Hadfield gains major recognition with six figure sum
Poet Jen Hadfield has been named as one of eight writers to win a major literary prize.
Hadfield has been awarded $175,000 – around £140,000 – to support her work, courtesy of the Windham-Campbell Prizes.
The sum is being awarded to support Hadfield’s work and allow her to focus on her creative practice, independent of financial concerns.
The Yale University-based Windham-Campbell Prizes are a major global prize that recognises eight writers each year for literary achievement across four categories – fiction, non-fiction, poetry, and drama.
“I’m honoured, grateful and astonished to be awarded a Windham-Campbell Prize,” said Hadfield.
“It’s a life-changer: it feels like true creative freedom.”
A poet, bookmaker and visual artist, Hadfield is also recognised for her poetry collections, such as the T.S Eliot Award-winning Nigh-No-Place.
Hadfield’s work is characterized by a deep immersion in the matters of language and place, the use of Shetland and Scots dialect, and a focus on ecological matters.
