Chanel Launches Originators Program with Women's Prize Trust
Chanel has launched its annual Originators program in partnership with The Women's Prize Trust, offering grants and mentorship to five unpublished female novelists in the U.S.
Chanel hosted a cocktail hour at The Twenty Two in Manhattan on Thursday to unveil its new Originators program with The Women's Prize Trust. The event at the private members club gathered literary and fashion insiders amidst stacks of books on candlelit, floral-adorned tables for an evening of cocktails and hors d'oeuvres.
Guests included novelists A.M. Homes, V.V. Ganeshananthan, Nicole Krauss, Brit Bennett, Coco Mellors, Megan Nolan, and Safiya Sinclair. Designer and author Athena Calderone, photographer Sophie Elgort, and writers Leandra Medine Cohen and Naomi Fry also attended. Claire Shanahan, executive director of the Women's Prize Trust, addressed the gathering on the importance of mentorship and community in a writer's career.
Program Details
The Originators program is an annual initiative providing mentorship and grants to five unpublished female novelists in the U.S. who are working on their first manuscripts. It is part of Chanel's expanding constellation of arts and culture initiatives aimed at championing original voices. A distinguished panel of authors will select the cohort and also serve as their mentors.
Judges and Mentors
The panel of judges and mentors includes renowned authors A.M. Homes, Virginia Evans, V.V. Ganeshananthan, Tayari Jones, and Nicole Krauss. Homes, Ganeshananthan, and Krauss were present at the launch, seated together in a booth.
The judges expressed a shared conviction to do justice to the craft. They spoke of the serious gravity of the writing vocation and their eagerness to provide the kind of guidance that helped their own careers. For them, mentorship is about making a mysterious world navigable and showing new writers they are part of a tradition. It is about helping someone find their way and affirming that a path is possible.
Attendee Highlights
The evening served as a confluence of fashion and literary circles. Alongside the judging panel, notable guests included bestselling authors Brit Bennett and Coco Mellors, as well as designer and author Athena Calderone. The launch highlighted Chanel's ongoing engagement with literature, which includes its Literary Rendezvous series at Rue Cambon.
Submissions for the inaugural Originators program are open until November 30, 2026, at 10 AM EST.
