Every year the Leicester Writers Club holds a dinner where awards are presented to members and members are treated to a speech by one of their many especially gifted colleagues.
We were fortunate this year to have as our speaker, Jacob Ross, well-known for his collections of short stories and poems and an outstanding novel Pynder Bender. He is an elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, and has received Grenada’s highest literary award for his contribution to literature.
Jacob treated us to a speech in which he urged club members to pursue
the virtue of persistence, which he referred to as ‘the Seventh P’. The
seventh P has nothing to do directly with the craft of writing, he said,
but it is probably the most essential aspect of our work as writers.
‘Not giving up; writers write…It is the only thing that justifies
calling ourselves by that name.’
This Year’s club president, Judith Cooper, announced the contenders for the various awards, revealed the winners and presented the trophies.
Here is the line-up of trophy winners:
From left to right:
Siobhan Logan (Siobhan Logan Spoken Word Award)
Mary Byrne (Nick Leach Award)
Peter Devlin (Chris d’Lacey Endeavour Award)
Chris d’Lacey (Jean Chapman Children’s Writing Award)
Dave Martin (Doris Adams Short Story Award )
Emma Lee (Ena Young Poetry Award and Media Award)
Margaret Penfold (Trude Dub Non-fiction Award
David Wilkinson could not be present on the night but he won the prestigious Norman King Novel Award
Even if there were no speeches and no awards presented, the dinner would still be worth attending for the magnificent food and reasonably priced drinks at the Taste Restaurant in the Freeman’s Common Annexe of the Leicester College of Further Education. The menu this year, cooked to perfection by third year catering students, was voted one of the best yet. The students serving the meal did a magnificent job in a professional manner. The club is really grateful to Siobhan Logan for her skilful organisation.
leicesterwritersclub.com 