Rollinson wins 2023 Deborah Rogers Foundation Writers Award

Judges Adbulrazak Gurnah, Claire Adam and Annalena McAfee have announced Neil Rollinson as the winner of the £10,000 Deborah Rogers Foundation Writers Award, for his unpublished work The Dead Don’t Bleed.

Two runners-up, Michelle Alipao Chikaonda (The Dying Embers of Our Setting Sun) and Alicia McAuley (The Caul), were awarded £1,000 each.

The winners were selected from a nine-strong shortlist, culled from over 860 entries. Gurnah, chair of the judges, said of the longlist that "there was a great deal to admire in all of them and we congratulate all the submitted writers and their achievements. We arrived at our shortlist after intense and pleasurable discussion and unanimously chose The Dead Don’t Bleed as the recipient of the Deborah Rogers Foundation Prize."

Rollinson has published four collections of poetry, with the most recent, Talking Dead (Jonathan Cape), shortlisted for the Costa Poetry Award.

The DRF Writers Award is presented to a writer whose submission demonstrates outstanding literary talent and who needs financial support to complete their first full-length book.

The winner was announced at a ceremony held at Faber, The Bindery, London on Thursday 9th November.