This unique literary prize is for anyone who lives in the UK and lives between languages. Language is unique in that it offers us a way of holding more than one identity, one credo, one country at the same time.
In the year of Brexit, “To Speak England in Different Languages” celebrates the linguistic and cultural mixes and multiplicities that inhabit this country by inviting those who speak more than one language to make creative use of each language, and of the movements between them.
The submitted texts can be written in any language but English, by everyone who feels at home in a language that isn’t English. The authors are asked to write in the language they feel they belong to – or that makes them feel the most acute sense of longing: the language they use to talk to themselves or with their families.
The winner will receive £2,500 GBP, the shortlisted texts will be published on the Specimen – The Babel Review of Translations website and there will be a prize-giving and public reading showcasing the shortlisted authors.
The prize has been put together by In collaboration with: Specimen – The Babel Review of Translations with English PEN, Poetry London, Babel Festival and the Poetry Translation Centre.
The deadline for entries is August 21, 2021. Find out more about the prize on the Specimen website:
