2025 Gaudy Boy Open Call for Novel Manuscripts

Deadline: July 31, 2025
Award: $1,500 advance + publication in US and SG

Gaudy Boy, a New York City -based independent press that publishes poetry, fiction, and non-fiction by extraordinary Asian voices, is open to submissions of unpublished adult novels by authors of Asian heritage residing anywhere in the world. One or more selected manuscripts will be published in 2026 or 2027. Each author will receive book publication and an advance of USD1,500.

Please submit the first 30 pages of your novel manuscript and a cover letter to our Publisher and Editor-in-Chief, Jee Leong Koh, at jkoh@singaporeunbound.org. We will contact you if we are interested to see more. Please do not submit your work unless you have a completed draft. See below for full guidelines.

Established in 2017, Gaudy Boy is an imprint of the literary nonprofit, Singapore Unbound. A transnational literary organization based in New York City, Singapore Unbound envisions and works for a creative and fulfilling life for everyone through the arts and activism. Gaudy Boy has published novels such as Lovelier, Lonelier by Daryl Qilin Yam, whose writing has been shortlisted for the Singapore Literature Prize; Bengal Hound by Rahad Abir, which won the Georgia Author of the Year Award for Literary Fiction; and Memorial Club by Mozid Mahmud, a noted writer from Bangladesh. Gaudy Boy also publishes poetry and creative non-fiction, and offers an annual poetry prize.

Guidelines

1.     The open call is open to emerging and established novelists of Asian heritage residing anywhere in the world.

2.     No proof of Asian heritage is required. As writers ourselves, we go by honor between writers.

3.     The call is not open to AI-generated work.

4.     Manuscripts must not have been published anywhere in the world. Self-published manuscripts are not eligible.

5.     We are interested in adult fiction only. Translations of novels are eligible, so long as the translator has permission from the author to translate the work. Genre fiction (such as speculative or historical fiction) is welcome if it is written with a literary intent and style. We recommend that you familiarize yourself with our publication catalog before submitting: https://singaporeunbound.org/gaudyboy.

6.     Please submit the following to our Publisher and Editor-in-Chief, Jee Leong Koh, at jkoh@singaporeunbound.org:

  • The first 30 pages (double-spaced) of your novel manuscript as a PDF or Word document, with page numbers and using a standard 12-point font (e.g., Times New Roman, Arial). Please indent every paragraph (the standard indentation is 0.5") and use the # symbol to indicate section breaks, if any. Do not send more than 30 pages; they will not be considered.

  • A synopsis of your novel (maximum one-page, single-spaced) as a PDF or Word document.

  • A cover letter (maximum 500 words) that describes your project, including word count, comparable titles (books that are similar to yours in theme, style or readership) and a short author biography. Please include the cover letter in the body of your email.

7.    Although we are asking for only 30 pages initially, please do not submit unless you have a completed draft of at least 50,000 words.

8.    Each writer may submit only one manuscript during this open call.

9.     You may submit the manuscript elsewhere simultaneously. Please let us know immediately if your manuscript is accepted by another publisher.

Jee Koh