McHugh’s 'small gem of a book' wins Barbellion Prize

Letty McHugh has been announced as the winner of the Barbellion Prize for Book of Hours: An Almanac for The Seasons of The Soul (self-published, with support from Disability Arts Online). 

The Barbellion Prize – named after the English diarist W N P Barbellion, who wrote about his life with multiple sclerosis – is dedicated to ill and disabled writers whose work represents the experience of chronic illness or disability. 

Yorkshire-based McHugh wins a £1,000 cash prize alongside a custom-made Barbellion Prize trophy.

Speaking about her book, McHugh said: “Over the course of the pandemic, a complication with my chronic illness left me alone in a darkened room for three weeks. I drew comfort from an imagined Book of Hours. Half almanac, half prayer book, medieval books of hours offered guidance for every situation and every day of the year. As I recovered I started to wonder, where was the spiritual guidebook for people like me: lost, sick, artists who watch too much reality TV? I couldn’t find one, so I made my own […] Borrowing wisdom from Anglo-Saxon hermits, contemporary artists and ‘The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills’, Book of Hours is a collection of lyric essays and poetry exploring what it means to have faith, why we chase suffering and how to take solace in small joys.”

Judge and former Barbellion winner Lynn Buckle said: “We always knew it would be challenging to pick a winner from such a strong list of publications. We were primarily looking for great writing but were also afforded some great insights into disability issues such as assistive technology, acquired disability and the struggle for self-acceptance in Harry Parker’s Hybrid Humans. Lauren Foley showed us that we are free to write outside these boundaries in her snappy, brilliant short story collection Polluted Sex. And Claire Oshetsky’s wonderfully dark and humorous novel Chouette reimagined difference in entirely new ways. 

“To select a self-published book as winner is a radical act, indicating the important role this international literary prize plays in highlighting work by authors whose journey towards publication is inherently more difficult due to chronic illness or disability. It is not just health, but systemic barriers which pose limitations on such writers. I sincerely hope to see Book of Hours traditionally published so that it may reach wider audiences, that readers may be rewarded by Letty McHugh’s beautiful writing and unique contemplations. She writes with intellectual rigour, with curiosity and hope. She writes of our struggles and joys while interrogating the intersections between disability, suffering and faith. Book of Hours is a small gem of a book with huge power.”