Novels by two UEA alumni have been shortlisted for the Goldsboro Books Glass Bell Award. Ayanna Lloyd Banwo (pictured), who graduated from the MA in Creative Writing (Prose Fiction) in 2018 and is currently completing her PhD in Creative and Critical Writing, is nominated for When We Were Birds (Hamish Hamilton); and Tom Watson, who graduated from the MA in Creative Writing (Prose Fiction) in 2017 as the recipient of the Curtis Brown Prize, is nominated for Metronome (Bloomsbury). The winner of the award, who will receive £2,000 and a handmade glass bell, will be announced on 28 September. Ayanna’s novel won the Fiction and Overall categories at the 2023 OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature, the Author’s Club Award Best First Novel Award this year, and was shortlisted for a Kitschies award and the McKitterick Prize. Tom’s novel was previously shortlisted for the Bridport Prize in 2018.
Ayanna Lloyd Banwo and Tom Watson shortlisted for Goldsboro Books Glass Bell Award
