We are delighted to announce the seven recipients of the RSL Literature Matters Awards 2021. The Awards aim to enable literary excellence and innovation, providing writers with financial support to undertake a new literary project. This year’s judges are Adjoa Andoh, Hannah Berry and Ian McMillan.

£2000 – Saleh Addonia – The Feeling House
Short story collection focusing on time, remembering, and forgetting, exile and alienation and hearing.

£3500 – Sawad Hussain – Bila Hudood: Arabic Literature Everywhere
An online literary festival showcasing Arabic literature. 

£2800 – Carolyn Jess-Cooke – The Stay-At-Home! Literary Festival
A virtual literary festival dedicated to developing writers and readers.

£1990 – Axe Marnie – Fisher Cats of Newhaven
A children’s comic, set in the historic fishing town of Newhaven in the mid-19th century recasting the fishing community as cats.

£2500 – Richard O’Neill – Bridges to Literature
Connecting Roma Gypsy pupils to literature through their cultural and oral history.

£3600 – Anita Sethi – I Belong Here – Northern Nature Writers Network & Workshops
For northern writers from BAME and low-income backgrounds. 

£3610 –Elspeth Wilson – Un/Natural 
Accessible workshops for D/deaf, disabled, and neurodiverse writers on nature writing.

Please read the press release for more information.