207: The power of prizes - with Anna Vaught

As you may be aware, we run a short-story competition alongside presenting The Hobcast Book Show and our publishing firm, Hobeck Books. The Henshaw Short Story competition has uncovered many new talented authors, and raised funds to support school libraries. So we were delighted to be contacted by author Anna Vaught who has created The Curae Prize for non-paid carers. There are millions of people in the UK alone who fall into this category, and Anna is proud that it has given so many people their first opportunity to explore their creativity despite often very difficult day-to-day circumstances. Anna herself is an accomplished published author of fiction, non-fiction and poetry. Her fascination with magical realism shines through her work. She's also an editor, reviewer and English teacher. This is a fascinating, and dare we say it, magically eclectic interview!

Also this week, we welcome the decision by one Simon and Schuster executive, Sean Manning, to call for an end to the industry-wide practice of chasing authors for 'blurbs' or 'puffs' from their contemporaries. He argues that all that time spent chasing around for nice comments that can be splashed on the cover or inside pages is a waste of time, which could be better used writing more books instead. And we ask, will the new international trade tariffs imposed by President Trump signal difficult times ahead for publishing?

Anna Vaught Writes – Dr Anna Vaught: teacher, mentor, author, campaigner – Novels, short fiction, nonfiction, teaching, mentoring and editing

The Curae Prize – A writing prize – just for writers who are also carers

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