A round-up of UEA Creative Writing alumni achievements in the six months from 1 January 2022:
DEBUTS
Sarah Barnsley (BA 1997) published a debut poetry collection. Cai Draper (MA 2018), Eve Esfandiari-Denney (current MA) and Imogen McHugh (current MA) published debut poetry pamphlets.
Ferne Arfin (MA 1995), Jonathan Page (MA 1995), J.M. (Jacqui) Burgoyne (BA 2006), Jo Browning Wroe (MA 2003), Priscilla Morris (MA 2009; PhD 2013), Claire Powell (MA 2012), Tom Watson (MA 2017), Ayanna Lloyd Banwo (MA 2018; current PhD), Daniel Wiles (MA 2020) and Mandy Byatt (current MA) published their debut novels.
Alake Pilgrim (MA 2017) published a debut novel for children. Lillie Lainoff (MA 2021) published a debut YA novel.
Hannah Jane Walker (BA 2004) and Pyae Moe Thet War (MA 2019) published debut works of non-fiction.
A poetry-theatre show by Lewis Buxton (BA 2014; MA 2020) was staged at the Norfolk & Norwich Festival. A play by Reena Dennhardt (current MA) was staged at Norwich Theatre Royal.
NEW WORKS
Paul Batchelor (MA 2000), Eleanor Rees (MA 2002), Molly Naylor (MA 2008), Julia Webb (MA 2010) and Emily Berry (PhD 2018) published new collections of poetry.
Charlie Higson (BA 1977), Annabel Abbs (BA 1987), Andrew Miller (MA 2000), Sandra Newman (MA 2002), Jack Byrne (BA 2003), Martha Schabas (MA 2007), Anjali Joseph (2008), Lauren Owen (MA 2008), Tom Benn (BA 2009; MA 2010), Catriona Ward (MA 2011), Natasha Pulley (MA 2012), Gytha Lodge (MA 2013), Harriet Tyce (MA 2017), Trevor Wood (MA 2017), Louise Mangos (MA 2019) and Ashley Hickson-Lovence (current PhD) published new novels.
Fflur Dafydd (MA 2000) and Mitch Johnson (BA 2014) published new novels for children. Rory Power (MA 2016) published a new YA novel.
Anthony Sattin (MA 1984), Richard Skinner (1996), John Osborne (BA 2000), Tim Clare (MA 2004), Christie Watson (MA 2007), Wei Wei Yeo (MA 2017) and Joanna Walsh (PhD 2020) published new works of non-fiction. Joanna also published a text written in collaboration with an AI.
Arthur Smith (BA 1976) and Martha Loader (current MA) had new plays performed at the INK Festival.
AWARD WINNERS (BOOKS):
Mitch Johnson (BA 2014) won the Juniper Book of the Year Award.
AWARD NOMINATIONS (BOOKS, PRODUCTIONS):
Kazuo Ishiguro (MA 1980) was shortlisted in the Fiction category of the Bookseller’s Association Indie Book Awards and longlisted for the International Dublin Literary Award. Annabel Abbs (BA 1987) was shortlisted for the Grand Prix Des Lecteurs. Mick Jackson (MA 1992) was shortlisted for the Society of Authors / Queen’s Knickers Award. Fflur Dafydd (MA 2000) was nominated for the Best Drama Award at the Celtic Media Festival. Amanda Smyth (MA 2000) was shortlisted for the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction. Emily Bullock (MA 2004) was longlisted for the 2022 Edge Hill Short Story Prize. Melanie Mauthner (MA 2007) was shortlisted for the Republic of Consciousness Prize as a translator. Molly Naylor (MA 2008) was longlisted with illustrator Lizzy Stewart for the ‘Print Comics’ category of the Cartoonist Studio Prize. Richard Lambert (MA 2010) was longlisted for the Yoto Carnegie Greenaway Award. Catriona Ward (MA 2011) was shortlisted in the Pageturner of the Year category of the Bookseller British Book Awards. Mona Arshi (MA 2012) was shortlisted for the Jhalak Prize and longlisted for the Republic of Consciousness Prize. Sean Wai Keung (MA 2017) was shortlisted for the Kavya Prize, Alan Murrin (MA 2017) was shortlisted for the PetersFraser+Dunlop Queer Fiction Prize and longlisted for the Caledonia Novel Award and the Stockholm Writers Festival First Five Pages Prize; Rick Bland (MA 2018) was also longlisted for the First Five Pages Prize. Mark Wightman (MA 2018) was shortlisted for the Crime Writers’ Association John Creasy (New Blood) Dagger Award and longlisted for the Ngaio Marsh Best Novel Award. Greg Buchanan (MA 2018) and Antony Dunford (MA 2019) were longlisted for the Crime Writers’ Association John Creasy (New Blood) Dagger Award. Femi Kayode (MA 2018) was longlisted for the Crime Writers’ Association Gold Dagger Award. Laura Ashton Hill (MA 2019) was shortlisted for the Crime Writers’ Association Debut Dagger Award; Katherine Futers was longlisted. Jen Calleja (current PhD) was shortlisted for the Oxford-Weidenfeld Prize for literary translation.
AWARD WINNERS (COMPETITIONS):
L.E. Yates (MA 2006) won the Costa Short Story Award. Buku Sarkar (MA 2011) won the Andrew Lytle Prize for Best Story in the Sewanee Review in 2021. Rebecca Goss (PhD 2019) won the Sylvia Plath Prize. A story by Rose Keating (MA 2021) was selected as Story of the Year in Apex magazine. Perla Kantarjian (current MA) won the Illuminarium Chronicles Continental Voices Poetry Competition. She was also placed second in the Indigo Dreams Publishing Open Poetry Prize, and was commended or highly commended in the EHP Barnard Spring Poetry Prize, the South Downs Poetry Competition, and the Wildfire Words New Voices First Pamphlet Award. Leeor Ohayon (current MA) was selected for the London Library Emerging Writers Programme.
AWARD NOMINATIONS (COMPETITIONS):
Naomi Wood (MA 2008; PhD 2013) was shortlisted for the Manchester Fiction Prize. Jenny Pagdin (MA 2009) won second prize in the Café Writers Open Poetry Competition. Jacinta Mulders (MA 2016) was commended (ie runner-up) for the Stinging Fly / Felicity Bryan Associates short story competition. Sussie Anie (MA 2019), Mary Franklin (current MA) and Rose Keating (MA 2021) were given Special Mentions in the Galley Beggar Short Story Competition. Stephanie Y. Tam (MFA 2020) was shortlisted for the Fitzcarraldo Editions/Mahler & LeWitt Studios Essay Prize. Linda Collins (current MA) was runner-up in the Mslexia Poetry Competition. April Yee (current MA) was shortlisted for the Manchester Poetry Prize.
BOOK DEALS:
John Boyne (MA 1995) signed a deal with Transworld to write a sequel to The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas. The second novel by Sue Hubbard (MA 1995) will be reissued by Pushkin Press. Fflur Dafydd (MA 2000) sold two new novels to Hodder. A debut full-length prose work by Andrea Mason (MA 2004) has been acquired by Bearded Badger Press. Kim Sherwood (BA 2011; MA 2012) sold a new novel to Virago. Sonal Kohli (MA 2013) sold her debut collection of stories to Swift Press. Paula Cocozza (MA 2015) sold her new novel to Tinder Press. Alake Pilgrim (MA 2017) signed a two-book deal with Knights Of for a middle grade fantasy adventure series. Greg Buchanan (MA 2018) signed a two-book deal with Orion. Natalie Marlow (MA 2018) signed a two-book deal with Baskerville. Margaret Meyer (MA 2020) sold her debut novel to Phoenix (UK) and Scribner (US) and a number of international publishers. Rajasree Variyar (MA 2020) sold her first novel to Orion. Jan Calleja (current PhD) has sold a new verse novel to Prototype.
ALSO:
Luke Wright (BA 2003) was shortlisted for a Saboteur Award in the Best Spoken Word Performer category. Tim MacGabhann (MA 2017) was awarded a Centre Culturel Irlandais residency in Paris. A play by Chloe Yates (current BA) was selected for an Uproar Theatre ‘scratch night’ in Colchester.
MISSED LAST TIME:
Ben Craib (MA 2009) published a debut YA novel. Marina Mahathir (MA 2019) published a new memoir. Helen Baczkowska (MA 2021) was shortlisted for the Nan Shepherd Prize for nature writing. A pantomime scripted by Charlie King (current BA) was performed at the EM Forster Theatre, Tonbridge.
AND NOT FORGETTING:
Our 2015-16 David TK Wong Writing Fellow, Violet Kupersmith, was longlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction. Our 2019 Poetry Fellow, Vahni Capildeo, was longlisted for the Jhalak Prize. Professor Vesna Goldsworthy published a new novel, Iron Curtain: A Love Story. Emeritus Professor Rebecca Stott published a new novel, Dark Earth. Professor Jean McNeil won the gold medal in the literary fiction category of the Independent Publisher Book Awards. Professor Tessa McWatt was shortlisted for the Society of Authors / Gordon Bowker Volcano Prize. Professor Tiffany Atkinson was awarded a Society of Authors Cholmondeley Award for her body of work and contribution to poetry.
Congratulations all!
