Summer events roundup
It’s been a busy summer of events for ALCS, from our regional member receptions to a host of sponsored award ceremonies. Catch up on what’s been happening from across the sector.
Last week, we held our second member reception in Manchester, following our reception in Oxford in June. The receptions gave local members an opportunity to find out more about the work that we do and network with fellow writers. It was great to meet our members, especially in two cities with incredibly rich histories of writing and creativity. CEO Barbara Hayes, speaking at the Manchester event, said: “Everything we do starts with writers. Your creativity, persistence and talent enrich all our lives, and it is a privilege for us to work on your behalf.”
On 9 July, John Agard won the CLPE Poetry Award (CLiPPA) for an unprecedented third time for his poetry collection The Poetry World of John Agard. The CLiPPA is the UK’s biggest awards for children’s poetry, with the ceremony being watched by thousands of primary school children both remotely and at the ceremony at the National Theatre. We spoke with him about his win, which you can read here.
On 8 July, Asli Jensen and her editor Shalini Vallepur were announced as winners of the 2026 Branford Boase Award, which is given to the year’s outstanding debut novel for young people, with Love on Sight. The Branford Boase Award is unique for recognising the winning novel’s editor, as well as author. Love on Sight is a contemporary romance exploring the relationship between two young people living on a council estate in London. Judge Margaret McDonald said: “I was completely blown away by Love On Sight and we judges were gripped from the first page. We admire the authenticity of the voice and the language.”
We also attended two events at Parliament, with the Summer reception of the All Party Writers Group held on 7 July and the British IP Day, organized by the Alliance for Intellectual Property, on 30 June. The APWG Summer Reception saw writers, parliamentarians and representatives from across the creative industries come together in support of reading and literacy. Speeches covered an overview of the APWG’s progress on writers’ rights, AI developments and the outcomes so far from the National Year of Reading 2026. CEO Barbara Hayes spoke at the British IP Day event which celebrates the importance of intellectual property. She said: “50 years ago, a group of fiercely determined writers came together with a simple message: No use without payment. It sounded reasonable then, and it sounds even more reasonable now”.
On 2 July, the winners of the Crime Writers’ Association Dagger Awards were announced at the CWA’s gala dinner at the De Vere Grand Connaught Rooms in London. Created in 1955, the Daggers are the oldest awards in the genre and celebrate the very best in crime writing. Thirteen Gold Daggers were awarded in total, with The ALCS Gold Dagger for Non-Fiction going to Susannah Stapleton for her book That Dark Spring, which the judges described as “sympathetic and deeply researched narrative of the century-old (and still unsolved) Provencal murder of Olive Branson, a talented and bohemian English expat artist. An evocative portrait of another place and time and a memorable recreation of a genuine mystery”.
On 23 June, the winners of the Carnegie Medals, the UK’s longest-running book awards for children and young people, were announced in front of an audience of over 600 young people at a live-streamed ceremony at the Cambridge Theatre in London. Debut author Beth O’Brien won both the Carnegie Medal for Writing and the Shadowers’ Choice Award for Writing for Wolf Siren, a feminist reimagining of Red Riding Hood informed by her own lived experience of visual impairment. The Carnegie Medal for Illustration went to Kate Rolfe for Wiggling Words, a deeply personal and powerful picture book which gives an insight into what reading is like for those with dyslexia.
Finally, on 18 June, we attended the Society of Authors’ SoA Awards, held at Southwark Cathedral and hosted by writer and composer Helen Epega, with a keynote speech from author, actor and activist Cerrie Burnell. Winners of nine awards were announced which recognise authors at all stages of their careers, across poetry, fiction and non-fiction. Liadan Ní Chuinn won the ALCS Tom-Gallon Trust Award, for the short story ‘Amalur’, described by judge Andre Bagoo as “ruled by its own cosmologies: the sun and moon, presence and absence, humour and heartbreak. Reconsidered is the nuclear family, who gains admission, and the vistas that open beyond the terse sentences that hold us.”.
