Gladstone’s Library has today revealed the names of the 13 writers shortlisted for its prestigious Writers in Residence award for 2018!
Now into its seventh year, Gladstone’s Library’s successful Writers in Residence programme was established in association with Damian Barr (saloniere and author of Maggie and Me) to explore and define liberal values in the twenty-first century.
The shortlist is made up of novels, poetry and creative non-fiction that, in the eyes of the panel of judges of authors, industry experts and members of the Gladstone’s Library team, represent some of the most creative contemporary writing.
This year’s submissions were drawn from a pool of entries from around the world. To qualify for consideration, all applicants had to submit a book published in the last three years as well as a short piece of writing on liberal values. The strength of both was taken into consideration by the judges when drawing up the shortlist.
The 13 shortlisted titles for 2018 are:
- Annabel Abbs, The Joyce Girl (Impress, 2016)
- Polly Atkin, ‘Basic Nest Architecture’ (Seren, 2017)
- Keggie Carew, Dadland (Vintage, 2016)
- Krishan Coupland, When you Lived Inside the Walls (Stonewood Press, 2017)
- Cal Flyn, Thicker Than Water (Harper Collins, 2016)
- Will Harris, ‘All This is Implied’ (Happenstance, 2017)
- Emma Henderson, The Valentine House (Sceptre, 2017)
- Nicholas Hogg, Tokyo (Freight, 2015)
- Jenny Lewis, ‘Gilgamesh Retold’ (Carcanet Press, 2018)
- Rachel Malik, Miss Boston and Miss Hargreaves (Penguin Random House, 2017)
- Joan Michelson, ‘Bloomvale Home’ (Original Plus, 2016)
- Dipika Mukherjee, Ode to Broken Things (Repeater, 2016)
- Sheena Wilkinson, Name Upon Name (Little Island, 2015)
Four of these authors will be awarded a month’s residency at Gladstone’s Library, a creative community that is open to the public and based in the world’s only residential library. Previous winners have included Rowan Hisayo Buchanan (Harmless Like You), Amy Liptrot (The Outrun), Jessie Burton (The Miniaturist), Wendy Cope (Making Cocoa for Kingsley Amis), Salley Vickers (Miss Garnet’s Angel), Peter Moore (The Weather Experiment), Melissa Harrison (Rain) and Sarah Perry (The Essex Serpent).
This year’s judging panel consists of Senior Strategy Director at FutureBrand and Trustee of Gladstone’s Library, Freddie Baveystock; poet Rebecca Farmer (‘Not Really’); author Natasha Pulley (The Watchmaker of Filigree Street); Jenny Hewson (Rogers, Coleridge and White literary agency); Peter Francis, Warden of Gladstone’s Library and Director of Collections and Research at Gladstone’s Library, Louisa Yates. Judging takes place on Monday, 14th August and the programme will be launched on Monday, 9th October at the National Liberal Club in London when the four winning authors will read from their work. Find out more here.