New Welsh Review in association with Aberystwyth University is delighted to announce the longlist for the New Welsh Writing Awards 2018: Aberystwyth University Prize for an Essay Collection.

Nine writers, both new and established, and based in Wales, England and Northern Ireland are in the running for the top prize of £1,000. Themes found in work by the longlisted authors include art’s ability to endure beyond conflict – whether that is in Northern Ireland, Wales during the Second World War or in Spain during the Civil War; how literature can provide comfort and clarification to those who have hearing difficulties, and how mining has an impact across many generations of one family working below ground.

With other entries, we look at the artist’s public role, from the Victorian era, through swinging Sixties Liverpool, to contemporary Athens. We hear from a woman based in mid-Wales discussing her diagnosis of autism and how, as someone who grew up here, language and perceptions of rootedness impact on her own identity and neurological differences. We also learn, through a series of candid snapshots, about diabetes and depression. Elsewhere, we learn how Montaigne is the forefather of blogging, and finally how important it is, in this modern day, to keep an open door to wilderness and the spirit beyond….

Aberystwyth University Prize for an Essay Collection Longlist

Bridget Blankley (Southampton) – In the Shadow of the Mines:A Personal Essay
Michael Cule (High Wycombe) –  What Do I Know
Alex Diggins (Bristol) –  Sea Change: An Argument in Six Parts
Ed Garland (Aberystwyth) –  Fiction as a Hearing Aid
Katya Johnson (Aberystwyth) –  On the Endurance of Art
S.A. Leavesley (Droitwich) –  This < > Room
Nicholas Murray (Presteigne) –  Writing and Engagement
Kerri ní Dochartaigh (Derry, N. Ireland) –  That Further Shore
Rhiannon Lloyd-Williams (Machynlleth) –  The Wrong Kind of Happiness

The shortlist will be announced at an event at the Bookshop in Aberystwyth Arts Centre on Thursday 3 May 2018 from 6.30-8.00pm and the winners will be announced at a ceremony at Hay Festival on Tuesday 29 May from 3.00-4.00pm.

The 2018 Awards are sponsored by Aberystwyth University, the core sponsor and host of New Welsh Review. The Awards are run in partnership with Curtis Brown, Gladstone’s Library and Tŷ Newydd Writing Centre.