Lorelei Goulding, from Shepton Mallet in Somerset, is the winner of Spread the Word’s national writing competition, the Life Writing Prize 2020, for Birdie. Now in its fourth year, the Life Writing Prize, in association with Goldsmiths Writers’ Centre, was established to find and develop the best new life writing from emerging writers.

@STWevents @spreadthewordwriters #LifeWritingPrize The longlist for Spread the Word’s annual Life Writing Prize is announced today, Wednesday 22 April. At the same time, Spread the Word announces a number of new initiatives to support writers working in isolation. Now in its fourth year, the Life Writing Prize, in association with Goldsmiths Writers’ Centre, was established to find and develop the best new life writing from emerging writers. The prize, which is free to enter, is generously funded by Joanna Munro.  Included on the list selected from almost 900 submissions are 12 exceptional new writers from across the UK, who have yet to publish a full-length work or engage a literary agent. Some of the writers have had their work published in literary magazines and won prizes while others present their work for the first time. Judges praised the ‘astounding’ quality of the longlist which explores overarching themes of immigration, #MeToo, religion, childhood, death, friendship, family, love, loss, infertility, bereavement, social change and the NHS. The settings are international in scope, from the Yorkshire moors to Paris and the Philippines. This year’s submissions were judged by the writers Kerry Hudson and Nell Stevens, and Sathnam Sanghera, an award-winning columnist and feature writer for The Times. The 12 longlisted […]

@ThePortico #porticoprize  “powerful, provocative and poignant” Thursday 23 January, MANCHESTER: Jessica Andrews has won The Portico Prize for Literature – the UK’s only award for outstanding literature that best evokes the spirit of the North. She takes home the £10,000 prize for her debut novel Saltwater. The announcement was made at an evening ceremony at the Portico Library in Manchester. Saltwater, published by Sceptre,is a story of self-discovery by a girl from Sunderland who heads to university in London, taking her northern roots with her. Lucy’s transition to a new life is more overwhelming than she ever expected. As she works long shifts to make ends meet and navigates chaotic parties from East London warehouses to South Kensington mansions, she still feels like an outsider among her fellow students. When things come to a head at her graduation, she takes off for Ireland, to seeks solace in her late grandfather’s cottage and the wild landscape that surrounds it, wondering if she can piece together who she really is. Saltwater is anexploration of the complexities of mother-daughter relationships and the challenges of shifting class identity. The Sunday Times described it as ‘raw, intimate and authentic’. Like her protagonist, Jessica grew up in Sunderland. Commenting on behalf of the jury, Simon Savidge, Chair of Judges […]

Prize opens for submissions today, Thursday 23 January Writer and broadcaster Professor Patrick Wright is to chair the jury of the Nayef Al-Rodhan Prize for Global Cultural Understanding 2020, the British Academy’s prestigious non-fiction book prize. Submissions are open from today, Thursday 23 January. Wright, who is Emeritus Professor of Literature and History at King’s College, London, has served on the jury for the Prize since 2018. This year the Prize welcomes a new jury member – Channel 4 News presenter, Fatima Manji. She joins Professor Rana Mitter FBA, historian and political scientist; Professor Dame Henrietta Moore FBA, social anthropologist; and writer Madeleine Bunting.  The jury will select a shortlist of up to six books to be announced in September and the winner will be announced at a ceremony held at the British Academy in October. The £25,000 Prize is awarded annually for an outstanding contribution to global cultural understanding – illuminating the interconnections and divisions shaping cultural identity worldwide. The deadline for submissions is 1 April 2020. Jury Chair, Professor Patrick Wright FBA comments: “It is a great privilege to chair the Nayef Al-Rodhan Prize. This international prize has rewarded some extraordinary books which have each made a significant impact on the way that we think about the world and […]

Monday 9 December The shortlist for The Portico Prize for Literature – the UK’s only award for outstanding literature that best evokes the spirit of the North – is announced today, Monday 9 December. The six books on the shortlist for the £10,000 prize, once described as ‘the Booker of the North’, span both fiction and non-fiction. The 2019 shortlist, in alphabetical order by author, is: Saltwater by Jessica Andrews (Sceptre) Fiction. Ironopolis by Glen James Brown (Parthian) Fiction The Boy with the Perpetual Nervousness by Graham Caveney (Picador) Non-Fiction Under the Rock: The Poetry of a Place by Benjamin Myers (Elliott and Thompson) Non-Fiction The Mating Habit of Stags by Ray Robinson (Lightning Books) Fiction Black Teeth and a Brilliant Smile by Adelle Stripe (Fleet) Fiction Of the six titles on the shortlist, three are debut novels: Saltwater by Jessica Andrews, a story of self-discovery by a girl from Sunderland who moves to London, taking her northern roots with her; Ironopolis, a haunting novel by Glen James Brown, set on a fictional council estate in post-industrial Middlesbrough and Black Teeth and a Brilliant Smile by Adelle Stripe, a novel inspired by the life of Bradford playwright, Andrea Dunbar, best […]

Monday 4 November Kerry Hudson, Nell Stevens and Sathnam Sanghera to judge 12 longlisted writers to showcase work at Foyles, London Winner’s prize includes £1,500 and Arvon course @STWevents #LifeWritingPrize Spread the Word’s annual writing competition – the Life Writing Prize – opens for submissions today, Monday 4 November. Now in its fourth year, the Life Writing Prize, in association with Goldsmiths Writers’ Centre, was established to find and develop the best life writing from emerging writers from across the UK. The Prize defines life writing as ‘intended to be true’ – work that reflects someone’s own life journey or experiences through non-fiction. The competition, which is free to enter, is open to writers who have yet to publish a full-length work or have a literary agent. It is generously funded by Joanna Munro. This year’s judges are the writers Kerry Hudson and Nell Stevens, and Sathnam Sanghera, an award-winning columnist and feature writer for The Times. Others supporting the Prize this year include writer Max Porter; Colin Grant, historian, writer and producer, and Kerri ní Dochartaigh, whose work was highly commended in the inaugural Life Writing Prize in 2017. They will mentor the winning and commended writers. Ruth Harrison, […]

#AlRodhan@BritishAcademy_ 20.00 Wednesday 30 October, LONDON: A Fistful of Shells: West Africa from the Rise of the Slave Trade to the Age of Revolution by British historian Toby Green is named the winner of the seventh Nayef Al-Rodhan Prize for Global Cultural Understanding 2019, the British Academy’s non-fiction book prize. The announcement was made at a ceremony at the British Academy in London. In his critically acclaimed book Toby Green tells the history of West Africa in a new light, dispelling the long-held myths that African history only began with the arrival of the Europeans in the 18th and 19th centuries. This comprehensive study draws on many years of research in nine countries, and on oral histories, maps, letters, artefacts and the author’s own experience of collecting material across eight West African states to create a new perspective on pre-colonial Africa, little known in the western world. In A Fistful of Shells, Green, who is a senior lecturer at King’s College London, argues that there is much more to the history of West Africa than the history of slavery and abolition. The coastal regions of West Africa were far from closed, sedentary and ‘backward’ prior to the 18th and 19th […]

Monday 30 September 17 Books / Six debuts / Ten independent publishers The longlist for The Portico Prize for Literature – the UK’s only award for outstanding literature that best evokes the spirit of the North – is announced today, Monday 30 September. Once described as ‘the Booker of the North’, the £10,000 Prize is open to literature across the formats of fiction, non-fiction and poetry. The longlist of 17 books explores the myriad themes of identity, belonging, gender, class and the meaning of place – all connected by the spirit of the North. The 2019 longlist, in alphabetical order by author, is: Saltwater by Jessica Andrews (Sceptre) Fiction. Ironopolis by Glen James Brown (Parthian) Fiction The Boy with the Perpetual Nervousness by Graham Caveney (Picador) Non-Fiction Sensible Footwear: A Girl’s Guide by Kate Charlesworth, (Myriad Editions) Graphic Memoir Lowborn: Growing Up, Getting Away and Returning to Britain’s Poorest Towns by Kerry Hudson (Chatto & Windus) Non-Fiction Zebra, by Ian Humphreys(Nine Arches Press) Poetry Us, Zaffar Kunial (Faber & Faber) Poetry Long Road from Jarrow by Stuart Maconie (Ebury Press) Non-Fiction Black Car Burning, by Helen Mort (Chatto & Windus) Fiction Under the Rock: The Poetry of a Place by Ben […]

Nine-month development programme returns for a second year 30 London-based writers from under-represented backgrounds Masterclasses led by writers Abir Mukherjee, Rowan Coleman and literary agent Felicity Trew Publishing industry steps up support for Spread the Word “Spread the Word and The London Writers Awards provide agents and publishers with access to a talented and diverse group of writers. I signed a very exciting writer through the programme and can’t wait to share her novel with editors.” Jenny Savill, Director, Andrew Nurnberg Associates Spread the Word, London’s writer development agency, is delighted to announce the names of the 30 writers who have been selected for the 2019 London Writers Awards. The London-based writers from communities currently under-represented in UK publishing – writers of colour and working class, LGBTQ+ and disabled writers – will be supported and nurtured through a nine-month development programme in preparation for meeting with agents and publishers and pursuing their writing careers. The 2019 cohort comes from a diverse range of backgrounds, writing across literary fiction, commercial fiction, narrative non-fiction and YA/children’s. They include Loretta Ramkissoon, an Italian–Mauritian Londoner, whose work was recently published in the Common People anthology; Pam Williams, a 58-year-old teacher and former fashion editor […]