Newark author Emma Oldham shortlisted for 2025 Queen Mary Wasafiri New Writing Prize.
A Newark author has been shortlisted for a prestigious international writing award.
Former Newark and Sherwood District Councillor Emma Oldham is also an author who has now been named in the fiction category shortlist of the 2025 Queen Mary Wasafiri New Writing Prize.
The prize, run by quarterly literary magazine Wasafiri, is an international award which celebrates bold new voices in the world of literature, covering fiction, poetry, and life writing.
Ms Oldham’s story, Dugout, forms part of her ongoing exploration of climate narratives in fiction.
The story appears on the fiction shortlist, praised by judge Anton Hur for transporting readers with “ambitious vision and profound emotion”, combined with an “experimental spirit befitting the title of the best of new writing.”
The prize winners will be announced later this month, on October 30, at the Southbank Centre as part of the London Literature Festival.
Reflecting on her achievement, Emma said: “I’ve always been drawn to writing stories that explore climate inequality and our relationship with a changing planet from unexpected angles.
“That’s why it means so much to see Dugout shortlisted in such a global and prestigious competition.
“These issues aren’t going away, and it’s more important than ever that we carve out space for them in literature, where we can amplify the voices of those most impacted, in this case, those suffering under months of unbearable heat.”
This year’s judges are Anton Hur for the fiction category, Noreen Masud for life writing, and Yasmine Seale for poetry), chaired by acclaimed novelist Romesh Gunesekera.
Mr Gunesekera said: “We live in difficult times. To write poetry, fiction, or life writing with craft and relevance is a challenge.
“Our shortlists show how engagingly and successfully it can be done. We found writing that was unpredictable, thrilling, experimental, unusual, political, and personal.
“In our shortlists, you will find boundaries shifted, history confronted, realities tested, and language itself opened up and explored.”
Emma is currently undertaking an masters degree in creative writing at the University of Lincoln.
Her supervisor, novelist Robert Paul Weston, said: “From her start in my creative writing workshops, Emma’s talent and dedication have been exceptional.
“Her work attracted the attention of literary agents before the end of her first year on the MA programme.
“It comes as no surprise that her short fiction has been recognised by a prize as respected as Wasafiri’s.
“My support for her nomination – and my hopes for her winning the award – are emphatic.”
The shortlisted pieces will be published online in the coming months, with the winning works to appear in the spring 2026 issue of Wasafiri.