png publications https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/679a4cf8d0fe3f5a994b6a1f/9d4caed5-18a4-47ea-94e9-b35b839061bb/%5B12%5D+HN+The+Soft+Issue.jpg publications https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/679a4cf8d0fe3f5a994b6a1f/66f9ff71-731a-4ebf-8325-150994e78cfb/ftf+edited.jpeg publications https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/679a4cf8d0fe3f5a994b6a1f/0122721b-0bc5-44d0-93f9-52d5844d868b/DarkPoetsClub4.jpg publications https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/679a4cf8d0fe3f5a994b6a1f/537e9d46-f423-4c51-9cee-bdb366052367/11786d_45015382af8d4aa5a419885794c5575b%7Emv2-2.png publications https://www.ellaleith.com/projects daily 0.75 2025-01-29 https://www.ellaleith.com/home daily 1.0 2025-03-04 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/679a4cf8d0fe3f5a994b6a1f/a17903a0-23be-4a10-a6ab-18b6466c11a4/DSC_0159+%281%29.JPG https://www.ellaleith.com/about daily 0.75 2025-03-04 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/679a4cf8d0fe3f5a994b6a1f/81cf2024-9f03-4142-8f3f-c5b705b1186a/DSC_0011.JPG https://www.ellaleith.com/contact daily 0.75 2025-02-20 https://www.ellaleith.com/news daily 0.75 2025-03-04 https://www.ellaleith.com/shop daily 0.75 2025-08-26 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/679a4cf8d0fe3f5a994b6a1f/59ed7513-2179-4cff-9b99-266f69bf9e26/FtF+central.jpeg https://www.ellaleith.com/little-joys daily 0.75 2026-02-05 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/679a4cf8d0fe3f5a994b6a1f/2467984f-683d-477f-bc3e-e323291c9659/*Little+Joys+-+Dear+Damsels+copy.jpg https://www.ellaleith.com/newsletter daily 0.75 2026-10-30 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/679a4cf8d0fe3f5a994b6a1f/d7b4d94e-2f7f-4cfb-80c6-055943dcade8/sun.jpg https://www.ellaleith.com/privacy daily 0.75 2026-11-01 https://www.ellaleith.com/subscriber daily 0.75 2026-11-01 https://www.ellaleith.com/subscribed daily 0.75 2026-11-01