Wasafiri places new writing at the centre of a debate about power
The London prize ceremony connects fiction, life writing and poetry with the pressures facing publishing today.
The seventeenth Queen Mary Wasafiri New Writing Prize brought emerging voices and publishing professionals together at London’s Southbank Centre on 31 October. Before the awards, the Publishing Against Power panel considered artificial intelligence, freedom of expression, writers’ rights and the current growth in translation. Chaired by So Mayer, the discussion featured Tice Cin, English PEN’s Will Forrester and artist Heather Marks. Farah Ahamed, Gaël Le Cornec and Cara Thompson then read work representing the prize’s three categories: fiction, life writing and poetry. The evening’s structure turned a prize ceremony into a wider literary argument. Supporting new authors also means examining the political, linguistic and economic conditions that determine whether a voice can be published, translated and heard.