Booker-Winner Anne Enright Joins Mendez, James McConnachie, Daljit Nagra, Catriona Ward and Literary Editor Johanna Thomas-Corr to Judge 2023 Sunday Times Young Writer Of The Year Award
Charlotte Aitken Sunday Times Young Writer of The Year Award
From left to right: Anne Enright, Mendez, James McConnachie, Daljit Nagra, Johanna Thomas-Corr, Catriona Ward
The UK and Ireland’s most influential award for young writers, The Sunday Times Charlotte Aitken Young Writer of the Year Award today announces an exceptional panel of judges for its third year with sponsor the Charlotte Aitken Trust.
Thomas-Corr is joined by the Booker-winning writer and novelist Anne Enright, novelist and critic Mendez, author and critic James McConnachie , poet Daljit Nagra and novelist Catriona Ward. The panel will decide who will follow last year’s winner of the prize, Tom Benn (Oxblood).
Johanna Thomas-Corr said: “I’m so delighted to have such an exceptionally accomplished and interesting panel of judges, perhaps the strongest we have ever assembled. Anne, Mendez, James, Daljit and Cat bring such a broad range of knowledge and experience to the task that I just know we’re going to uncover some really brilliant new writers - and have a lot of lively discussion too!”
With Cal Flyn, Jay Bernard, Raymond Antrobus, Adam Weymouth, Sally Rooney, Max Porter and Sarah Howe as recent winners, the prize has spotted and supported an exceptional line-up of defining new voices since returning from a 7-year break in 2015, and its alumni list is a who’s who of the best in British and Irish writing – from Robert Macfarlane to Zadie Smith , from Sarah Waters to Simon Armitage, from Naomi Alderman to Caryl Phillips and many others.
Sponsored by the Charlotte Aitken Trust, who joined the prize in 2021, the award is given annually to the best work of fiction, non-fiction or poetry by a British or Irish author of 35 or under. Administered by the Society of Authors, the award works with a growing network of partners to provide a critical support system to the very best talent at work right now. Submissions close on Thursday 14 September 2023.
As it launches its upcoming season, the award is working to extend its partnership network across the literary world. In its first year as the new sponsor, the Charlotte Aitken Trust increased the prize sum to £10,000 with each shortlistee receiving £1,000. This prize money will remain as part of the winner package for 2023.
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