SI Leeds Literary Prize is a new prize for unpublished fiction by Black and Asian women resident in the UK aged 18 years and over. The prize has been created and is being run by Soroptimist International of Leeds, in partnership with two well established and highly regarded literary organisations, the Ilkley Literature Festival and independent publishers Peepal Tree Press. The prize aims to act as a loudspeaker for Black and Asian women’s voices, and a platform to discover exciting new talent, from a group largely under-represented on our bookshelves.
In the words of our patron, Bidisha:
“The prize is a testament to the importance and manifest talent of women and a tribute to the gift of cultural, national, ethnic and linguistic diversity. The prize is important and necessary but, more than that, it is introduced to the world as an act of joy, happiness and the discovery of new work. Join us in celebration.”
The winner of the 2012 SI Leeds Literary Prize is Minoli Salgado for A Little Dust on the Eyes. Second prize went to Karen Onojaife’s Borrowed Light, and third place was tied between Emily Midorikawa’s A Tiny Speck of Black and then Nothing and Jane Steele’s Storybank: The Milkfarm Years. Read extracts of the shortlisted entries and meet all our shortlisted writers, see photos and read about the award ceremony, or follow us on Facebook and Twitter. Read more about what has happened to our winning writers following the Prize here.
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