Competitions and Prizes Panel - Bios
Sunny Singh is a writer, academic, public intellectual, and a champion for decolonisation and inclusion across all aspects of society, and is the founder of the Jhalak Prize for Book of the Year by a Writer of Colour.
She is the author of three critically acclaimed novels, Hotel Arcadia, With Krishna’s Eyes, and Nani’s Book of Suicides, a study of Amitabh Bachchan for the BFI’s film star series, and the recent, A Bollywood State of Mind: A Journey into the World’s Biggest Cinema. Her next book is a collection of stories linked by the theme of war. She is currently working on a new novel, and a non-fiction book about writing ethically.
Sunny lives in London where she is Professor of Creative Writing and Inclusion in the Arts at the London Metropolitan University.
Paul Burston is the author of six novels and five non-fiction books and the editor of two short story collections. He hosts the award-winning LGBTQ+ literary salon Polari and is the founder of The Polari Prize book awards for LGBTQ+ writers. In 2016 he featured in the British Council’s Global List of ‘33 visionary people promoting freedom, equality and LGBT rights around the world.’ His memoir We Can Be Heroes is published by Little A and has been described by Russell T. Davies as “brutally honest” , by Bernardine Evaristo as “a compelling and hugely enjoyable memoir about a fearless life lived to the full” and by ES Magazine as “probably the gay book of the year” Born in York and raised in South Wales, he now divides his time between London and Hastings.
Viktoria Lloyd-Barlow is a writer and freelance editor. She holds first-class undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in English and American Literature and a PhD on the Contemporary Novel. She has presented her doctoral research on autism and literature internationally and continues to present and speak on these subjects. Her debut novel All the Little Bird-Hearts is published by Tinder press and was longlisted for the 2023 Booker Prize. The panel of judges described the book as a ‘lyrical and poignant debut novel which offers a deft exploration of motherhood, vulnerability and the complexity of human relationships.’ The following year All the Little Bird-Hearts received the Author’s Club Best First Novel award. Viktoria is currently writing her second novel.
Aki Schilz (Hon. FRSL) is the Director of The Literary Consultancy, the UK’s longest-running consultancy for writers. She is a judge for various literary prizes including the Bridport First Novel Award and the Creative Future Writing Awards. Aki has featured in the Bookseller 150, a list of the most influential figures in UK publishing, twice: in 2020 and 2021. She is the Founder of the #BookJobTransparency campaign and has been recognised by the Kim Scott Walwyn and h100 awards for her work to improve representation and accessibility in the literature sector. Aki is also the founder of the Rebecca Swift Foundation, a charity for women poets, and co-Director of the Being A Writer programme for writers that focuses on creativity, resilience and wellbeing. Through TLC Aki works with corporate publishers to run training sessions focussed on how to establish more ethical editorial frameworks. She is the current Vice Chair of the international human rights charity English PEN.