“A poet is, before anything else, a person who is passionately in love with language”. W.H. Auden
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“A poet is, before anything else, a person who is passionately in love with language”. W.H. Auden
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“A short story must have a single mood and every sentence must build towards it.” Edgar Allan Poe
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“There are no laws for the novel. There never have been, nor can there ever be.” Doris Lessing
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"When I saw my novel Half Of You on the long-list for the Peggy Chapman-Andrews award, it felt miraculous that my work had been plucked from a vast sea of words.
And then, reaching the short-list under the scrutiny of such eminent judges was even harder to believe. What an enormous thrill it was to receive my invitation to the prize-giving lunch and then to meet so many inspiring writers there.
I am still in the throes of a first draft, but reaching the short-list has given me a level of faith in the story that spurs me on. Any new writer looking for a way to energise their novel should simply start preparing an entry to the Peggy Chapman-Andrews Award."
Naomi Wood is the author of The Godless Boys (Picador, 2011) and the award-winning Mrs Hemingway (Picador, 2014) which won the British Library Writers Award, there Jerwood Fiction Uncovered Award, was shortlisted for the International Dylan Thomas Award, and was a Richard and Judy book-club choice. The Hiding Game, Naomi’s third novel, was published in 2019 by Picador. Set in the Bauhaus art school in the centenary of its founding, it has been described as ‘a great gift’ (Irish Times); ‘propulsive’ (Guardian) and ‘devastating’ (New Statesman). Naomi’s work is available in sixteen languages. She teaches at UEA and lives in Norwich with her family.
"I'm looking for a first novel that will keep me guessing, that will deliver tension in the story and pleasure in the sentences. Debuts in particular depend on voice: I'd love that voice to be fresh and different and unfamiliar.”
Website - www.naomiwood.com
Facebook - @NaomiWoodBooks
Twitter - @NaomiWoodBooks
Instagram @naomiwoodbooks
Pinterest @NaomiWoodBooks
Image: Rachel Hippolyte
Hollie McNish is a full time writer who loves writing poetry. She has published three poetry collections Papers, Cherry Pie and Plum, and one poetic memoir on politics and parenthood, Nobody Told Me, of which the Scotsman suggested “The world needs this book” and for which she won the Ted Hughes Award. In 2017 Nobody Told Me was translated into German, French and Spanish and released in the USA.
In 2016 she co-wrote a play Offside with Sabrina Mahfouz, relating the two hundred year history of UK women’s football.
She has written a few select commissions including subjects such as: orgasm inequality for Durex; various for The Economist Education Foundation and most recently 'War Whores' – a history of sex work in World War One for the 14-18 / Roundhouse LDN partnership.
Hollie tours continuously all over the UK, Europe and beyond and is a big fan of freely accessible online readings – her poetry videos have attracted millions of views worldwide.
She is currently working on a new collection of poems and stories.
Website - www.holliepoetry.com
Facebook - @holliepoetry
Twitter - @holliepoetry
YouTube - holliepoetry
Instagram - @holliepoetry
Image: Kat Gollock
Kirsty Logan is the author of the novels The Gloaming and The Gracekeepers, short story collections A Portable Shelter and The Rental Heart & Other Fairytales, flash fiction chapbook The Psychology of Animals Swallowed Alive, and short memoir The Old Asylum in the Woods at the Edge of the Town Where I Grew Up. Her books won the Lambda Literary Award, Polari Prize, Saboteur Award, Scott Prize and Gavin Wallace Fellowship. Her work has been translated into Japanese and Spanish, recorded for radio and podcasts, exhibited in galleries and distributed from a vintage Wurlitzer cigarette machine. She lives in Glasgow with her wife.
Image: Simone Falk
Kirsty Logan is the author of the novels The Gloaming and The Gracekeepers, short story collections A Portable Shelter and The Rental Heart & Other Fairytales, flash fiction chapbook The Psychology of Animals Swallowed Alive, and short memoir The Old Asylum in the Woods at the Edge of the Town Where I Grew Up. Her books won the Lambda Literary Award, Polari Prize, Saboteur Award, Scott Prize and Gavin Wallace Fellowship. Her work has been translated into Japanese and Spanish, recorded for radio and podcasts, exhibited in galleries and distributed from a vintage Wurlitzer cigarette machine. She lives in Glasgow with her wife.
Image: Simone Falk
“My first ever pre-publication writing award was a for a poem which won runner-up in this competition. The anthology gave me my first taste of being published & some real self-belief.
"What to do with my free time. Read or clean. I don’t want to answer it every day with housework. I did not finish my third novel in between two kids by being house-proud". Naomi Wood, our First Novel Award judge ponders on the urge to tidy up versus getting on with some actual writing n this blog written specially for the Bridport Prize.
The first success I ever had with my writing was an Honorary Mention (note the capital letters) in the Fish Prize for Flash Fiction in 2014. It was the first thing I’d ever sent out and getting an
