Words and Women are delighted to announce that Dani Redd, a student on the prestigious Creative Writing M.A. at the University of East Anglia, is the winner of this year’s inaugural women’s writing prize in the East of England.

The quality of the 176 entries was very high and there was an enormous range of theme and style with women of all ages submitting prose from across the East. Dani Redd wins £600 for her original and compelling short story, My Sister’s Haircut, which will feature in the first Words and Women anthology published in March this year, alongside other selected entries.

Dani who lives in Norwich, grew up in a small village in the South West of England, where much of her childhood was spent reading and writing. She studied English Literature at Queen Mary’s University, graduating in 2008 before being accepted on the MA Creative Writing Course at the UEA. She has been shortlisted and placed in several short fiction competitions; most recently she was longlisted for The Lightship Short Story Prize. She is currently working on her first novel, which is set on a fictional island within the Arctic Circle.

Other prizewinners who will receive membership and publication in the anthology, include Norwich based Deborah Arnander for Lion Bastard, Layn Feldman for Taken For Granted, Caroline Jackson for The Call, Kim Sherwood for Quick Brown Fox and Rowan Whiteside for Persephone. A further 16 writers will also have their work included in the anthology.

The launch of the Words and Women anthology will take place on March 8th, on International Women’s Day in Norwich.

‘It has been a privilege to read all these stories,’ said Belona Greenwood, co-organiser of Words and Women. ‘There is so much talent in the East, we had a hard time selecting our winning entries. A good number of the winning entries had some connection to the Creative Writing MA at the UEA which continues to draw talented writers to the region.’

‘We judged the work anonymously and it was very exciting to find out the names of our winners at the end of this process. We have selected an outstanding mix of work, both fiction and non-fiction, and look forward to seeing it appear in Words and Women’s first anthology which will be published by Norwich based Unthank Books,’ said Lynne Bryan, Words and Women co-organiser.

Words and Women showcase women writers who live in the East of England, at all stages of their professional careers in an annual celebration of regional creativity on International Women’s Day. It is an exciting and eclectic programme of writers, poets, musicians, singer-songwriters and film-makers.

Visit the wordsandwomennorwich.blogspot.co.uk for more information about membership, news and profiles of writers.

ICENI Taekwon-do