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Two Catherines reign in short book prize New Welsh Writing Awards 2017 in Novella and Memoir categories

Published Wed 7 Jun 2017 - By Literature Wales
Two Catherines reign in short book prize New Welsh Writing Awards 2017 in Novella and Memoir categories
New Welsh Review, in association with Aberystwyth University and AmeriCymru, announced the winners of the New Welsh Writing Awards 2017: Aberystwyth University Prize for Memoir, and AmeriCymru Prize for the Novella, at a ceremony at the Hay Festival on Thursday 1 June.

The Prizes celebrate the best in both Memoir and Novella from emerging and established writers, and received entries from both new and established writers based in Wales, England and the US. New Welsh Review editor Gwen Davies judged both categories with the help of students from Aberystwyth University. The Novella Prize was co-judged by Welsh-American writer David Lloyd. David is the author of nine books including poetry collections, a novella and novels, and directs the Creative Writing Program at Le Moyne College in Syracuse, NY.

Catherine Haines, a dual English-Australian citizen, won the Memoir Prize, for her account of a young woman’s experience of anorexia while at Oxford University, entitled My Oxford. Cath Barton, from the English Midlands and now living in Abergavenny won the Novella Prize for her story The Plankton Collector, a gentle pastiche of an idyllic world populated by archetypes who will help us heal and learn.

Both writers were given cheques for £1,000, as well as e-publication by New Welsh Review on their New Welsh Rarebyte imprint. They will also receive a positive critique by leading literary agent Cathryn Summerhayes at Curtis Brown.

You can watch a four-minute animation of My Oxford by Catherine Haines here. You can also watch a four-minute animation of The Plankton Collector by Cath Barton here. Both animations were created by Aberystwyth University graduate Emily Roberts.