Jane Alyson Clarke

When I checked my email this morning, I was delighted to find a message from Matt Freidson at Creative Future letting me know that I had been shortlisted in the poetry category for this year’s Creative Future Writers’ Award.

The judges were Nancy Campbell, Courttia Newland, and Kieran Yates. Nancy Campbell says this about the 2026 award:

What an honour to read new fiction, non-fiction and poetry which demonstrates such outstanding creative talent. Congratulations are due to everyone on the shortlist for their courage in submitting their work. These writers transport the reader to diverse locations and domains of experience, exploring urgent themes and challenging dominant discourse. In uncertain and precarious times language can occasionally seem inadequate to express injustice and trauma, but these compelling new voices are forging work that is vital, transformative and hopeful.

Here is a link to the announcement. There, you’ll find links to the event at (+ livestream from) the London Literature Festival in October as well as the associated anthology featuring works by the winners, the writers-in-residence, and the judges.