Wasafiri: New Writing Prize 2025
Join the magazine of international contemporary writing since 1984, as they celebrate the 16th edition of the prestigious Queen Mary Wasafiri New Writing Prize.
This two-part event opens with a panel discussion on the translation industry – to mark the prize being open to entries in translation for the first time – featuring three translators of colour: Anita Barton-Williams, Sawad Hussain and Rahul Soni.
This discussion is followed by readings by writers from the Wasafiri community, including Dalia Al-Dujaili, Erica Hesketh and Monika Radojevic. The evening culminates with the 2025 winners announcement and prize-giving by the stellar judging panel, Chair Romesh Gunesekera, Anton Hur, Noreen Masud and Yasmine Seale.
Dalia Al-Dujaili is an Iraqi-British writer, editor and producer based in London. She is the online editor of The British Journal of Photography and the founder of The Road to Nowhere magazine. In 2023 she was the producer of Refugee Week.
Erica Hesketh is a poet and editor, originally from Japan and Denmark, now based in London. From 2016 to 2024 she was Director of the Poetry Translation Centre. Her debut collection, In the Lily Room explores early motherhood.
Monika Radojevic is a Brazilian-Montenegrin writer and poet who was born and raised in London. Her writing is a continuous exploration of power dynamics, inequality and freedom and she is the inaugural winner of the #Merky Books New Writers’ prize.
Need to know
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For your visit
This event is held at the Royal Festival Hall Southbank Centre
The Royal Festival Hall is open six days a week.
Tuesday – Sunday, 10am – 11pm
Monday, closed.
Plan your visit
The Royal Festival Hall is home to our largest auditorium as well as The Clore Ballroom, National Poetry Library, Members’ Lounge, Festival Bar & Kitchen, Ballroom Cafe and Skylon restaurant.
Getting here
Our address is Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, London, SE1 8XX.
The nearest tube stations to us are Waterloo and Embankment; Waterloo is also the nearest train station. And more than 20 different London bus routes pass within 500 metres of our venues. More information on getting here by rail, road or river is available on our Getting here page.
We’re cash-free
Please note that we’re unable to accept cash payments across our venues.
Access
We’re working hard to remove barriers, so that our facilities and events can be accessible to as many people as possible.
All help points, toilets, performance and exhibition spaces at the Southbank Centre are accessible to all, as are the cafes, bars and restaurants. We also have excellent public transport links with step-free access.
All information about booking wheelchair spaces, step-free access, blue badge parking, access maps and guides and other help available whilst you’re here, including details about our Access Scheme, can be found on our Access page.
Food & drink
On Level 2 of our Royal Festival Hall you can grab a slice of life by the Thames with drinks and freshly made pizza at our Festival Bar & Kitchen which opens out onto our Riverside Terrace. You can grab a coffee and a slice of freshly made cake from our Ballroom Cafe. Or alternatively enjoy destination dining in the restaurant at Skylon.
From coffee to cocktails, filling favourites to fine dining, plus some of London’s best street food – it’s all here at the Southbank Centre.