Also a big HAPPY BIRTHDAY to our founder Jake Goldsmith, whose birthday it is today!
barbellionprize.org/donate/
As he says, we are seeking donations. If any amount is possible, please do make your way over to the Barbellion website to help. Link below. 🙏 We are open for submissions until 1st September.
…This award honours writing that explores the lived experience of chronic illness and disability. Named after diarist W.N.P. Barbellion, known for his reflections on life with multiple sclerosis, it recognises outstanding English-language prose across genres…
…Last awarded in 2023, the Barbellion has reopened for submissions; it closes on September 1. The prize is also seeking donations to help with its work (via barbellionprize.org). The aim is to raise £20,000 by the end of the year."
…In 2021, Irish writer Lynn Buckle won for What Willow Says, a moving novel about a deaf child and her grandmother discovering connection through sign language, nature, and myth…
…A two-year hiatus followed the last award in 2023 and the prize was relaunched in 2025. It is now open for submission until September 1st, 2026.”
www.irishtimes.com/culture/book...
Read our Terms & Conditions &
submit here: barbellionprize.org
…The prize was founded by author Jake Goldsmith @jgoldsmith.bsky.social, inspired while writing his memoir Neither Weak Nor Obtuse (2019). Living with cystic fibrosis, Goldsmith examines how illness shapes perception and highlights literature's therapeutic and social impact…
Thank you Michael Caines for giving us a mention in @thetls.bsky.social!
"A notable revival is the Barbellion prize-named for W.N.P. Barbellion, the diarist, who suffered from multiple sclerosis - which "celebrates & promotes writing that represents the experience of chronic illness & disability"…
Thanks to Martin Doyle for including us in his Friday round-up in The Irish Times!
@irishtimes.com
“What links Virginia Woolf, Christy Brown, and Hilary Mantel? Beyond their brilliance, each could have been a contender for The Barbellion Prize…