NEW WRITING PRIZE ANNOUNCEMENT
I am proud to be a trustee of The Barbellion Prize – a writing prize launched earlier this year, and dedicated to the furtherance of ill and disabled voices in writing.
I am passionate about creating space for voices we don’t hear enough. This prize both encourages and rewards writers who explore their experience of chronic illness and disability – their words increase understanding, which can only ever be a good thing.
The founder of this prize, Jake Goldsmith, has written a memoir of his experiences of living with illness – Neither Weak Nor Obtuse: A memoir on the phenomenology of illness, and what it means to live and think while chronically. Working with Jake on the prize has broadened my understanding and my thinking immensely. Jake’s an inspiring, thoughtful person, and I am grateful to be part of this important project.
Advisor to the Prize, Professor Tom Shakespeare FBA, Professor of Disability Research at London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, comments: “Writers with illnesses and impairments, from Robert Louis Stevenson to Flannery O'Connor to 'WNP Barbellion' himself have contributed mightily to literature. I applaud the creation of this new prize, hoping it will shine a spotlight on their contemporary successors.”
Author and Assistant Professor of Literature, Dr Shahd Alshammari, and member of the judging panel says: “The Barbellion Prize seeks to amplify voices that are seldom heard, and if they are, they’re not heard enough. It is a privilege reading all this wonderful work and I hope that more publishers discover disabled writers’ writing.”
The Barbellion Prize is awarded annually to an author whose work has best spoken of the experience of chronic illness and/or disability.
HOW TO SUPPORT THE PRIZE
If you would like to contribute to the prize fund you can do so here. The more we raise, the more we can support the work of writers living with chronic illness and / or disability.
For our latest press release: click here
MORE ABOUT THE BARBELLION PRIZE
The awarded work can be of any genre in fiction, memoir, biography, poetry, or critical non-fiction from around the world - whether in English, in translation, traditionally or self-published.
The prize is named in homage to English diarist W.N.P Barbellion, who wrote eloquently on his life with multiple sclerosis (MS) before his death in 1919.
It is to be awarded on February 12th 2021, with prize money amounting to £600.
Submissions are open now and end October 31st 2020.
Find out more about the prize and how to submit here
Read our latest press release here