Karen Onojaife’s Starling wins 2nd prize in the Mslexia Short Story Competition 2013
SI Leeds Literary Prize author, Karen Onojaife, whose novel Borrowed Light won 2nd prize and the SI Leeds Readers’ Choice in 2012, has recently won 2nd prize in Mslexia’s Short Story Competition 2013. Karen said: “The more I think about the Prize, the more I come to realise how grateful I am to be part of a community of such generous readers and writers, giving me encouragement, the opportunity to share my work and time to develop my craft. I definitely feel more energised and optimistic when I think about tackling my manuscript as well as the ideas I have for other short stories and novels.”
Read Starling here:
http://www.mslexia.co.uk/magazine/newwriting/nwstory2_58.php
Commonword Children’s Diversity Writing Prize 2013
The Commonword Children’s Diversity Writing Prize welcomes submissions from unpublished children’s authors whose writing embraces ethnic diversity, either through their own ethnicity and culture and/or in their writing.
The winning entry receives £500, professional mentoring from Catherine Pellegrino & Associates and £100 of Puffin books. Runners up receive detailed manuscript feedback from Commonword.
Deadline for entries is 30 June 2013, and full details are available on their website:
http://ihaveadream.org.uk
Commonword competition for memoirs and autobiographical writing
Entries are being sought for the Arts Council England funded Commonword competition for memoirs and autobiographical writing. Deadline for entries is 30 June 2013.
The competition will give an opportunity for the writers to receive significant assistance with their writing, as well as £150. The winner of the last competition, Rachel Connor had her novel, Sisterwives, published and printed. Read the PDF for more details.
News on our winners
The 2012 SI Leeds Literary Prize winner, Minoli Salgado, has had a busy few months since the announcement of the Prize last autumn. She is now represented by Elise Dillsworth Agency, a development which coincided with the prize announcement: “Elise is a wonderful and very proactive agent and having A Little Dust on the Eyes shortlisted for the prize was really important. That boost – knowing that it was shortlisted – definitely helped.” The impact of winning the Prize has been significant: “Winning the Prize has made me think of my writing as a whole, and given me confidence to establish myself as a writer. It’s given me a focus, a renewed sense of purpose and, most importantly, a clearer sense of a readership.”
The success of A Little Dust on the Eyes has also helped Minoli to move on with her writing: “One of the best things about the Prize has been the feeling that other people think my book is ready to go – until I felt confident about that, I felt I couldn’t move on. Knowing that other people think the book is ready is really encouraging, and I’m now working on another book.”
Minoli actually had two books longlisted for the Prize, and her other submission, Broken Jaw, is a collection of short stories, one of which has recently been translated into Italian. Although Minoli sees herself primarily as a fiction writer, she has also been invited to give readings of her poetry internationally. Her poetry was featured at the Writing and Reconciliation conference in Virginia, USA in November, and this February sees her travelling to Nicaragua for the International Poetry Festival of Granada where her poems have been translated into Spanish by Gioconda Belli, one of the country’s foremost poets.
Emily Midorikawa, whose A Tiny Speck of Black and then Nothing won joint 3rd prize in 2012, is now deep into work on her second novel, following the success of her first book. She has an agent working on her behalf to secure a publishing contract and her article on rivalry between writers (co-authored with Emma Claire Sweeney) will be published this year in Mslexia. Emily recently took part in a panel presentation at the annual conference for the National Association of Writers in Education. She continues to teach creative writing and has enjoyed working with the Inscribe programme as part of her prize award. Karen Onojaife, 2nd prize winner and SI Choice winner with Borrowed Light, is also working on ideas for new work, and has been outlining ideas both for her second novel and collection of short stories. She has recently applied to volunteer as a Story Minister with the Ministry of Stories, which aims to help and mentor young children with creative writing and literacy skills. Jane Steele’s Storybank: The Milkfarm Years, which won joint 3rd prize, has been sent to a major literary agency, and the agency has given Jane very balanced and positive feedback. All our winners continue to be brilliant advocates for the Prize, and we wish them every success in taking their writing careers to the next level.
2012 Prize winners
We are delighted to announce the winners of the 2012 SI Leeds Literary Prize as follows:
1st place: Minoli Salgado - A Little Dust on the Eyes
2nd place: Karen Onojaife - Borrowed Light
3rd place (tied): Emily Midorikawa - A Tiny Speck of Black and then Nothing, Jane Steele - Storybank: The Milkfarm Years
Pictures from the Prize ceremony, held on 3 October as part of the 2012 Ilkley Literature Festival, can be seen here, with more on our Facebook page. Many congratulations to our winners, and to all those who took part in this year’s prize – we will follow you with interest.
SI Readers’ Choice winner announced
Karen Onojaife won the SI Readers’ Choice award for Borrowed Light, and a fabulous original artwork by our patron Bidisha. Our congratulations to Karen, and thanks to our panel of readers drawn from membership of Soroptimist International.
Prize short list
The short list for the 2012 SI Leeds Literary Prize is as follows:
The Book of Ghosts Katy Massey
A Tiny Speck of Black and then Nothing Emily Midorikawa
Borrowed Light Karen Onojaife
A Little Dust on the Eyes Minoli Salgado
The Weekend for Sex, and other stories Anita Sivakumaran
Storybank: The Milkfarm Years Jane Steele
Short biographies and photographs of all six shortlisted writers can be found here, together with extracts of the shortlisted entries.
The six short-listed manuscripts were selected from the long list by the judging panel, chaired by head judge, Margaret Busby OBE.
Prize long list
The following manuscripts were longlisted for the 2012 SI Leeds Literary Prize:
A Little Dust on the Eyes Minoli Salgado
A Tiny Speck of Black and Then Nothing Emily Midorikawa
Beneath The Fretting Rainbow Sylvia Dickinson
Borrowed Light Karen Onojaife
Broken Jaw Minoli Salgado
Seduce Désirée Reynolds
Storybank: The Milkfarm Years Jane Steele
The Book of Ghosts Katy Massey
The Clouds Floated By Donna Edinboro
The March of Aida Emma Allotey
The Secret Arts Azma Dar
The Weekend for Sex & Other Stories Anita Sivakumaran
Thank you for supporting our crowdfunding campaign!
We are delighted to announce that we have successfully completed our crowdfunding campaign, and exceeded our £1,000 target. Thanks to all our generous donors and backers, who will now receive a wonderful range of rewards including tickets for ILF 2012 events, Peepal Tree Press book tokens and a package of signed books from our patron, Bidisha. To see a full list of donors, click here.
Cultural Voices oral history project is launched
Yorkshire-based artists from black minority ethnic and multicultural backgrounds are being encouraged to join in the New Cultural Voices oral history project, which runs from July 2012 to April 2013. Writers, actors, musicians, painters, sculptors and more are being asked to contact Heritage Project Officer Sohail Khan if they would like to take part in an interview to share memories and experiences: sohail@addictivemusic.org
…and on Twitter
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Goldsmiths is now recruiting for its new MA in Black British Writing, Drama & Performance which starts September 2013: tinyurl.com/cn88huk
