Who is on the East Anglian Book Awards 2023 shortlist?

The awards, which shine a spotlight on the region’s writing talent, are a partnership between Jarrolds, the Eastern Daily Press and the National Centre for Writing with support from UEA Faculty of Arts and Humanities.

The six titles will now be considered by a panel of judges for the prestigious £1,000 Book of the Year Award.

Holly Ainley, head of programmes and creative engagement at the National Centre for Writing, said: "Congratulations to all six shortlisted writers! Selected from an 18-strong longlist, these books have each struck a chord with the category judges, representing some of the strongest publishing emerging from and focussing on East Anglia this past year.

"As ever, we are bowled over by the range of these works and the breadth of stories they promise to tell – from the personal to historical and fictional.

"It’s exciting to see so many books from independent publishers on the shortlist this year too – a reminder of just how much original and exciting work is going on in our regional literary community, as well as inspiring those beyond it."

The category winners are:

Biography and Memoir: Sit Still Timmy! by Tim MacWilliam (Amazon)

Fiction: Foxash by Kate Worsley (Tinder Press)

General Non-Fiction: The Meaning of Geese by Nick Acheson (Chelsea Green Publishing)

History and Tradition: Norwich Textiles: A Global Story 1750-1840 by Michael Nix (Costume and Textile Association)

The Mal Peet Children’s Award: The Golden Mango Tree by Karen Li (Branching Out Books)

Poetry: The Human Portion by Nicola Warwick (V. Press Poetry)

The overall winner of the awards, which spotlight the very best of publishing, writing, and reading in the East of England, will be revealed at a celebratory event on Thursday February 15, at 6.30pm, at the National Centre for Writing at Dragon Hall in Norwich.

The category winners will also share their publishing experiences and discuss what the region means to their writing.

Nicola Warwick, winner of the Poetry Award for The Human Portion, said: "I am so thrilled that my pamphlet has won the Poetry Category. These poems were written to show my fascination with the natural world. Some are inspired by my personal experiences, some are complete imagination, some are clearly set in East Anglian landscapes. I am delighted that they resonate with others, too."

Kate Worsley, winner of the Fiction Award for Foxash, said: "It's always a bit of a boost for any writer when their efforts to produce something not only readable but of worth are acknowledged, let alone praised.  And so this award really will be a huge encouragement for me to plough on with my novel in progress, the third in a trilogy of sea, land and air. 

"Foxash is a novel of the earth, of rootedness, fertility and exploitation, and in the writing of it I was very conscious of how economic hardship was affecting our region today, in terms of hidden rural poverty and tensions over migrant workers, and how, as the welfare safety net shrinks, the dream of pastoral self-sufficiency is seeing something of a revival."

Writer, poet and researcher Shannon Clinton-Copeland was the category judge for Poetry.

She said: "We are so lucky to have such a high standard of creative work being produced in and about East Anglia. Reading these entries was never a moment of labour—I have come out of it with such a deep renewed appreciation for the work that is made here, for East Anglia’s wild and urban spaces, for the poets who have translated them so masterfully to paper."

To qualify for the East Anglian Book Awards, works must be set largely in East Anglia or be written by an author living in the region – which is defined as Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex and the area of Fenland District Council.

Books must have been published for the first time between August 6 2022 and August 5 2023 and have been commercially available in physical bookshops.

Tickets are £6 and can be bought online at nationalcentreforwriting.org.uk