We were inundated with entries to our first ever Broken Sleep Books competition, and the judges, Andre Bagoo and Penelope Shuttle, were impressed by the quality of all of the work submitted.
The winners of the Broken Sleep Books competition are:
Laurie Filipelli with My Heart is a Museum, and Tomi Adegbayibi with For Days on End.
On My Heart is a Museum the judges wrote: 'This prismatic sequence of prose poems reminds us, powerfully, of the ways in which we are made by the places we inhabit. From its very first lines, we are invited to enter the ruined house of memory, to live, aflame, inside old patterns yielding to new and urgent questions, such as: “What will become of you & me?” Colossal in scope, yet intimate in its reach; weighty in its news-bringing, yet light in its collage-like assemblage, this is unique writing that follows the thread of its own weaving; the warm counterpoint of the brightest light.'
About For Days on End the judges said: 'In this coterie of prose fragments, lovers breathe and bleed, friends speak, eat and weep, and there is the quiet realisation that the world is “too heavy for words”. The work appears suspended, as though on the threshold of a dream, settling into unsettling liminality. Throughout all of it is the harmonious warmth of a playful and curious sensibility, one anchored by a strong sense of place and harking back to the finest of French surrealist traditions.'
There were two highly commended entrants, Amber Rollinson and Rachel Burns, who win a Dà Mhìle whisky gift set each.
The judges also wanted to highlight 3 shortlisted entries: Ian Chamberlain, Craig Barker, and Réka Nyitrai.