Fern Academy Prize for non-fiction essay chooses 'standout winner'

Gabriela Denise Frank has won the inaugural Fern Academy Prize for her essay "A Self She Can Continue Living With".

The new non-fiction essay prize was created by Fern Press and How To Academy, in association with Tortoise Media. Frank’s essay was among four shortlisted by the prize judges—chaired by Margaret Busby with Mark O’Connell, Laurence Laluyaux and Keith Blackmore. 

Busby said: "It has been exciting to discover new writing that dares to challenge our preconceptions about form, and it is a real privilege to have shared with my fellow judges the experience of choosing our standout winner.’"

Frank said: "The encouragement I feel from receiving the Fern Academy Prize can’t be overstated: I’m gobsmacked and deeply grateful. To know that my work resonated and that the judges see promise in me among a field of exceptionally talented writers—that’s the best any artist can hope for. This prize not only confers the kind of practical support and literary representation that can truly change a working writer’s life, it is a door swung open, making possible everything that comes after.’ 

The prize received 140 submissions from unpublished, unagented writers from around the world.  

Frank wins a cash prize of £3,000, publication with Tortoise Media, literary representation by RCW literary agent Laurence Laluyaux, a five-night writing course run by How To Academy’s sister company, Unmissable Courses, an appearance on How To Academy’s biweekly podcast and mentorship from a Penguin Random House UK editor. 

The other shortlisted writers are Hannah Sargeant for Bury Me Standing Up, Zahrah Nesbitt-Ahmed for Sunana/My Name Is and Georgia Wall for Close to the World of Other People.

Frank is an American literary artist, editor and educator whose work has appeared in BOMB Magazine, Channel, Northwest Review, Bayou, The Rumpus and elsewhere.