What have you been reading this lockdown?

Wed, 24 Feb 2021 00:00:00 +0000

It seems that many have been returning to Jane Austen.

In memory of Dr Peter Happé

Thu, 18 Feb 2021 00:00:00 +0000

We were deeply saddened to hear of the death of Dr Peter Happé, formerly a Visiting Fellow of the English Department, of the Centre for Medieval and Renaissance Culture, and a University Visitor.

MA Creative Writing Bursary: The Maureen Taylor Scholarship

Fri, 12 Feb 2021 00:00:00 +0000

The English department is pleased to announce that this year, we are able to offer two Maureen Taylor Scholarship bursaries to individuals interested in pursuing MA Creative Writing in the 22-23 academic year.

The Philip Hoare Prize for Non-Fiction

Established by the University of Southampton Creative Writing Programme in 2025, The Philip Hoare Prize is an international competition for shortform Non-Fiction.

Toby Litt, Head of Creative Writing, says, “Philip Hoare has been a mainstay of the Creative Writing Programme at Southampton for many years, and as he steps aside from teaching, we are establishing this prize to celebrate his life and writing. The judges will be looking for new non-fiction that has the virtues of Philip Hoare’s own work – bringing together the personal, historical and natural in ways that are vivid, moving and original.”

Important information

The competition will open on 22 May 2025, Philip Hoare’s birthday, with a total prize fund of £350. The winner will be announced on 30 September 2025.

Entry is free for previously unpublished non-fiction writing of up to 500 words on any theme.

For further information, please email t.litt@soton.ac.uk.

Rules

Dates: The Philip Hoare Prize is open for entries from 22 May 2025 (14:00 BST). The deadline for receipt of entries is 31 July 2025 (23:59 BST).
Language: All entries must be in English.
Geographical restrictions: There are no geographical restrictions on entry: while the Prize is UK-based, all writers – within and outside the UK – are welcome to enter.
Length: The maximum length of submissions is 500 words, not including the title. There is no minimum length.
Non-fiction: Entries to the Prize should be previously unpublished prose non-fiction. There are no limits on subject matter. As non-fiction, the entries should be based on real people and events rather than fictionalised characters, situations or events.
Entry fee: For the competition’s first year, there is no entry fee.
Blind judging: Entries will be read and judged anonymously; entrants’ names and contact details should only appear on the accompanying email and not anywhere on their entries. The entries must be free of all personal information about the author. This includes age and address.
Entry format: Entries should be in a standard 12pt font and double-spaced, unless the form of the flash non-fiction demands otherwise. Entry is online-only, via email. The file format must be .doc, .docx, .pdf, or .txt. Entries sent to any other than the competition email address will be discarded.
Accompanying email: This should include Your full name, Your pen name (if different), Your age, Your ethnicity, Title of piece, Email address, Phone number, Address including postcode and a 100 word Biography.
Multiple entries: Writers may enter as many pieces as they like; each separate piece requires a separate email.
Simultaneous submissions: Simultaneous submissions are welcome, but please withdraw your entry as soon as possible if the piece is accepted for publication elsewhere, in print or online (including self-published, e-book, magazines, journals, audio, websites, blogs, social network sites), or broadcast.
Age restriction: Entrants must be 18 years old or over on the closing date. There is no maximum age limit.
Corrections: No corrections or alterations can be made after receipt of an entry.
New work only: Entries must be entirely the work of the entrant and must never have been previously published, in print or online (including self-published, e-book, magazines, journals, audio, websites, blogs, social network sites), or won a prize in another writing competition. Any entry found to have been plagiarised will be disqualified.
Judging process: Each entry will be read by at least two members of a diverse panel of experienced non-fiction readers from the University of Southampton. An anonymised shortlist, announced on 30 August 2025, will then be forwarded to the judges, Toby Litt, Carole Burns, Rebecca Smith, and Philip Hoare, who will select the winner, runner-up and third prize for a final announcement on 28 September 2025. The panel’s and Judges’ decisions are final and no individual correspondence will be entered into.
Prizes: £300 will be awarded to the main prize winner; the runner-up will receive £100; a third prize of £50 will also be awarded.
Publication: The winners of the main Prize, the runner-up and the third placed entry will be published in the University of Southampton’s annual Avenues Creative Writing anthology. Acceptance of any prize implies agreement for the relevant non-fiction to be published here and online.
Results: Entrants will not be contacted individually about the competition results unless they are selected for the shortlist.
Rules acceptance: Entry implies an acceptance of these rules. Entries that fail to comply with the entry rules and requirements may be disqualified. Judges cannot correspond with entrants or give feedback on submissions.
Artificial intelligence. Entries deemed to have been written by or using Artificial Intelligence, ChatGPT, and LLMs, will be disqualified. Artifical Intelligence may be used for research purposes.

Enter here.

About Philip Hoare

Philip Hoare taught for many years on the Creative Writing Programme at the University of Southampton, helping to establish its reputation as a centre for non-fiction writing.

The Philip Hoare prize has been launched on the occasion of his retirement from teaching to celebrate his life and writing.

Philip Hoare’s books include Serious Pleasures: The Life of Stephen Tennant and Noël Coward: A Biography; Wilde’s Last Stand, Spike Island, and England’s Lost Eden. Leviathan or, The Whale won the 2009 BBC Samuel Johnson Prize and is published in the UK, US, Spain, Portugal, Germany, Italy, Australia, New Zealand, Russia and China. It was followed by The Sea Inside (2013), RISINGTIDEFALLINGSTAR (2017) and Albert and the Whale (2021).

His latest book, William Blake and the Sea Monsters of Love, is published by 4th Estate in the UK, and was released on April 10th 2025.