I’m very grateful and excited to have won the 2026 Queen Mary Wasafiri New Writing Prize in Poetry! The Queen Mary Wasafiri New Writing Prize is a UK-based internationally recognised literary prize for writers who have yet to publish a full-length collection, with many past shortlistees and winners going on to win or shortlist in some of the UK's most prestigious prizes, such as the Forward Prize and the Women's Prize for Fiction.
I sadly was unable to attend the prize ceremony, which was part of the London Literature Festival at the Southbank Centre (curated by Dua Lipa!), but it was a lovely way to wake up on a Sunday morning! Huge congrats to the other winners and shortlistees! My prize-winning poem, “宫 / Gong Ghazitsu” will be published in the northern hemispheric Spring issue of Wasafiri, no. 129, next year.
