Creative writing celebrated in Cheshire Prize for Literature anthology

Passages of Time published by the University of Chester Press presents a range of shortlisted entries submitted to the 2023 Cheshire Prize for Literature. Reading through the collection of short stories, children’s literature, poems and scripts, an overarching theme of time comes to the fore. 

The book was launched at an event at the University’s Queen’s Park site with contributing writers invited to celebrate seeing their work published in print. 

The foreword of the collection is given by award-winning novelist, children’s author and podcaster Livi Michael, who presented the winners at the awards evening at the University in the summer. Livi wrote: “It was a great honour to be invited to the awards ceremony for the Cheshire Prize, which is unique in giving prizes in so many categories. The evening itself was a delight – a celebration of talent in all the different genres of writing, poetry, fiction, children’s fiction, drama. And what a wonderful way to commemorate this award – by producing this beautiful book! 

“It’s so exciting to see your own work in print and to have something to treasure. Anthologies used to be called ‘treasuries’ and I rather like that word. It conveys the sense of something precious, and varied, where wealth is stored. And this anthology is exactly that.” 

Head Judge Dr Harry Parkin, Senior Lecturer in English Language and Programme Leader, MRes Storytelling at the University, added in his preface: “The subject of time is woven into the pages that follow, represented in poetry, short stories, children’s literature, and scripts. 

“The topics may be different: in the short stories, we see visions of the future, a hope of new beginnings, time’s effect on relationships, and a race against time to catch a killer; in the children’s literature, we see a celebration of childhood, a new relationship change as day turns to night, and characters waiting for love in a tale of a past time; in the poetry we see efforts to process and reflect on love, grief, coming of age, and ageing; in the scripts we see the impact of new life, the comedic absurdity of monotony and repetition, and a worrying glimpse of things to come. But time unites them all, bringing them together in a representation of how time had, has, and will continue to have a hold on us all.” 

The Cheshire Prize for Literature was inaugurated in 2003 as the High Sheriff’s Cheshire Prize for Literature. It is administered by the University of Chester. The 2023 competition was for poetry, short fiction, children’s literature and scriptwriting and this anthology contains the entries shortlisted for the prize, including the winners and the runners-up. 

Details of the prize are available at www.chester.ac.uk/about/events/cheshire-prize. 

To purchase a copy of the anthology visit https://storefront.chester.ac.uk/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=12_13&products_id=1304