A professional scriptwriter, a former human rights lawyer and a man who once played double bass for the Communards are all in the running for this year’s Manchester Writing Prize.
The winner, which in the competition for the first time, prizes are being offered in both the fiction and poetry categories, will claim £10,000.
For the Manchester Fiction Prize, the six finalists are David Grubb, Avril Joy, Martin Macinnes, Robert Mason, Davey Moore and Adrian Wakeling.
The finalists for the Manchester Poetry Prize are Mona Arshi, Guy Carter, Michael Hudson, Wayne Price, Lesley Saunders and Tracey Slaughter.
Since its launch in 2008 the prize, which is the brainchild of Manchester Writing School Creative Director and Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy, has attracted almost 12,000 submissions from over 50 countries and awarded more than £75,000 to its winners.
The competition was designed to encourage new work and seek out the best creative writing from across the world, establishing Manchester as the focal point for a major international prize.
This year’s Poetry Prize was judged by Adam O’Riordan, Adam Horovitz and Clare Pollard, and the Fiction Prize by Nocholas Royle, Christopher Burns and Claire Dean.
The winners of this year’s Manchester Poetry and Fiction Prizes, who will each receive £10,000, will be announced at a glittering Manchester Literature Festival ceremony at Chetham’s School of Music on Friday, October 17.
The prizes will be presented by Adam O’Riordan and Nicholas Royle and the event will be hosted by James Draper and Matthew Frost.
