Disabled Poets Prize

Deptford Literature Festival

Lewisham, Borough of Literature

30th Anniversary Commissions

London Writers Awards

Wellcome Collection Non-Fiction Awards

class="post-72863 post type-post status-publish format-standard has-post-thumbnail hentry category-news"Announcing the 2025 Disabled Poets Prize ShortlistA composite image of the three prize judges with the Disabled Poetry Prize 2025 gold logo.

Spread the Word and CRIPtic Arts are delighted to announce the shortlist for the 2025 Disabled Poets Prize. 

The Disabled Poets Prize was founded by Jamie Hale, with CRIPtic Arts, Spread the Word, and Verve Poetry Press. The Prize is supported by ALCS, the Authors’ Licensing and Collecting Society. The Prize aims to nurture, encourage, and celebrate the talents and successes of deaf and disabled poets. 

Barriers to entry to the arts for deaf and disabled people are high, with often inaccessible live spaces and expensive entry prizes. The Disabled Poets Prize, which is free to enter and open to deaf and disabled UK writers, saw 220 entries across two categories – Best Single Poem, and Best Unpublished Pamphlet. 

There are a number of cash prizes. Prize-winners and all shortlisted writers will also receive career development opportunities courtesy of Spread the Word, CRIPtic Arts, The Literary Consultancy and Arvon Foundation; while the winner of the Best Unpublished Pamphlet prize will be offered the opportunity to have their book published by Verve Poetry Press.

The final results will be announced at a special event broadcast online as part of 2025 Deptford Literature Festival on Saturday 29 March. Tickets are available to book on Eventbrite.  

The 2025 Disabled Poet Prize judges are Khairani Barokka, Polly Atkin and the Prize’s founder, poet Jamie Hale.

2025 Best Single Poem 

Shortlist

Longlist

2025 Best Unpublished Pamphlet 

Shortlist

Longlist 

Congratulations to all the poets and thank you to all those who entered. The judges enjoyed reading all your work.

We hope you will be able to join us on Saturday 29 March for a special broadcast to announce the winners. The event will feature readings from the winning poets and is part of the 2025 Deptford Literature Festival programme. Free tickets are now available to book via Eventbrite. 

Donations enable the Prize to develop and grow, so we can reach more disabled poets and provide more opportunities to nurture their writing, artistry and audiences. If you are able to give, please consider doing so on our Total Giving page.

class="post-72881 post type-post status-publish format-standard has-post-thumbnail hentry category-news"Deptford Literature Festival Environmental StatementUnder a gazebo in a park, families sit on cushions while two performers tell them a story.

Sustainability is fundamental to Deptford Literature Festival. We acknowledge the climate emergency and the impacts it is having on our communities in Lewisham.

We are committed to mitigating the environmental impacts of creating a live festival, reducing our carbon footprint and advocating for action on climate change, through:

We welcome your thoughts and ideas on how we can continue to improve the sustainability of the Festival. Please email: [email protected]

We are currently hiring an Environmental Impact Evaluator for the 2025 festival. Their role will be to assess the impact of the festival across venues, transport, digital footprint and more; provide a framework for continued monitoring; and share practical recommendations for improving our environmental footprint.

class="post-72842 post type-post status-publish format-standard has-post-thumbnail hentry category-opportunities"Environmental Impact Evaluator, Deptford Literature FestivalIn a library, a person with a bright yellow t-shirt reading Deptford Literature Festival stands behind a table, speaking to some people on the other side of the table.

Spread the Word is looking for an impact and evaluation consultant to assess the environmental impact of the 2025 Deptford Literature Festival, which will take place from Thursday 27 to Sunday 30 March 2025. This evaluation will establish baseline measurements and provide recommendations for future sustainability improvements. We have published an environmental statement for Deptford Literature Festival which provides a starting point for the evaluator.

About Deptford Literature Festival

Objectives for the Environmental Evaluation

  1. Establish a baseline for understanding the festival’s environmental impact.
  2. Identify areas of improvement related to sustainability.
  3. Create practical recommendations for future iterations of the festival.
  4. Develop a monitoring framework for ongoing assessment.
  5. Compare the impact of digital vs in-person delivery.

We are keen to understand the true environmental impact of the festival and to weigh that against the positive impacts it has, in order to understand where improvements should be made.

Key Areas for Assessment

1. Transport & Travel

2. Materials & Resources

3. Waste Management

4. Digital Footprint

5. Venues/Spaces

While not ‘owned’ spaces, the venues we choose to use for the festival will have an impact on our environmental footprint.

Timeline and deliverables

1. Initial Framework (delivered before the festival, by 26 March 2025)

2. Monitoring and assessment is in-place during the festival (27-30 March 2025)

3. Final Report (June 2025)

Required Expertise

Methodology Requirements

Budget

£5,000 total, approximately 12.5 days at £400per day

Reporting Structure

The consultant will report to the Director and work with:

How to apply

Please submit:

The deadline to apply is 10am on Tuesday 11 February. Please send your application to [email protected].

Interviews will take place on Tuesday 25 February. Interviews will be conducted by Director Ruth Harrison and Festival Producer Tom MacAndrew.

If you would like to request any reasonable adjustments to the application process please contact us via [email protected].

For an informal discussion about this brief, please contact Ruth Harrison at [email protected].

class="post-72249 post type-post status-publish format-standard has-post-thumbnail hentry category-news"Deptford Literature Festival 2025 now open for booking!The title Deptford Literature Festival in chunky black lettering outlined in bright yellow, sits on a background in blue and pale blue. It’s an illustration that includes an image of a hand with a pen, a closed fist, and the words ‘whose stories are told?’, ‘resistance’, ‘community’, and ‘history’.

We’re really excited to share the full programme for Deptford Literature Festival 2025.

Taking place from Thursday 27 to Sunday 30 March 2025, the festival will be popping up in spaces across Deptford.

Deptford Literature Festival is a literature festival with the local community at its heart. 71 local writers, artists and performers have been programmed to take part this year! 

There’s something for everyone: live performances and music, a children’s and young people programme, talks and workshops for aspiring writers and curious readers, walking tours, zine- and book-making, open mic sessions and so much more. Artists taking part include Caleb Azumah Nelson, Emma Warren, Nathan Bryon, Irenosen Okojie and Santanu Bhattacharya, amongst many others.

As ever, access is at the heart of the festival: 45 of the 48 events in our programme are free to attend; all in-person events Friday-Sunday will offer BSL interpretation and all online events will be captioned. Six filmed events will be available to view online for one month after the festival, and Festival At Home activities will enable aspiring writers of all ages take part from wherever they are.

Come and join us! Although they are free, all events do need to be booked in advance. Explore the programme and save your place now!

You can find out more information about accessibility at this years festival on our access page. If you have any questions or would like to chat with one of the team, please contact us on [email protected].

The headline event on Friday 28 March, Lewisham Lyricists curated by Emma Warren, is a paid for event. Free tickets are available for Lewisham residents. To find out how to claim your free ticket please look at our bursaries page.

 

 

class="post-72228 post type-post status-publish format-standard has-post-thumbnail hentry category-news"Second Public Meeting for Borough of Literature CampaignSeven people sit and stand around a table in a library, They are clearly listening to a speaker, who does not appear in the photohraph.

The second of four public meetings will bring together local community members and grassroots community groups around our campaign to make Lewisham the UK’s first ever Borough of Literature. Future meetings will seek to bring together educators, local businesses, young people and artists, arts organisations and activists to influence the shape of the UK’s first Borough of Literature.

These public meetings are to inform the community about the campaign, as well as to generate ideas for what a Borough of Literature could look like in Lewisham. They will inform a funding bid to generate the income we need to bring the Borough of Literature to life. If you live or work in Lewisham, we’d love to see you at one or all of our public meetings.

Together we will develop an exciting plan for a Borough of Literature that funders cannot resist. Our hope is that we can also help to connect leaders, educators, creatives and community organisers from across the borough, supporting a a vibrant literary community in Lewisham.

Where and when

The meeting will take place on Tuesday 4 February from 6 – 8pm at The Fellowship Inn, Randlesdown Road London SE6 3BT.

It is free to attend but please do save your seat on Eventbrite

Access at the meeting

The event is a relaxed event. There are accessible toilets available. If you have any other access requirements please get in touch with Courtney ([email protected]) so that we can support your attendance.

About the Borough of Literature

Spread the Word has a big, bold vision to see Lewisham declared as the UK’s first Borough of Literature. Lewisham is rich with word-related creative activities and is home to some of London’s best new writers and famous authors, as well as many arts charities working with words, stories, and poetry, and many more that include creative writing, publishing, spoken word and other art forms like filmmaking and music. You can find out more about the campaign and how to share your ideas over on our project page.

class="post-71903 post type-post status-publish format-standard has-post-thumbnail hentry category-news"Campaign Update December 2024: Lewisham, Borough of Literature

Launched at the Deptford Literature Festival in March 2024, our bold campaign to name Lewisham the UK’s first Borough of Literature has been steadily progressing all year. As 2024 draws to a close, we wanted to share an update on where we have got to so far, and what is still to come.

Meet our Advisory Group

Ten local Lewisham residents have signed up to become our Advisory Group. They have had their first meeting and will meet regularly in the coming months. Their role is to help us to shape the campaign and the bid that will be submitted in 2025 to hopefully make the Borough of Literature a reality. We’re thrilled to have brought together such a brilliant and enthusiastic group that includes local childrens authors, poets, fiction writers, arts professionals and educators. They are:

You can learn more about the advisory group on our project page.

Some of the group have shared why they’re excited to be a part of the campaign to create a Borough of Literature in Lewisham:

“I am thrilled to join the Advisory Group, working towards the realisation of our goal to make Lewisham the UK’s first Borough of Literature. Achieving success would equip us with a powerful platform to boost writing and creativity in our communities.” – Nadine Grandison Mills

“Lewisham is chocka-block full of stories and storytellers – past, present and future. I’m so excited to work with my local community to show that creative activities can improve your life and provide opportunities, regardless of your age, background or income.” – Becka White

“Lewisham has a proud literary heritage, and is one of the best places on earth to encounter the written (or spoken or sung) word. It is a borough that’s full of creative energy, full of history and full of stories. It has been London’s Borough of Culture. Now’s the time to make it London’s first Borough of Literature!” – Dr Michael Eades

“I wanted to join the advisory panel because I work in the Lewisham community, and I am excited to work with arts organisations to include as many people as possible in the Borough of Literature!” – Ellie Spirrett

“I’m excited to be part of a campaign that celebrates Lewisham and uses storytelling to foster positive change in our community. As an educator in the borough, I have gained valuable insights into the perspectives of young people and my fellow educators. I look forward to sharing their perspectives.” – Karla Edwards

“I love the idea of Lewisham becoming a borough of literature and I am delighted to have been selected as a member of the Advisory Group. I am looking forward to working with the team and I am excited about beginning the work of exploring with them and the people of Lewisham, what a borough of literature might look like.” – Serena deCordova

“This year’s report by the National Literacy Trust reveals that just 1 in 3 children and young people enjoy reading in their own time. This is a rallying cry to all of us – parents, carers, schools, libraries, booksellers, writers, publishers and performers. It’s time for our community in Lewisham to come together and face this challenge. To lead the way with a commitment to creativity and our neighbourhood.” – Lucy Macnab

“Lewisham is a borough absolutely brimming with creativity – becoming Borough of Literature will showcase local talent and inspire the next generation of writers, poets, and artists!” – Councillor Edison Huynh 

Our First Public Meeting

On 29 November we convened our first public meeting to gather ideas from local people about the shape our Borough of Literature should take.

We had around 30 people join us at the Albany for a session that started with a discussion about all the literature-related activity that is already happening in Lewisham. Just a few of the projects that came up were: writing workshops for domestic workers and survivors of modern-day slavery; local literature festivals in Deptford, Catford and Manor House Gardens; collecting stories from senior citizens to create a book; getting authors into local schools; and various projects connecting literture and nature.  

After mapping existing activity, we started collectively generating ideas for what our Borough of Literature could look like. This first meeting was focused on engaging with local literature and arts organisations, so we asked: What are your priorities as a local artist/ arts organisation? And what would a thriving literature ecosystem in the borough look like?

According to the 2021 census, Lewisham has the highest proportion of residents who are Black, Black British, Black Welsh, Caribbean or African of any local authority area. Languages spoken in the borough include: Spanish, Portuguese, Turkish, Arabic, East Asian and South Asian languages, and languages from Africa (unfortunately no more detail about specific languages is available). Lewisham is also a Borough of Sanctuary and the council has a focus on being a welcoming place for migrants, refugees and asylum seekers. It’s not surprising therefore that conversation at the meeting highlighted how important it is to celebrate and support the diverse population of Lewisham.

Some of the things meeting attendees suggested the campaign should prioritise were: increasing interest in literature in other languages; making sure Lewisham is a safe space for people to tell their own stories, including non-English speakers, writers in exile and the LGBTQI+ community; the importance of an intergenerational approach; and championing a diversity of art forms. A key focus was making sure that the campaign doesn’t leave any section of our local community behind.

For the group, a thriving ecosystem looked like: connecting what happens inside and outside of schools, as well as what comes after formal education;  opportunities for writers to meet amongst themselves as a support network; opportunities for writers to meet with publishers; providing equal opportunities to emerging writers and established authors; having a mapped ecosystem with access to affordable spaces for literature-related activities; and clear routes to connect with local businesses and other organisations.

Join our next public meeting

This is just a snapshot of a really rich first discussion. We’d love to hear your thoughts too and have two more meetings coming up in the new year:

We will send out booking links for both meetings early in the new year. Please sign up to our newsletter if you’d like to receive the links. 

‘To All The Places I Have Read’ Writers Commissioned

We received some really brilliant proposals for our Borough of Literature commissions, titled ‘To All The Places I Have Read’. This made the decision making really hard! We had planned to commission just three writers, but in the end we have chosen four proposals by writers from different parts of the borough.

The commissioned writers are: Tutku Barbaros, Fathima Zahra, Erica Hesketh and Amii Griffith.

We don’t want to say too much about the proposed projects – you’ll be able to read the pieces in full and hear extracts read aloud by the writers at Deptford Literature Festival, in March 2025. Until then, you can learn more about our commissioned writers on the Borough of Literature project page.

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