Graduates scoop two top writing prizes

GRADUATES from the Manchester Writing School have claimed two of the biggest prizes in poetry and fiction.

Kei Miller was this week announced as the winner of the £10,000 Forward Prize for Poetry, for his collection The Cartographer Tries to Map a Way to Zion.

This is a second consecutive win for the school - last year's prize was won by the School's Professor of Poetry Michael Symmons Roberts, for Drysalter.

Carol Ann Duffy, Creative Director of the Manchester Writing School, won the prize in 1993, and its Academic Director, Jean Sprackland, has been nominated twice.

"Beautifully voiced"

Chair of Judges Jeremy Paxman told The Guardian, “Kei is doing something you don’t come across often: this is a beautifully voiced collection which struck us all with its boldness and wit.

“Many poets refer to multiple realities, different ways of observing the world. Kei doesn’t just refer, he articulates them.”

Prof Andrew Biswell, who taught Kei at the Writing School, said: “It was clear to everyone who taught him at MMU that he was a student of genuine gift and promise. He is one of our most productive graduates, and the recognition he is now receiving is richly deserved and overdue.

“Kei Miller is an important writer whose appeal is international, but his writing has a human heart. I am delighted that Jeremy Paxman and the other Forward judges have awarded him this prize.”

Changing literary landscapes

Earlier this summer, Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi was announced as the winner of the £5,000 Commonwealth Short Story Prize.

Jennifer said: “This is a dream. For Uganda, once described as a literary desert, it shows how the country’s literary landscape is changing and I am proud to be a part of it. The Commonwealth Short story Prize will help bring attention to Ugandan writing at a global level.”

Both writers graduated from the MA Creative Writing course whose other notable alumni include Liz Kessler and Andrew Miller.

Carol Ann Duffy said: “We are so lucky at The Manchester Writing School to attract such wonderful students and Kei Miller is a joyful inspiration to all of us here.”