Di Speirs to Chair Orange Award for New Writers 2010

Orange Award for New Writers shortlist: 14 April 2010

Awards Ceremony: 9 June 2010

Launched in 2005 in partnership with Arts Council England, the Orange Award for New Writers celebrates potential and emerging female literary talent throughout the world.

This year’s judging panel has been confirmed as: Di Speirs (Chair), Editor - Readings, BBC Radio 4 Rachel Cooke, Writer and Columnist at The Observer Bernardine Evaristo, Novelist, critic and winner of the 2009 Orange Prize Youth Panel award for Blonde Roots

Di Speirs commented: “Discovering, supporting and celebrating debut work by women has always been important to me, so I am really delighted to be chairing this year's Orange Award for New Writers, a prize which offers an unrivalled opportunity to reward and salute the talented new writers that we'll be reading in years to come.”

In partnership with Orange, Arts Council England is committed to providing a £10,000 bursary award for the winner of the Orange Award for New Writers. By offering a bursary to a novelist or short story writer for her first publication, the Arts Council is able to support the professional development of a writer at a crucial stage in her career

Commenting on the Orange Award for New Writers, Stuart Jackson, Director of Corporate Communications at Orange, said: “Orange is committed to encouraging new talent in all our arts sponsorships and we are very pleased to welcome such an outstanding panel of judges for this important prize.”

Moira Sinclair, Executive Director of Arts Council England, London said: “Our successful partnership with Orange now enters its sixth year and provides a great example of how the public and private sector can work together to support emerging literary talent and bring it to wider audiences. The Orange Award for New Writers celebrates exceptional and original work, and we look forward to the announcement of the shortlist in April 2010.”

All first works of fiction - including novels, short story collections and novellas, written by women of any age or nationality and published as a book in the UK between 1 April 2009 and 31 March 2010 - are eligible. The emphasis of the award is on emerging talent and the evidence of future potential. Books can be entered for both the Orange Prize for Fiction and the Orange Award for New Writers in any given year. Judges will be looking for writers who demonstrate excellence, originality and accessibility.

For further information, please contact:

Naomi Li at M&C Saatchi: Tel: 0207 544 3687 Email: naomi.li@mcsaatchi.com

ENDS

Notes to Editors: About Arts Council Arts Council England works to get great art to everyone by championing, developing and investing in artistic experiences that enrich people's lives. As the national development agency for the arts, we support a range of artistic activities from theatre to music, literature to dance, photography to digital art, and carnival to crafts. Great art inspires us, brings us together and teaches us about ourselves, and the world around us. In short, it makes life better. Between 2008 and 2011, we will invest £1.3 billion of public money from government and a further £0.3 billion from the National Lottery to create these experiences for as many people as possible across the country. For more information please visit www.artscouncil.org.uk

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