Manchester Writing Competition 2021 shortlists announced
Two international shortlists have been revealed for the Manchester Fiction Prize and Manchester Poetry Prize, which together make up the Manchester Writing Competition 2021, the UK’s biggest awards for unpublished writing.
Set up by then Poet Laureate and current Creative Director of Manchester Writing School at Manchester Metropolitan University Professor Carol Ann Duffy in 2008, the competition has since awarded more than £200,000 in prize money.
The two awards celebrate Manchester as an international city of writers, finding diverse new voices, and creating opportunities for writer development. Each year two £10,000 prizes are awarded: the Manchester Poetry Prize for best portfolio of poems and the Manchester Fiction Prize for best short story.
The competition has helped to accelerate the careers of previous winners and finalists including Mona Arshi, Helen Mort, Alison Moore, Pascale Petit and Momtaza Mehri.
Whittling down our (unofficial, unpublished) longlist to the final shortlist was nerve-shreddingly difficult, yet also a privilege and a pleasure.
This year’s Fiction Prize includes a best-selling author and Richard and Judy Bookclub Choice, an accountant, and emerging writers from the UK and Canada. The Poetry Prize features an international shortlist of award-winning poets from the UK, USA, Australia, Jamaica and the Philippines.
Fiction Prize judges said that choosing the six-strong shortlist was ‘nerve-shreddingly difficult’, while the Poetry Prize panel hailed entries ‘not afraid to experiment and push the boundaries of poetry’.
Manchester Fiction Prize shortlist
- Danny Beusch
- Shelley Hastings
- Sarah Hegarty
- Leone Ross
- Nicholas Ruddock
- Naomi Wood
Manchester Poetry Prize shortlist
- Courtney Conrad
- Laura Paul Watson
- Peter Ramm
- Alyza Taguilaso
- Jane Wilkinson
- April Yee
The winners will be announced at a special prize-giving evening on May 26, hosted in Manchester Metropolitan’s fantastic new home for Arts and Humanities, Grosvenor East.
Novelist and short story writer Nicholas Royle, Chair of the Fiction Prize judging panel and Reader in Creative Writing at Manchester Metropolitan, said: “Many of the stories that didn’t make the final cut have stayed with us, and we hope to come across them again when they’ve found their place in the short story ecosphere. Whittling down our (unofficial, unpublished) longlist to the final shortlist was nerve-shreddingly difficult, yet also a privilege and a pleasure.”
The Fiction Prize judging panel was completed by Hilaire and Simon Okotie.
Malika Booker, award-winning poet, Chair of the Poetry Prize judging panel and Lecturer in Creative Writing at Manchester Metropolitan, said: “This year we were struck by the fact that most of the entries were not afraid to experiment and push the boundaries of poetry. Yet we were drawn to portfolios that felt considered as a collection, where the poems were in conversation with each other while demonstrating the poet’s range. We were struck by the strong distinctive sense of voice displayed by all our shortlisted poets, as well as their poetic ambitiousness.
“These poems delicately and rigorously grappled with heavy subjects ranging from personal illness, death, nature, historical and cultural norms with formal dexterity, lyrical delicacy, and a sonic precision that both haunted and mesmerised us. Even the darkest poems resonated a sense of wonder while grappling with what it means to be human. We found ourselves reading lines to each other and luxuriating at the richness of the language on our tongues. We are proud of this selection.”
The Poetry Prize judging panel was completed by Romalyn Ante and Zaffar Kunial.
This year we were struck by the fact that most of the entries were not afraid to experiment and push the boundaries of poetry.
Professor Jess Edwards, Head of English at Manchester Metropolitan University, added: “Integral to our Writing School’s mission to support writers at every stage of their development, the Manchester Writing Competition has drawn entries since its establishment from over eighty countries. I’m looking forward to discovering which writers on this year’s exciting shortlist will be joining the international community of past winners who have benefited from what can often be a transformative boost to their careers.”
The Manchester Writing Competition has been crucial in supporting emerging writers to get a foothold in the industry, providing winners with some financial security to focus on writing full-time, attract literary agents and get novels or collections published.
Previous winners include Arshi, who later won the Forward Prize, Mort, who is now a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, and Ante, an NHS nurse whose debut collection Antiemetic for Homesickness was The Observer’s poetry book of the month in July 2020. Alison Moore, shortlisted for the Fiction Prize in 2009, went on to be in contention for the Booker Prize in 2012.
The Manchester Writing Competition 2020 awards were won by James Pollock and Ian Dudley.
