London literary life excludes northern writers, prize organisers say

Prejudice has meant authors from the north of England struggle to find publishers and their stories go unheard

Northern writers still face a struggle to make it in the London-centric literary world, the organisers of a regional literary prize have said.

Claire Malcolm, founder and chief executive of New Writing North, which runs the Northern Writers’ Awards, said: “It still doesn’t feel like a level playing field for the north. That is the continual thing we are trying to make the case for: talent here is still struggling to make connections, it needs investment.” The Northern Writers’ Awards, which will announce their 25th annual winners on Tuesday, was established in the late 1990s to discover and support new writing talent in the north of England, tackling disadvantages faced by writers who felt shut out by the publishing industry.