You are viewing your 1 free article this month. Login to read more articles.
Footnote Press and Counterpoints Arts launch prize for writers from refugee and migrant backgrounds
Footnote Press and Counterpoints Arts are partnering to launch the £15,000 Footnote x Counterpoints Writing Prize for writers from refugee and migrant backgrounds. The submissions window will open from Monday 19th June to coincide with Refugee Week UK.
The award includes an advance of £5,000 and a publication agreement with Footnote Press. The prize is developed in association with the Southbank Centre, and supported by John Ellerman Foundation, Doughty Street Chambers, Spread the Word, Dartington Trust and The Bookseller.
The book does not need to be completed to qualify for entry. The submission sample and proposal must be for narrative non-fiction, centred around themes of displacement, identity and/or resistance.
Footnote and Counterpoints said they welcome "eclectic and expansive interpretations of displacement, identity and/or resistance". The organisers are especially interested in writing that sits at intersections, or across cultures, communities and borders, moving beyond the personal to touch upon some of the key social and political themes of our times.
Anyone from a refugee or migrant background is eligible to submit an entry for the prize, if they are resident in the United Kingdom or Republic of Ireland, whether they have previously been published or not. Both agented and unagented submissions are welcome.
Footnote Press m.d. Vidisha Biswas said: "We are thrilled to be announcing the Footnote x Counterpoints Writing Prize, on the first anniversary of our launch. We are hugely grateful to all of our partners for their support and enthusiasm. This is such a vital and timely prize, very much in line with the Footnote mission, and will enable us to keep combating a culture of division and polarisation through the power of storytelling."
Counterpoints arts director Almir Koldzic, added: "We are delighted to be partnering with Footnote on this unique and timely prize, dedicated to showcasing and celebrating exceptional writers from refugee and migrant backgrounds. We know that the selected writers will thrill, inspire and move us and that their rich perspectives, informed by lived experiences, will shine a new light on some of the most pertinent topics shaping our lives and society."
Submissions must consist of a sample of 8,000 to 10,000 words and a detailed proposal of around 3,000 words. The closing date for entries is 1st October 2023. A shortlist will be announced in February 2024, and a winner and two runners-up will be announced in March 2024. A panel of three judges will be announced this August.
Five shortlisted authors will be invited to read and discuss their work at a live event hosted by the Southbank Centre in February 2024 as part of the literature spring season 2024.
The winner and both runners-up will also have the opportunity to go on a week-long writing residency to work on their books at Dartington Hall, a Grade I listed heritage property set within a 1,200-acre private estate near Totnes.
Footnote will also be working with London’s literature development agency Spread the Word to host an e-workshop on developing a career as a writer and one-to-one meetings to provide ongoing support for the winning writers, as well as access to their programme of workshops and events.
