There Is Only Narrative: Non-Fiction Demystified with the Eve White Literary Agency

There Is Only Narrative is a new programme run by Spread the Word in partnership with the Eve White Literary Agency to find and develop new non-fiction writers from diverse backgrounds.

There Is Only Narrative aims to demystify the process of writing a non-fiction from a craft and career perspective and encourage and support more writers from backgrounds underrepresented in UK publishing to write a non-fiction project. It has an access fund in place for disabled writers.

Running across 2025-26, There Is Only Narrative will provide free and accessible opportunities for unpublished and unagented writers to gain the skills and insight to develop their non-fiction project, including:

Editors’ Panel with Beth Eynon, Assallah Tahir and Shammah Banerjee, chaired by Eve White and Ludo Cinelli;
A survey for writers on the barriers to and support they need to write non-fiction;
There Is Only Narrative: Getting Started with Writing a Non-Fiction Proposal a bespoke document written by the Eve White Literary Agency to support writers in developing a proposal for their book idea;
Three free online non-fiction masterclasses run by authors Damian Le Bas, Rae Earl, Eleanor Bruce and Lucilla Gray;
Agents’ Panel led by Ludo Cinelli and Eve White with a Q&A on submitting to agents;
Competition for unagented and unpublished writers underrepresented in UK publishing – opening for submissions in April 2026.

Through the programme and competition, a cohort of writers will be selected for ongoing support with the goal of them going on to be represented by the Eve White Literary Agency and being published.

Panel event, Writers’ Survey and Guide to Writing a Proposal

Spread the Word and the Eve White Literary Agency would like to better understand the barriers to writing non-fiction and what ongoing support we can offer to encourage more writers to write a non-fiction project. We would love to hear your thoughts through There Is Only Narrative Survey. By completing it and entering your email address you will receive There Is Only Narrative: Getting Started with Writing a Non-Fiction Proposal. The survey closed for responses on Tuesday 20 January 2026.

Writers’ Survey and Guide to Writing a Proposal

London Writers Centre and the Eve White Literary Agency would like to better understand the barriers to writing non-fiction and what ongoing support we can offer to encourage more writers to write a non-fiction project. We would love to hear your thoughts through There Is Only Narrative Survey. By completing it and entering your email address you will receive There Is Only Narrative: Getting Started with Writing a Non-Fiction Proposal.

The survey is now closed. We will be publishing the key findings here in April 2026.

Masterclasses and Seminars

Open to all, the masterclasses and seminars are free to participate in and will take place on Zoom. All sessions will be recorded and auto-captioned. BSL will be available upon request.

Why Write Non-Fiction – Editors’ Panel chaired by Eve White and Ludo Cinelli

Tuesday 9 December 2025, 7pm-8.30pm
Book your free place here: https://buytickets.at/spreadtheword/1944627

Eleanor Bruce and Lucilla Gray Masterclass

Wednesday 28 January 2026, 7pm-8.30pm
Book your free place here: https://tickets.londonwriterscentre.org.uk/events/spreadtheword/1977867

Rae Earl Masterclass

Wednesday 25 February 2026, 10am-11.30am
Book your free place here: https://tickets.londonwriterscentre.org.uk/events/spreadtheword/1977881

Damian Le Bas Masterclass

Tuesday 17 March 2026, 7pm-8.30pm
Book your free place here: https://tickets.londonwriterscentre.org.uk/events/spreadtheword/1977912

Eve White Literary Agency on Submissions and Q&A

Wednesday 22 April 2026, 7pm-8.30pm
Book your free place here: https://www.londonwriterscentre.org.uk/our-events/agent-qa-with-eve-white-and-ludo-cinelli/

There Is Only Narrative Competition

The competition is free to enter and open to unpublished and unagented UK-based writers aged 18+ who identify as one or more of the following:

Black, Asian or Global Majority
Disabled
LGBTQIA+
Working Class upbringing
Low-income*

*We define low-income as earning on or below the Living Wage and/or in receipt of benefits such as Universal Credit.

The competition will open on Wednesday 22 April 2026 and close on Tuesday 23 June 2026.

From the competition we will be selecting a cohort of 4-6 writers who will receive ongoing support from the Eve White Literary Agency and Spread the Word. This will include:

A group session with a published non-fiction author
Individual 121 meeting with agents from the Eve White Literary Agency
Individual 121 meeting with Spread the Word

More details on how to enter plus the online entry form will be published in April 2026.

Access and Access Fund

The programme has an access fund to support disabled writers. If you require support to fully participate in the programme, for example if you need BSL interpretation or a scribe, please contact us. We’ll be recording each Zoom session and will make the recording available on request. If you would like to discuss your access needs, please contact [email protected].

Contact

If you have any questions about the programme or the access fund, please contact Bobby Nayyar at London Writers Centre: [email protected]

About the Agents, Authors and Editors

Eve White

Founder and Agent

Eve White

Founder and Agent

Eve started EVE WHITE LITERARY AGENCY in 2003. Her company has grown to represent everything from prize-winning literary fiction to bestselling picture books worldwide whilst maintaining the caring, family feel of a boutique agency. Eve’s goal from the start was for massive success for each of a small stable of authors.

She is very happy to say that she has achieved that aim with Sunday Times and New York Times bestselling writers on her list and many book-to-film deals signed. Throughout it all she has continued to work with each individual closely – both editorially and to help to shape their career.
Ludo Cinelli

Managing Director and Agent

Ludo Cinelli

Managing Director and Agent

I’m an Agent and the Managing Director at Eve White Literary Agency. I joined the company in 2017 and began to grow my list of clients in 2018. I have an MA in Creative Writing from Royal Holloway, University of London.

I represent fiction, non-fiction and children’s authors across genres. For a sense of the kinds of books I work on and am looking for, see our client list and my reading list below. The books I love might challenge me with their ideas and style, but they might also be a simple story beautifully told, or just incredibly fun. I do this job because of the variety, the excitement, and the potential it offers. I take pride in building strong, long-lasting relationships with my clients and publishing colleagues alike.
Damian Le Bas

Author

Damian Le Bas

Author

Damian Le Bas was born in 1985 into a large Gypsy family. He is a native speaker of the Romani language and read Theology at Oxford, where he graduated with the top First in his year.

Damian is widely published as a poet, journalist and dramatist. His debut travelogue, The Stopping Places, was published by Chatto & Windus in 2018.

Damian won a Royal Society of Literature Jerwood Award for Non-Fiction in 2016 and has been a midweek guest at the Ted Hughes Arvon Centre in Hebden Bridge.

The Stopping Places was the winner of the Somerset Maugham Award, was shortlisted for the Edward Stanford Travel Writing Award and was longlisted for the Wainwright Prize.
Rae Earl

Author

Rae Earl

Author

Rae Earl was born in Stamford, Lincolnshire in 1971. After messing about at school, she went to Hull University and won the Phillip Larkin prize for her research into dystopian novels. She then did every job in a radio station except ‘accountant’. Her memoirs, My Mad Fat Diary & My Madder Fatter Diary, have been made into a TV show that is shown in over 50 countries worldwide including the USA, Brazil, South Korea & Morocco. My Mad Fat Diary has been nominated for 2 BAFTAS, 2 RTS awards, an international Emmy award and has won 2 MIND Media awards.

Her mental heath guide It’s All in Your Head was published in August 2017.

Rae has written articles for The Guardian, Marie Claire, Elle, Elle Australia and Sarah Millican’s The Standard Issue online magazine and has featured in The Telegraph, Heat, Grazia and The Times.

She has also appeared on BBC Breakfast TV, Radio 4, Radio 5Live, BBC World Service & countless local radio stations.
Eleanor Bruce and Lucilla Gray

Authors

Eleanor Bruce and Lucilla Gray

Authors

Ellie and Lucie are a cousin digging duo united by their shared interest in history and design. A lockdown hobby to explore the outdoors quickly evolved into a deep-rooted passion for the history beneath their feet and inspired the creative journey that became Roman Found.

Through their content, they aim to share their amazing finds and highlight the responsible side of metal detecting and how it can positively impact public opinion and feelings around both history and landscape to their 165k followers.
Beth Eynon

Editorial Director at Seven Dials

Beth Eynon

Editorial Director at Seven Dials

Beth Eynon is the Editorial Director for Seven Dials, the commercial non-fiction heartland of Orion Books. With over a decade of experience in the industry, Beth commissions and acquires across a broad range of non-fiction, from autobiography and true-life stories, to true crime, gift and humour, and history. Her publishing ranges from The Official Agatha Christie Puzzle Book to Sunday Times bestsellers including A Mother’s Promise. Originally from Wales, Beth now lives in Croydon and is based at Hachette’s London offices.
Assallah Tahir

Editorial Director for Non-Fiction at Simon & Schuster

Assallah Tahir

Editorial Director for Non-Fiction at Simon & Schuster

Assallah Tahir is an Editorial Director in the Non-Fiction team at Simon & Schuster, where she publishes a range of non-fiction including memoir, pop science, psychology, investigative journalism and history. She loves working with authors who can express big ideas in a fresh and compelling way. Recent publications include The New Age of Sexism by Laura Bates and Money: A Story of Humanity by David McWilliams.
Shammah Banerjee

Editor at Ebury

Shammah Banerjee

Editor at Ebury

Shammah Banerjee has been part of the editorial team at Ebury, PRH UK, for three and a half years. Before that, she was a writer and editor in the business and tech content creation space. At Ebury, she is primarily looking for non-fiction that informs, surprises, entertains, and transports. Her main areas of focus are nature and environment, memoir, social commentary, history, pop science and anything that makes us look at our culture, society and world from a new angle. She’s worked with authors such as Jon Sopel, Stacey Dooley, Maggie Aderin-Pocock, Gordon Buchanan. Most recently, Shammah has published Our Oaken Bones: Reviving a Family, a Farm and Britain’s Ancient Rainforests by Merlin Hanbury-Tenison (shortlisted for the Wainwright Prize) and Algospeak: How Social Media is Transforming the Future of Language by Adam Aleksic (NYT bestseller). When she’s not reading book proposals or editing, she loves cooking, painting and spending as much time outside as humanly possible.