Laois author announced as judge for major international writing competition
Author Helen Cullen was born and raised in Portlaoise
Born and raised in Portlaoise, author Helen Cullen will judge the Nero New Writers Prize alongside fellow Irish writer Paul Murray and Booker Prize winning novelist Bernardine Evaristo.
Helen is an acclaimed author who has published two novels to date, The Lost Letters of William Woolf and The Truth Must Dazzle Gradually. Her third novel, Iseult, the first instalment of the House of Gonne duology, will be published in February 2027.
Helen earned a Best Newcomer nomination at the 2018 Irish Book Awards with her debut novel.
The Laois writer is a Reader in Creative Writing at Brunel University of London. In 2024 she was awarded the degree of Doctor of Philosophy having completed her PhD in Creative and Critical Writing. She is also a literary critic for the Irish Times newspaper and a regular contributor to The Sunday Times Magazine and radio programmes for the BBC and RTE.
The Nero New Writers Prize, in association with Brunel University of London, has returned following a successful first year.
The competition launched last year to celebrate the very best of unpublished writers in Ireland and the UK and to discover future writing stars.
Alongside the New Writers Prize, there will be a new award dedicated solely to students who are currently studying at or have graduated from Brunel in the last two years. The winner of the Brunel Prize will also receive a scholarship for an MA in Creative Writing at Brunel and a cash prize of £1,000.
Anyone who wishes to enter the competition must submit a previously unpublished short story, a piece of fiction or narrative non-fiction, of a maximum 5,000 words. It can be written for children or for adult audiences and should be a self-contained piece of work.
The winner of the Nero New Writers Prize will receive a cash prize of £3,000 as well as a scholarship to study for an MA in Creative Writing at Brunel and an introductory meeting with a literary agent, facilitated by the university.
Both prizes will be judged by Helen, Dublin author Paul Murray, and Bernadine Evaristo.
Five writers will be shortlisted for the Nero New Writers Prize on October 22 alongside the winner of the Brunel Prize.
The winners of both prizes will be celebrated at a ceremony at Brunel on November 18.
Submissions for the Nero New Writers Prize and the Brunel Prize are now open and will close on Friday, September 11.