Brown was selected for Penguin’s WriteNow programme during lock-down, applying at a moment when industries were simultaneously disrupted and felt exposed. That year, after several competitive rounds and months of waiting, she was chosen from thousands of applicants, an experience that would eventually lead to the publication of their debut novel The Reaper. But the significance of that moment, Brown makes clear, wasn’t just the outcome. It was what it confirmed: that her voice, stories, and place in publishing were not conditional.