student shortlisted for nature writing prize

Ieuan Goodwin, who has just finished the two-year Creative Writing Programme, has been shortlisted for The Nature Writing Prize for Working Class Writers.

His short story, entitled Lily, tells the tale of a potted plant growing into a family. The story moves through generations, with the father passing both Lily and his mistakes on to his son.

He attended the awards ceremony on a rooftop garden at the Hachette Publishing office overlooking the Thames - see picture above.

The prize, which aims to break down barriers, was set up in 2020 by writer Natasha Carthew to create opportunity for working class nature writers of fiction, non-fiction and poetry. The judges included Natasha Carthew, Stephanie Jackson, publishing Director at DK; Philip Jones, editor of The Bookseller magazine; Juliet Pickering, vice head of books at Blake Friedmann Literary Agency; Harriet Poland, agent; Kaiya Shang, commissioning editor at Chatto & Windus; Tony Putman, author of Bob the Robin; and Alisha Riley, the winner of the 2024 prize.

Ieuan was taught by Ruth Figgest and Rosie Chard at Kemptown Bookshop in Brighton and completed the programme in July 2025.