Category Archives: Readers

National Poetry Competition Winner

Out of 13,041 entires, Patricia McCarthy’s ‘Clothes that escaped the Great War’ is the Winner of the National Poetry Competition.

Judges Vicki Feaver, W N Herbert and Nick Laird were initially struck by the surprising title of McCarthy’s work, but were soon captivated by this atmospheric poem based on a story her own mother told her – a memory of something she had witnessed as a small girl in Yorkshire, during the First World War.

Patricia McCarthy becomes the 36th person to win the Poetry Society’s National Poetry Competition since it began in 1978. The competition has been an important milestone in the careers of many of today’s leading poets and  recognises an individual poem, previously unpublished, in an anonymised judging process. The judges only discover the identity of the winners after making their final decision. Take a look at http://www.poetrysociety.org.uk

Comments Off on National Poetry Competition Winner

Filed under Readers, Writers

World Book Night – our latest news

As one of the selected ‘givers’ for World Book night, I’m delighted that I’ll be giving away copies of Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman.

Comments Off on World Book Night – our latest news

Filed under Readers

James Gleick wins the 2011-12 Hessell-Tiltman Prize for History

The Hessell-Tiltman Prize for History has been awarded to The Information by James Gleick (published by Fourth Estate). The book was described by the judges as ‘bold and arresting’.

The £3,000 prize is awarded annually by the writers’ charity English PEN for a work of popular history. This year’s judges were Bryan Ward-Perkins (chair), Amanda Foreman and Caroline Moorehead.

The Judging Committee said: ‘The judges were overwhelmed by the excellence of the books submitted for this year’s Hessell-Tiltman History Prize. But in James Gleick’s book, The Information, we found something quite remarkable and were struck again and again by the way that his book stayed in the mind.’

Check out the PEN website for more

Comments Off on James Gleick wins the 2011-12 Hessell-Tiltman Prize for History

Filed under Readers