Posted By: Richard White, 17 November 2011
The Café Writers Norfolk Commission is an annual prize awarded to a Norfolk poet to produce a pamphlet of poems in response to Norfolk. Previously only open to recent graduates, we now welcome submissions from anyone who lives in the county or has an NR postcode. The prize includes £3,000 and the publication of a pamphlet by Gatehouse Press. This year’s judges are George Szirtes, Helen Ivory, Kate Birch and Chris Gribble.
The prize is to encourage an emerging poet in the difficult early stages of establishing their writing career. Café Writers supports writers at all stages of their development from beginners right through to well established names. The Commission Patrons are Kate Birch and Dominic Christian. Kate says: “The Commission has proved to be an ideal way to celebrate the richness and variety of Norfolk, while at the same time promoting and supporting at least some of the many talented poets who are inspired by it. We are very proud to be part of it all.”
The Commission is a strand of Café Writers, which holds
monthly live literature events upstairs at Take 5, Tombland. Past winners of the Commission include Meirion Jordan (
Strangers Hall), Laura Elliott (
Bridge) and Angus Sinclair (
Another Use of Canvas) who have all been short-listed for the East Anglian Book Award.
How to Enter
Entries should include 12 pages of your poetry (this need not be on the topic of Norfolk) and a 400 word proposal that outlines your approach to creating the work for the pamphlet. Please provide 4 copies of your entry.
The deadline for submission is 7th December 2011. The winner will be announced in March 2012. Please mark your envelope clearly as ‘Café Writers Norfolk Commission’ and send your submission and £5 handling fee to Café Writers, The Butchery, 168a Silver Road, Norwich, NR3 4TH
