Meet Joe Pearson, winner of our 2025 Winter Short Story competition with his entry All Equal in Utopia, which can now be read on our winner's blog page. As part of the prize, we want to promote new writers, and as such we chat to Joe about his writing journey, aspirations, next steps, and view on the literary landscape.

Learn about Joe's bold decision to become an author by pausing his career, focusing on finding representation for his sci-fi work, whilst entering competitions to hone his skills and 'reconnect with the reasons for storytelling'.

Get to know Joe better with our New2theScene presenter and hear how juggling life as a new father, and emigrating to Paris, has inspired him to do what he's always wanted: call himself a writer.

New2theScene is a platform dedicated to the discovery of new or not yet familiar talent. Follow us on Instagram (new2thescene.official) for the latest offers, news, and upcoming podcast guests, and visit our bookstore at new2thescene.co.uk to order books mentioned in this or other podcasts, and unearth new talent.