Nina Mingya Powles wins the inaugural Nan Shepherd Prize

18 November 2019

The winner of the inaugural Nan Shepherd prize has just been announced – congratulations to Nina Mingya Powles whose submission Small Bodies of Water impressed the judges with its lyricism, and found that it had a profound and new perspective on the natural world. Find out more about Nina and Small Bodies of Water.

Nina receives a publishing contract with Canongate and the book will be published in hardback in August 2021. In response to the announcement, Nina said: ‘It has been so wonderful and enriching to get the opportunity to take part in the Nan Shepherd Prize journey alongside so many talented shortlisted writers. I’m grateful to the judges for believing in my work, and feel completely overwhelmed that they have selected my submission. I can’t wait to start working with Canongate to bring my book into the world.’

The judges also praised the extremely high quality of all the shortlisted writers’ work.

The Nan Shepherd Prize is a new competition that aims not only to celebrate nature writing but provide an inclusive platform for new and emerging nature writers from underrepresented backgrounds.