Writer in Residence 2023 shortlist at Gladstone’s Library revealed

Fourteen authors are in the running to secure a month-long residency at a historic residential library.

The 2023 shortlist for the Writer in Residence programme for Gladstone’s Library in Hawarden has been announced this week.

The shortlisted authors were selected from a diverse range of submissions by an in-house reading panel, and their works will now be passed on to the external judging panel.

Typically, four to six authors will be selected as winners, and they will be offered the opportunity to stay at the Library for up to a month to work on their next projects.

Louisa Yates, Director of Collections at Gladstone’s Library, said: “Our shortlisting panel is larger than in previous years, leading to a very strong shortlist that includes a variety of genres, authors, and publishing houses.

“It’s good to see the Library’s commitment to diversity going from strength to strength, and it’s something we’ll develop next year.”

The Writer in Residence Programme, which is sponsored by Joana Munro, was created in 2012 in association with Damian Barr, author of Maggie and Me, You Will Be Safe Here and the creator of Damian Barr’s Literary Salon.

Winning writers are offered a weekly honourarium of £100, full board and lodging at the Library, which has 26 residential bedrooms, and can make use of its famous Victorian Reading Rooms and their collections.

They are invited to blog about their stay and will host a talk and masterclass at ticketed events open to the public.

Previous winners include Sarah Perry, author of The Essex Serpent, which was recently adapted into a TV series starring Claire Danes and Tom Hiddleston, and Amy Liptrot, author of The Outrun.

Katie Munnik, author of The Aerialists, said: “When I was finishing the first draft of The Aerialists, I spent a very productive long weekend at a comfortable desk in Gladstone’s Library, so now it is an absolute honour to be included on this shortlist.”

Sarah Taylor, author of Max the Detective Cat, said: “I am absolutely over the moon to have been included on the list. All of my books, save the one written in lockdown, were born or worked on at Gladstones and it is such a special place, supporting books, researchers and writers and always so welcoming.”

Susan Stokes-Chapman, author of Pandora, said: “Oh this is wonderful news, I’m so thrilled! This has been one of the things I’ve coveted ever since hearing about the programme back in 2016, so to have got as far as a shortlist is truly a bucket list moment.”

The winners will be announced in mid-October.

The shortlist comprises:

Sophie Rickard, The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, ill. Scarlett Rickard (SelfMadeHero, 2020)

Jude Piesse, The Ghost in the Garden: in Search of Darwin’s Lost Garden (Scribe UK, 2022)

West Moss,Flesh and Blood: Reflections on Infertility, Family, and Creating a Bountiful Life: A Memoir(Algonquin Books, 2022)

Alison Layland, Riverflow (Honno Welsh Women’s Press, 2019)

Katie Munnik, The Aerialists (The Borough Press, 2022)

Eleanor Wasserberg, The Light at the End of the Day (Fourth Estate, 2020)

Sarah Todd Taylor, Max the Detective Cat: the Catnap Caper (Nosy Crow, 2019)

Susan Stokes-Chapman, Pandora (Harvill Secker, 2022)

Jane Yeh, Discipline (Carcanet, 2019)

David Hartley, Fauna (Fly on the Wall Press, 2021)

Catherine Okoronoko, Blood and Water / ọbara na mmiri (Waterloo Press)

Genevieve Carver, Landsick (Broken Sleep Books)

Margarita Gokun Silver, I Named My Dog Pushkin (Thread, 2021)

Jonathan Davidson, A Commonplace (The Poetry Business, 2020)