New Writing

The Messenger by UEA alumna Megan Davis has won this year’s Bridport / Peggy Chapman-Andrews Award for a first novel. The Illustrated Child by current student Polly Crosby was the runner-up. The award is co-sponsored by The Literary Consultancy and the AM Heath Literary Agency and was won by Megan’s classmate Deepa Anappara last year. Megan (pictured) graduated from the MA in Creative Writing (Prose Fiction) in 2017 and has worked as a lawyer in Melbourne, Sydney, London, and Paris in the areas of media law, finance, and white-collar crime. Polly is the current holder of the Annabel Abbs Scholarship to complete the MA in Creative Writing. All Along Of You by Philippa Malicka, a graduate of the 2018 MA in Creative Writing, was longlisted for the award. Other UEA successes in this year’s Bridport awards include Aifric Campbell (MA 2003; PhD 2007) whose story ‘Karolina’ was highly commended for the Short Story Prize; Sara Bayat (MA 2018; current PhD) and Lily Meyer (MA 2014) who were shortlisted for the Short Story Prize; David Canning (BA 1985) and Louise Tondeur (MA 2002) who were shortlisted for the Poetry Prize; and Tracy Maylath (MA 2008) who was shortlisted for the Flash Fiction Prize.