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'Writers and poets from across the globe were celebrating tonight (Thursday 19 July) as the 2018 Authors’ Awards were announced by the Society of Authors at a ceremony at RIBA. Hosted by Stephen Fry with an introduction by the President of the SoA, Philip Pullman, eight awards were presented to 31 writers with a host of debut names joining recognised writers of fiction, non-fiction and poetry to share a prize fund of £98,000.'

From left: Betty Trask Prize 2018 winner Omar Robert Hamilton, and Betty Trask Award 2018 winners Lloyd Markham, Eli Goldstone, Sarah Day and Clare Fisher (photographer: Tom Pilston)

Full story on the SoA website

Congratulations to Lloyd Markham for his Betty Trask Award and to all the other winners and thanks to the Society of Authors for hosting an enjoyable Summer Party!

The keen, passionate, yet dreamy voice of Sophie McKeand drifts out of the speakers as she recites her poems 'Morning Prayer' and 'Dharma.'

North Welsh poet and performer Sophie McKeand went to the Bengali Region in India in 2017 as part of the cultural exchange program “The Valley, The City, The Village.”

Listen to the full recording on Soundcloud.

Gary Raymond’s mystery set in Cyprus, The Golden Orphans, was released earlier this summer, and it has already garnered much attention and acclaim. Most recently, the Spectator’s crime fiction expert Jeff Noon reviewed the novel and wrote that “It’s a brilliant concept” and that the novel is “intense, unnerving and brilliant.” The Golden Orphans begins when the old painter Francis Benthem dies and the narrator, an artist himself and an old friend of Benthem’s, arrives in Cyprus to attend his funeral. Short on money and good fortune, the narrator agrees to take on Benthem’s job working for the Russian gangster...

'Susie Wild’s Better Houses announces a new, highly distinctive and exciting poetic voice. [...] The author’s balance between opening the door for the reader, and then hitting them with the poem’s highly original approach to language and a slightly slant way of looking at the world, make these poems highly entertaining and rewarding. [...] an accomplished and auspicious debut...' – Jonathan Edwards, Ink Sweat & Tears Buy Better Houses from Parthian for £8.99 About Better Houses: This lively first collection from Susie Wild introduces a poet with a nomadic spirit. She tramps with humour, love, and loss across the UK, even...

Last night at the Dylan Thomas Centre, the late Neath poet Terry Hetherington was honoured once more. The evening featured readings from 25 young poets and writers, all of which are featured in Cheval 11. The ceremony marks the culmination of the £1000 prize which took submissions from all over the UK.