The Eccles British Library Writer's Award Festival

A mini literary festival celebrating the achievements of the Eccles British Library Writer’s Award

The award (formerly Writer in Residence) of £20,000 is presented annually to two authors whose writing projects depend substantially on materials in the British Library’s collection relating to North America. There have been 12 winners of the award, six of whom will have published their volumes by the end of 2017: Naomi Wood, Mrs Hemingway; Andrea Wulf, The Invention of Nature: Alexander Von Humboldt’s New World; Olivia Laing, The Lonely City: Adventures in the Art of Being Alone; Sheila Rowbotham, Rebel Crossings: New Women, Free Lovers and Radicals in Britain and the United States; John Burnside, Ashland and Vine; and Erica Wagner, Chief Engineer: The Man Who Built the Brooklyn Bridge. Six other books are underway, by Benjamin Markovits, Sarah Churchwell, Alison MacLeod, Will Atkins, Hannah Kohler and Bob Stanley. All the authors will gather for a one-night mini literary festival and discussion celebrating their work. Publication of a set of portraits of the authors made by Eccles Photography Fellow, Alexander McIntyre will be launched at the same time.

The event will include a wine reception.

Sponsored by the Eccles Centre for American Studies at the British Library