The Barbellion Prize

I have been the primary administrator of The Barbellion Prize since it was first awarded in 2020.
At first I was able to fulfil my duties, but ongoing events (especially regarding my health) mean that I am struggling to maintain the prize and communicate with others to practically support me. There is no solid plan for The Barbellion Prize to function without me administering or co-ordinating it, and it has become too difficult given my ongoing medical issues — and other events.
As such, the prize will be put on an indefinite hiatus until we have concrete support from a sponsor or suitable administration that can keep the prize going.

The 2023 Barbellion Prize will unfortunately not be able to be fulfilled due to administrative difficulties and my own poor health.

We may be able to continue in 2024 under better circumstances.

The platform formally known as Twitter is also unsuitable for regular use, so if you have any questions then please feel free to send an email to: [email protected] .

Thank you.

— Jake Goldsmith

Judith “Judy” Heumann—widely regarded as “the mother” of the disability rights movement—passed away in Washington, D.C. on the afternoon of March 4, 2023. Judy was at the forefront of major disability rights demonstrations, helped spearhead the passage of disability rights legislation, founded national and international disability advocacy organizations, held senior federal government positions, co-authored her memoir, Being Heumann, and its Young Adult version, Rolling Warrior, and was featured in the Oscar-nominated documentary film, Crip Camp: A Disability Revolution.

Read the full press release on Judy’s website judithheumann.com
Image Description: A collage of two photos of Judy Heumann. To the left; A black and white photo of Judy Heumann at the 504 protests in the 70s. Judy is a white woman with short brown hair who uses a wheelchair. She is wearing glasses and a jacket with a pin that says “Sign 504 Now” She is passionately speaking at a microphone. To the right; A headshot of Judy Heumann, a white woman with shoulder-length brown hair wearing red glasses, a blue v-neck shirt, and a gold necklace. She is smiling warmly.

Judith Heumann - activist, Longlisted for The Barbellion Prize 2020, has died. Her book ‘Being Heumann: An Unrepentant Memoir of a Disability Rights Activist’ was wonderful to read.
She is loved and remembered.

Judith’s memoir is available here: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/621090/being-heumann-by-judith-heumann/

The Spring 2023 Issue of features extracts from 2022 Barbellion Prize Winner , our 2022 longlist & shortlist (, , , ), 2021 Winner , and prize advisor

Exacting Clam The Discerning Mollusk's Guide to Arts and Ideas

The winner of The Barbellion Prize 2022 is Book of Hours: An Almanac for The Seasons of The Soul by Letty McHugh (Self-published, with support from Disability Arts Online).

“Over the course of the pandemic, a complication with my chronic illness left me alone in a darkened room for three weeks. I drew comfort from an imagined Book of Hours. Half Almanac, half prayer book, medieval Books of Hours offered guidance for every situation and every day of the year. As I recovered I started to wonder, where was the spiritual guidebook for people like me; lost, sick, artists who watch too much reality TV? I couldn’t find one, so I made my own... Borrowing wisdom from Anglo-Saxon hermits, contemporary artists, and The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. Book of Hours is a collection of lyric essay and poetry exploring what it means to have faith, why we chase suffering and how to take solace in small joys.” — http://www.lettymchugh.co.uk

Judge and Barbellion Prize 2021 winner Lynn Buckle on the shortlisted prize entries: “We always knew it would be challenging to pick a winner from such a strong list of publications. We were primarily looking for great writing but were also afforded some great insights into disability issues such as assistive technology, acquired disability, and the struggle for self-acceptance in Harry Parker’s Hybrid Humans. Lauren Foley showed us that we are free to write outside of these boundaries in her snappy, brilliant short story collection Polluted S*x. And Claire Oshetsky’s wonderfully dark and humorous novel Chouette reimagined difference in entirely new ways. To select a self-published book as winner is a radical act, indicating the important role this international literary prize plays in highlighting work by authors whose journey towards publication is inherently more difficult due to chronic illness or disability. It is not just health, but systemic barriers which pose limitations on such writers. I sincerely hope to see Book of Hours traditionally published so that it may reach wider audiences, that readers may be rewarded by Letty McHugh’s beautiful writing and unique contemplations. She writes with intellectual rigour, with curiosity, and hope. She writes of our struggles and joys while interrogating the intersections between disability, suffering, and faith. Book of Hours is a small gem of a book with huge power.”

Barbellion judge Ray Davis on Book of Hours: “… absurdly ambitious — but also disarmingly self-deprecating, plain-spoken in matters of pain and death, as pretty as a pebble beach, and a unique response to the collision of global pandemic and chronic illness. It was a delightful surprise for us, and in the end we hope to extend the surprise.”

Barbellion judge Emmeline Burdett: “… It’s been a real privilege to read all these different texts. In their different ways, they all reclaim disability and chronic illness as legitimate facets of human experience, and thus they are all extremely valuable… Book of Hours needs and deserves a traditional publisher, so that the beauty of McHugh’s writing, and her ideas about chronic illness, may be appreciated as widely as possible.”

For winning The Barbellion Prize 2022, Letty McHugh will receive £1000 and a custom-made Barbellion Prize trophy.

Letty McHugh is an artist and writer based in West Yorkshire, an Associate Artist with Disability Arts Online and a Fellow with Dada Fest International.

The Barbellion Prize 2022 Shortlist:

Polluted S*x - by Lauren Foley (Influx Press).

Book of Hours: An Almanac for The Seasons of The Soul - by Letty McHugh (Self-published, with support from Disability Arts Online).

Chouette - by Claire Osketsky (Ecco/HarperCollins).

Hybrid Humans: Dispatches from the Frontiers of Man and Machine - by Harry Parker (Profile Books/Wellcome Collection).

Congratulations to everyone.
The 2022 Winner will be announced Feb 2023.

Reminder: The Barbellion Prize 2022 Shortlist will be announced tomorrow, January 25th.

We are planning to announce the shortlist for The Barbellion Prize 2022 on January 25th.

Congratulations once again to all our longlisted authors, and good luck.

The Barbellion Prize 2022 Longlist:

Head Above Water - by Shahd Alshammari (Neem Tree Press).

Recovering Dorothy: The Hidden Life of Dorothy Wordsworth - by Polly Atkin (Saraband).

Polluted S*x - by Lauren Foley (Influx Press).

163 Days - by Hannah Hodgson (Seren Books).

Book of Hours: An Almanac for The Seasons of The Soul - by Letty McHugh (Self-published, with support from Disability Arts Online).

Chouette - by Claire Osketsky (Ecco/HarperCollins).

Hybrid Humans: Dispatches from the Frontiers of Man and Machine - by Harry Parker (Profile Books/Wellcome Collection).

Year of The Tiger: An Activist’s Life - by Alice Wong (Vintage Books/PRH).

——

2022 Shortlist out January 2023.

https://www.thebarbellionprize.com

We are planning to announce The Barbellion Prize 2022 Longlist on Friday, December 16th.

Keep note of our website and social media for when we post the longlist. Much like the last 2 years, our shortlist will be announced in January and the winner in February.

www.thebarbellionprize.com

Thank you to everyone who submitted, and good luck.

The Barbellion Prize The Barbellion Prize is dedicated to the futherance of ill and disabled voices in writing.

We are immensely grateful for the recent donations to The Barbellion Prize, which means we are close to securing £1000 for this year’s prize.

You can donate to the prize via PayPal, and by visiting our website: www.thebarbellionprize.com

The Barbellion Prize The Barbellion Prize is dedicated to the futherance of ill and disabled voices in writing.

Submissions for The Barbellion Prize 2022 closed on Halloween 🎃.

Much like our schedule for the last couple years, a Longlist of 8 books will be announced in mid-December, a Shortlist of 4 books in January, and the winner in February.

Find out more on our website: https://www.thebarbellionprize.com

The Barbellion Prize The Barbellion Prize is dedicated to the futherance of ill and disabled voices in writing.

The Prix Goncourt offers a symbolic €10 prize, where its prestige is the greater reward. In some way this would be interesting to pursue, book prizes always come with complex talk and discourse, and it’d certainly be easier at least to maintain the prize if some sort of prestige was more poignant than our £1000 award.
We are, still, a small prize run on a shoestring, funded by periodic donations. And in the grand scheme of literary prizes £1000 wouldn’t seem like much.
It has still been difficult to raise this amount each year for The Barbellion Prize, starting in 2020. Administration of the prize has been progressive but slow. Our founder/director spends much time in hospital, there’s a pandemic, and others doing well in supporting the prize are still volunteering, and busy with much else.
We are still on course with our 2022 judges reading this year’s submissions (closing Oct 31st), but any growth will still be slow. Any book prize should ask of itself serious questions, many stop existing, and we aren’t about to stop even if we are far smaller than Costa or Blue Peter.

We can maintain our existence in finding a regular benefactor, sponsor, or by better fundraising. With all of that we still need more support in the short term. You can donate to the prize via using our email, with links on our website. Thank you.

www.thebarbellionprize.com

The Barbellion Prize The Barbellion Prize is dedicated to the futherance of ill and disabled voices in writing.

Tune in at 7:15pm (GMT) to BBC Front Row to catch Lynn Buckle talk about her novel What Willow Says (Époque Press) and winning The Barbellion Prize 2021.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0014gbh

BBC Radio 4 - Front Row, Michael Morpurgo's Private Peaceful on stage, Barbellion prize-winning author Lynn Buckle, singer-conductor Barbara Hannigan Adapting Michael Morpurgo's World War I novel Private Peaceful for the stage.

Bob the Bookerer () posted a video with his thoughts on The Barbellion Prize 2021 Shortlist, after our winner’s announcement yesterday ⬇️

https://youtu.be/FQRqA45_HGE

Powerful Writing on Disability- The 2021 Barbellion Prize Shortlist Hello, I'm Bob, and I recently read the wonderful shortlist for the 2021 Barbellion Prize, focusing on writing about disability and showcasing disabled write...

We are delighted to announce that the winner of The Barbellion Prize 2021 is What Willow Says by Lynn Buckle (Époque Press).

“What Willow Says is undeniably brilliant,” says Barbellion Prize 2021 judge, writer and bookseller Eleanor Franzén. “Potentially both disorienting and reorienting to a non-Deaf audience, which is really what I think the best writing about all sorts of experience ought to be.”

What Willow Says is a powerful story of change and acceptance, as a deaf child and her grandmother experiment with the lyrical beauty of sign language through their love of trees, set to a backdrop of myths, legends, and ancient bogs.

“Reading the entries for the Barbellion Prize made one thing absolutely clear – disability literature has never been more vibrant and searchingly alive as it is now,” says fellow judge Karl Knights, writer, poet and winner of the 2021 New Poets Prize.

“We are delighted to award the prize to Lynn Buckle’s What Willow Says,” says Jake Goldsmith, founder and Director of The Barbellion Prize. “There was a stellar shortlist this year – it’s a common thing to say, but picking a winner is hard. In future years, when we have the capacity to do so, it is our intention to award all shortlisted authors a prize, with the trophy going to the winner – first among equals.”
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Praise for What Willow Says:
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“A powerful, moving book… every sentence, phrase and word is worth savouring.” - The Irish Independent.

“In a strong year for Irish writing, the standout was the poetic What Willow Says by Lynn Buckle.” - Rónán Hession, The Irish Times Books of the Year 2021.

“…a contemplative and lyrical exploration of the intersections of language, love and grief.” - Eoghan Smith, booksirelandmagazine.com.

British-born artist and writer Lynn Buckle, resident in Ireland for thirty years, has previously been listed as Easons Best of Irish Literature and nominated for the Republic of Consciousness Prize. She receives £1000 and a custom trophy, along with a copy of W.N.P. Barbellion’s The Journal of a Disappointed Man.

https://www.thebarbellionprize.com

Barbellion Prize 2021 Shortlist reviews.

https://bookishbeck.wordpress.com/2022/01/26/barbellion-prize-shortlist-reviews-ultimatum-orangutan-what-willow-says/

Barbellion Prize Shortlist Reviews: Ultimatum Orangutan & What Willow Says The shortlist for the second annual Barbellion Prize was announced earlier this month. I had already read one of the books, and publishers have kindly sent me two of the others for review. Still in…

We plan to announce the winner of The Barbellion Prize 2021 on February 12th.

Congratulations once again to all those shortlisted 📚:

Ultimatum Orangutan - by Khairani Barokka (Nine Arches Press).

What Willow Says - by Lynn Buckle (Époque Press).

A Still Life: A Memoir - by Josie George (Bloomsbury).
​
Duck Feet - by Ely Percy (Monstrous Regiment).


https://www.thebarbellionprize.com

The Barbellion Prize The Barbellion Prize is dedicated to the futherance of ill and disabled voices in writing.

THE BARBELLION PRIZE 2021 SHORTLIST:


Ultimatum Orangutan - by Khairani Barokka (Nine Arches Press).

What Willow Says - by Lynn Buckle (Époque Press).

A Still Life: A Memoir - by Josie George (Bloomsbury).

Duck Feet - by Ely Percy (Monstrous Regiment).

https://www.thebarbellionprize.com

The Barbellion Prize 2021 Longlist:

Ultimatum Orangutan - by Khairani Barokka (Nine Arches Press).

What Willow Says - by Lynn Buckle (Époque Press).

A Still Life: A Memoir - by Josie George (Bloomsbury).

I Live A Life Like Yours: A Memoir - by Jan Grue (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, and Pushkin Press). Translated by B. L. Crook.

Ill Feelings - by Alice Hattrick (Fitzcarraldo Editions).

The Coward - by Jarred McGinnis (Canongate).
​
Duck Feet - by Ely Percy (Monstrous Regiment).

Elena Knows - by Claudia Piñeiro (Charco Press). Translated by Frances Riddle.

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The 2021 Shortlist will be announced in January. Congratulations to all our longlisted authors and publishers.

https://www.thebarbellionprize.com

Our prize director Jake Goldsmith is featured in Issue 3 of Exacting Clam with his short article ‘On Illness and Possibility’, where he talks about cystic fibrosis, but also optimistic (or eugenicist) ideas people have about the treatment of disease and disability. Available now.

UK link: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1952386306/

USA link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1952386306/

https://bookshop.org/books/exacting-clam-no-3-winter-2021/9781952386305

Exacting Clam No. 3: Winter 2021 Exacting Clam No. 3: Winter 2021

A few brief updates and additions to our website, including info on our longlist announcement & additions to our FAQs and Authors Old & New pages.
We’re continually working to improve the website, and with more resources going forward we hope to improve it to make it as accessible as possible too.

Feel free to make any suggestions too.

https://www.thebarbellionprize.com

The Barbellion Prize The Barbellion Prize is dedicated to the futherance of ill and disabled voices in writing.

The Barbellion Prize has received more submissions for 2021 than last year - from publishers big and small, independent, self-published authors, and from practically all over the world.
Given our geographical limitations, obviously more submissions have come from Anglophone sources, but we are nonetheless an international prize and exist with the possibility and wish to have a breadth and variety of work from across the world.
We’ve had work from a greater variety of authors/publishers this year, and more work in translation too. As the prize continues into the future, we hope to do what we can to celebrate quality work from disabled authors everywhere.

And once again, our 2021 Longlist will be announced this December. Keep note of our website and social media for updates.

🎃 is tomorrow, our memorable date for the closing of submissions to The Barbellion Prize 2021.
Books published after October 31st 2021 are eligible instead for the 2022 prize.
Read more about our rules and eligibility on our website:

https://www.thebarbellionprize.com/how-to-submit-a-work

We’ve had an increase in submissions from last year, which is great. Keep note of our website and social media for our 2021 Longlist announcement this December.

How To Submit A Work | The Barbellion Prize To send us a suitable file (ebook, PDF, MOBI) of a book that is eligible for the 2021 prize (published between Nov 2020 - Oct 2021), you can do so via our email - [email protected]. Authors or agents can also submit works, not just publishers.

“People used to stare at me. I fight back with my paintbrush.”

Listen to 2020 Barbellion Prize winner Riva Lehrer discuss her memoir, GOLEM GIRL, on BBC Outlook. GOLEM GIRL is available now in paperback.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3ct1jz8

BBC World Service - Outlook, People used to stare at me. I fight back with my paintbrush How artist Riva Lehrer's portraits challenge myths about disability

Our page is not very active, but we do have more, semi-regular updates on our Twitter page (), and all important information will be on our website.

Submissions for The Barbellion Prize 2021 close October 31st, and our 2021 longlist will be announced in December.

Also check out this opportunity from & for underrepresented aspiring writers - including disabled, d/Deaf, and neurodivergent writers.

More info can be found at this link:

https://www.spreadtheword.org.uk/projects/wellcome-collection-x-spread-the-word-writing-awards/

Wellcome Collection x Spread the Word Writing Awards - Spread the Word Spread the Word has partnered with Wellcome Collection to launch an ambitious project aiming to find and support writers from..

The Barbellion Prize The Barbellion Prize is dedicated to the futherance of ill and disabled voices in writing.

We aren't ones for tooting our own horn, and much prefer to toot the horn of others, as it were (😏). But our prize founder Jake Goldsmith has a piece written while in hospital appearing in the 2nd issue of Exacting Clam, available now online:
https://www.exactingclam.com/issues/no-2-autumn-2021/from-royal-papworth-hospital/

And yet another reminder that submissions for The Barbellion Prize close October 31st. We will be announcing a 2021 longlist much like our schedule for 2020. So stay tuned... : www.thebarbellionprize.com

From Royal Papworth Hospital | Exacting Clam I won’t be coming out of hospital any or much healthier than when I came in, despite improvements. Which means I will need oxygen at home now. The general trend is downwards. Annoyingly, the doctors can be equivocal about it and you need to read between the lines and subtlety, because they’re no...

Hello all. We have been a little inactive here as well as on Twitter (where we would normally post more regular updates).
Our founder Jake Goldsmith was in hospital through May and has been taking things at a slower pace, but the judges have still been reading through submissions that have continued to come in. The submissions deadline is October 31st and we will be following an announcement schedule for our longlist & shortlist similar to last year.

We are also still relying on donations to fund the prize into the future, so you can donate via PayPal or Patreon with links on our website. Thank you.

https://www.thebarbellionprize.com/

Announcing our judges for the 2021 Barbellion Prize

Eleanor Franzen (),
Jake Goldsmith,
& Karl Knights ().

Read more on our website:
https://www.thebarbellionprize.com/why-barbellion

Meet Our Judges | The Barbellion Prize Our main panel of judges are those primarily concerned with formulating a longlist, a shortlist, and picking a winner – with a vote in that process.

W.N.P. Barbellion by Edward Carey, to commemorate the inaugural Barbellion Prize.

https://twitter.com/edwardcarey70/status/1360707730734989313?s=21

The Winner of The Barbellion Prize 2020 is 'GOLEM GIRL: A MEMOIR' by Riva Lehrer (published by One World/Virago).

Read more: https://www.thebarbellionprize.com/winners-shortlists-longlists
​

We are happy to announce The Barbellion Prize Shortlist for 2020:

Golem Girl: A Memoir - by Riva Lehrer (published by One World).

The Fragments of My Father: A Memoir of Madness, Love and Being a Carer - by Sam Mills (published by 4th Estate).

Sanatorium - by Abi Palmer (published by Penned in the Margins).

Kika & Me - by Amit Patel (published by Pan Macmillan).

Keep note for our winner's announcement on February 12th

Reminder: while our 2020 shortlist is announced Jan 8th - and our winner Feb 12th - books published after Oct 31st 2020 and through 2021 can now already be submitted for 2021.

Check www.thebarbellionprize.com for more details.

Please feel free to donate too.

The Barbellion Prize The Barbellion Prize is dedicated to the futherance of ill and disabled voices in writing.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/dec/15/judith-heumann-biden-is-committed-to-involving-disabled-people-covid-crip-camp

Barbellion Prize longlisted author Judith Heumann interview - in The Guardian

Judith Heumann: 'Biden is committed to involving disabled people in his administration' The US activist on Covid’s impact and her starring role in Crip Camp, the documentary charting the birth of the disability rights movement

🥳

Barbellion Prize longlist 2020 The new annual prize for chronically ill or disabled writers

https://nationalcentreforwriting.org.uk/article/barbellion-prize-longlist-2020/

We are happy to announce the longlist for
The Barbellion Prize 2020:

https://www.thebarbellionprize.com/winners-shortlists-longlists

Being Heumann: An Unrepentant Memoir of a Disability Rights Activist - by Judith Heumann with Kristen Joiner (published by Beacon Press).

Roots of Corruption - by Laura Laakso (published by Louise Walters Books). ​

Disfigured: On Fairy Tales, Disability, and Making Space - by Amanda Leduc (published by Coach House Books).​

Golem Girl: A Memoir - by Riva Lehrer (published by One World). ​

The Fragments of My Father: A Memoir of Madness, Love and Being a Carer - by Sam Mills (published by 4th Estate).
​
Sanatorium - by Abi Palmer (published by Penned in the Margins).​

Kika & Me - by Amit Patel (published by Pan Macmillan).

Saving Lucia - by Anna Vaught (published by Bluemoose Books).​
____
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Our shortlist will be announced January 8th 2021.
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The winner will be announced February 12th 2021.

Despite the information on our website, we have received emails every day for the past few weeks from people trying to submit unpublished manuscripts or even unpublished fragments of writing.

To be clear, The Barbellion Prize is a book prize, not a ‘writing competition’ .

We request that one reads all of the information on our website and our ‘How To Submit A Work’ page - https://www.thebarbellionprize.com/how-to-submit-a-work - before submitting.

We will update our website to be even more clear on the fact that we are indeed a book prize (for published or self-published books or ebooks), and not a writing competition for unpublished writing.

How To Submit A Work | The Barbellion Prize To send us a suitable file (ebook, PDF, MOBI) of a book that has been published this current year (Jan - Oct 2020), you can do so via our email - [email protected]. Authors or agents can also submit works, not just publishers. 

The Barbellion Prize submission date is coming up soon! The Barbellion Prize is dedicated to the furtherance of ill and disabled voices in writing.
The prize is awarded annually to an author whose work has best spoken of the experience of chronic illness and disability.
Find more info at http://thebarbellionprize.com