Shortlist launch for the Gladstone's Library Writers in Residence programme

Eight authors have been selected for the Gladstone’s Library Writer in Residence 2024 shortlist.

Poets, novelists and non-fiction writers are among those in the running to become Writers in Residence at the Victorian library in Hawarden, Flintshire, in 2024.   

The Library, founded by William Ewart Gladstone in the late 1800s, hosts an annual program allowing selected writers to live and write at the Library for up to a month.   

The residencies, supported by a kind donor, include accommodation in one of the Library’s 26 bedrooms, access to the Reading Rooms, and three meals a day at Food for Thought, the on-site restaurant.   

Louisa Yates, Director of Collections and Research at the Library, said: “The Writers in Residence scheme, which has been running since 2011, was set up by then warden Peter Francis and trustee Damian Barr, the author of Maggie and Me and the creator of Damian Barr’s Literary Salon, to support writers who needed the time and space to be creative. 

“There’s a common misconception that it’s plain sailing for writers who have secured a publishing contract or had a book out, but actually, it’s increasingly difficult for authors – even traditionally published authors - to make a living and carve out time to write. That’s where the residencies come in.” 

The books submitted by the eight shortlisted authors will now be considered by a judging panel made up of Louisa Yates, Andrea Russell, Warden of the Library, Freddie Baveystock, former Trustee of the Library, travelogue writer Guy Stagg (The Crossway) and Hanan Issa, National Poet of Wales and author of My Body Can House Two Hearts. 

Andrea Russell said: “We’re very proud to support writers at different stages of their careers, and the Writers in Residence scheme is a key part of that. 

“It’s a joy to meet the authors who stay here, and I’m very much looking forward to hearing from the judging panel.”  

Shortlisted authors:

Alison Binney (Other Women’s Kitchens)  

Lex Croucher (Infamous)  

Suji Kwock Kim (Notes from the North)  

Sarah Smith (Hear no Evil)  

So Mayer (A Nazi Word for a Nazi Thing)  

Dan Kaszeta (Toxic)  

Karen Lloyd (Abundance)  

Anbara Salam (Belladonna)  

Author quotes and biographies:  

Poet Alison Binney, who lives in Cambridge, was shortlisted for her poetry collection Other Women’s Kitchens. She said: “It's a huge honour to have been shortlisted for the Gladstone's Library Writers in Residence programme. As a teacher, it's rare to find chunks of uninterrupted time for writing, as school holidays quickly fill up with household jobs and appointments. The idea of being able to spend four weeks researching and writing poems at Gladstone's Library feels like a dream - but it's wonderful simply to have made the shortlist.”

Lex Croucher, the author of Infamous, comes from Surrey, grew up in Epsom and now lives in London. After studying English Lit at the University of Southampton, Lex went into social media and video production for NGOs including Cancer Research UK and Greenpeace UK. 

Lex said: “I've spent some of my happiest and most productive writing hours tucked into the corners of Gladstone's Library, so to be considered for this residency is an enormous honour." 

Suji Kwock Kim is a Korean-American-British poet and playwright who authored Notes from the North. She said: “I'm honoured to be shortlisted, with so many distinguished writers associated with the Gladstone Library over the course of its long history.”

Sarah Smith (Hear no Evil) grew up in Lanarkshire and then moved into the west end of Glasgow to study English at University of Glasgow in the mid-80s, before taking a Creative Writing MA. She has worked extensively for projects supporting disabled people into education and employment.

So Mayer, author of A Nazi Word for a Nazi Thing, said: “Having written intensely about libraries and archives while they were physically inaccessible during lockdown, the Gladstone’s Library residency is a dream: both for the intellectual pleasures of making unexpected connections by browsing, and for the support of a lineage of political thinking about how to share and broaden those connections.”  

Dan Kaszeta, author of Toxic, grew up in the US state of Arizona and went to university in Texas at Texas Christian University. He worked in the White House for 12 years from 1996-2008 and now lives in London where he was awarded Freedom of the City of London. He is a “Liveryman” - a member of the Worshipful Company of Security Professionals, worked as a verger in St. Martin in the Fields Church for three and a half years and during the height of the pandemic, he trained as an NHS vaccinator and vaccinated 1,094 people. 

Karen Lloyd is a writer, poet and environmental activist, grew up in South Cumbria and lives in the English Lake District. She is writer in residence with Lancaster University's Future Places Centre. Abundance: Nature in Recovery (Bloomsbury, UK and US) was longlisted for the 2022 James Cropper Wainwright Prize for Writing on Conservation. Karen studied for her MLitt at Stirling University's which resulted in her first book, The Gathering Tide: A Journey Around the Edgelands of Morecambe Bay (Saraband, 2016) winner of a Lakeland Book Award. She is editor of North Country: an Anthology of Landscape and Nature (Saraband, 2022) and co-editor for The Wolf: Culture, Nature, Heritage (Boydell and Brewer, 2023). Her essays have been published on various literary websites and in Bending Genre: Essays on Creative Nonfiction (Bloomsbury Academic, 2023).

Anbara Salam is a Scottish-Palestinian writer, and the author of Things Bright and Beautiful (Fig Tree/Penguin, 2018), Belladona (Fig Tree/Penguin, 2020), and the forthcoming novel, Hazardous Spirits (Baskerville/John Murray, 2023). She lives and works in Oxford. She said: “I’m beyond excited to be on the shortlist - dedicated time and space are two of the most essential yet scarce ingredients for writing, and this opportunity at Gladstone’s Library allows writers the luxury of just that.”