Northern Writers’ Awards success
Four writers at Manchester Metropolitan have been honoured at the Northern Writers’ Awards.
The Northern Writers’ Awards attracted around 3000 entries for a total of 25 prizes, with four awards going to Manchester Writing School writers at an evening ceremony in Newcastle on June 24.
The awards aim to discover and support writers in the North of England, with a focus on supporting new work-in-progress.
Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing Dr Sarah Butler won the Northern Writers’ Awards for Fiction, with MA Poetry graduate Ian Humphreys winning the Northern Writers’ Award for Poetry.
Creative Writing MA alumna Sammy Weaver won a Northern Poetry Debut Award, as did Princess Arenola Adegbite, who was one of three poets in the Poets of Colour incubator progamme, a collaboration between Manchester Poetry Library at Manchester Met and change agency Words of Colour.
The prizes include funding to support on-going writing projects and access to the Northern Writers’ Awards Network.
It is the latest in a series of writing successes, with Sammy Weaver recently being appointed the first poet laureate for Rochdale, and Ian Humphreys’ latest collection, Tormentil, being longlisted for The Laurel Prize 2024, in addition to winning the Royal Society of Literature ‘Literature Matters’ Award.
It was also the second year that the Tempest Prize, established and funded by Andrew McMillan, Professor of Contemporary Writing of Manchester Met, has been awarded, this year to J J Carey. It is given to one unpublished LGBTQ+ writer based in the North of England each year, and includes a £1000 bursary, mentoring from Prof McMillan, and access to the Northern Writers’ Awards Talent Network.
Senior Lecturer at Manchester School of Writing Dr Butler has published three novels, with her work exploring ideas of home, belonging, identity, family and urban landscapes. She said: “I am beyond delighted to win a Northern Writers Awards. Awards like this are so important for writers. Writing a novel is a long and sometimes lonely process, so to have an organisation like New Writing North demonstrate their belief in me and my work is a huge boost.”
Prof McMillan, Professor of Contemporary Writing, said: “It’s brilliant to see both our staff, alumni and past collaborators have success in the Northern Writers’ Awards this year; the mission of the prizes, to support work in progress, to discover and nurture the talent of voices from all over the region, feels very much in sync with our mission as a School of English. A community of writers, teaching, learning and constantly engaging in collaborative conversation to bring new work and new ideas into the world.”
Manchester Writing School has a long and successful history of awards, with lecturers and poets Malika Booker and Kim Moore winning the Forward Prizes in recent years and other writers including Prof Andrew McMillan winning multiple prizes including the Polari Prize for best LGBTQ+ writing.
