Footnote Press and Counterpoints Arts have partnered to launch the 2023-24 Footnote x Counterpoints Non-Fiction Prize for writers from refugee and migrant backgrounds. The submissions window will open from Monday 19 June, to coincide with Refugee Week UK.
The £15,000 award, which includes an advance of £5,000 and a publication agreement with Footnote Press, is for narrative non-fiction centred around themes of displacement, identity and/or resistance. The prize is developed in association with the Southbank Centre, and supported by John Ellerman Foundation, Doughty Street Chambers, Spread the Word, Dartington Estate and the Bookseller.
- The £15,000 award includes an advance of £5,000 and a publication agreement with Footnote Press.
- Five shortlisted authors will be invited to read and discuss their work at a live event hosted by the Southbank Centre in February 2024.
- The winner and two runners-up will have the opportunity to go on a week-long writing residency to work on their book at Dartington Hall, a stunning Grade I listed heritage property set within a 1,200-acre private estate near the ancient market town of Totnes.
- Footnote will also be working with London’s literature development agency Spread the Word to host an e-workshop on developing a career as a writer and 1-2-1 meetings to provide ongoing support with the winning writers, as well as access to their programme of workshops and events.
Prize Philosophy
Refugees and migrants make hugely valuable contributions to our arts, culture and society. They have multiple, counterpointed perspectives that often combine different languages, geographies and cultural perspectives, resulting in new ways of seeing and questioning. Within the context of rising xenophobia and the brutal enforcement of borders, it is vital to keep platforming and amplifying these othered narratives in order to emphasise our shared humanity. Literature, after all, is as much about bearing witness as it is about reimagining the world.
With that in mind, we are proud to present the Footnote-Counterpoints literary prize for writers from refugee and migrant backgrounds. We very much see migration as an ongoing human condition, and the history of humanity as a history of migration. The prize is for narrative non-fiction, centred around themes of displacement, identity and/or resistance. We welcome eclectic and expansive interpretations of displacement, identity and/or resistance. We are especially interested in work that sits at intersections, or across cultures, communities and borders, moving beyond the personal to touch upon some of the key social and political themes of our day.
How to Enter
Submissions must be for narrative non-fiction, centred around themes of displacement, identity and/or resistance. Footnote and Counterpoints welcome eclectic and expansive interpretations of displacement, identity and/or resistance and are especially interested in work that sits at intersections, or across cultures, communities and borders, moving beyond the personal to touch upon some of the key social and political themes of our day.
Anyone from a refugee or migrant background is eligible to submit an entry for the Prize if they are a resident of the United Kingdom or Republic of Ireland, whether they have previously been published or not. Both agented and unagented submissions are welcome.
Footnote Press launched in 2022 in partnership with Bonnier Books UK as a mission-oriented publisher committed to driving social and narrative change. We seek to centre marginalised stories and perspectives — other ways of thinking, being and organising that forefront diversity of experience whilst highlighting our shared humanity. Our books dismantle received wisdoms and paint illuminating visions of the future, often drawing on the foundational human themes of migration, identity, separation, resistance and reclamation.
Counterpoints Arts is a leading national organisation in the field of arts, migration and cultural change. Their mission is to support and produce the arts by and about migrants and refugees, seeking to ensure that their contributions are recognised and welcomed within British arts, history and culture.