Last month saw three major national literary awards go to members of the Warwick Writing Programme.

Two English Literature and Creative Writing graduates, James Brookes and Swithun Cooper won major Eric Gregory Awards for Poetry. The Gregory Award is given each year to the four best young poets in the UK under the age of 30. This means that the University has won no less than ten Gregory awards in the last decade.

At the same ceremony, The Society of Authors gave a prestigious Cholmondeley Award for Poetry to Fiona Sampson, who tutors for the Writing Programme and is also a Fellow of the Capital Centre.

Director of the Warwick Writing Programme, Professor David Morley said, “I'm delighted for Fiona, James and Swithun. It shows how Warwick has become such an important international crucible for the practice and study of writing. There is also a rich sense of our being a cultural community - one that celebrates the success of those within it, but which is also crucially supportive of those who finding their feet and their voices”

Following the success last month, David is pleased to announce that this year's Forward Prize for Poetry has two Warwick Writing Programme nominees.

Sian Hughes, a Postgraduate studying Writing has been short listed for the Best First Collection prize for her work “The Missing”, while Royal Literary Fund Fellow to the Warwick Writing Programme Elizabeth Speller has been short listed for Best Individual Poem.

David Morley said, “Sian Hughes and Elizabeth Speller share the shortlist with some world-famous names in contemporary poetry. They fully deserve to be in such company”.

Professor Morley himself has just been announced as winner of the prestigious Templar Poetry Prize for his new book of poems to be published in October called “The Rose of the Moon”. David said, “I'm delighted and honoured to receive this prize. This is my fourteenth literary award and I'm pleased not to have got stuck on unlucky thirteen.”

In addition to the Warwick Writing Programme, the University is committed to the encouragement and development of poetry in young people. As part of this summer’s IGGY programme for gifted youth, attending children will have the chance to take part in a creative writing course led by Peter Blegvad, where they will have the opportunity to develop their skills in poetry, prose fiction and non-fiction writing.

• For more information see the IGGY website

Read more about the poets in today’s story:

• David Morley
  
• Sian Hughes
  
• Elizabeth Speller