By Press Release
By Mal Butler
The first Isle of Wight Literary Awards resulted in an 88-year-old man from Bembridge scooping the top prize at the Island Sailing Club in Cowes, on Wednesday.
Kenneth Hicks, who was in the Army for 30 years and grew up on the Island, attending Nettlestone primary and Sandown secondary schools, said he was ‘stunned’ at the award. His non-fiction book, ‘An Island Legacy’, took both the category and overall winner prize with Kenneth donating his top prize money of £500 to Mountbatten.
The book is based on the Pormanon Engravings of the Island 200 years ago, which he owns, and current photographs of the various locations now. Kenneth, a former President of the Isle of Wight Historical Society, said: “I have seen the Island change over my 80-plus years and this is a record of how the Island has changed over the last 200 years. I hope that in another 200 years, someone else will do the same.”
Around 200 of the original Pormanon Engravings will be on show at Northwood House, Cowes, next weekend. Winners in the other categories were Children’s: Meg Hewison, 21, from Ryde, who is also training to be a tattooist, with ‘My Friends by the Beach’ and Fiction: ‘Grass Green Stockings’ a selection of poetry by Marion Carmichael, 78, from Ventnor. The awards were the idea of author and broadcaster Hunter Davies and Claire Thornton, with Hunter joined by fellow judges Alan Titchmarsh and Joanna Trollope.
All the entries were connected in some way with the Isle of Wight. Hunter said: “The aims of the awards were very simple – to encourage the writing, reading and publishing of books about the Isle of Wight, to draw attention to the beauty and glories and heritage of the Island and to reward and praise authors, many of whom, have, perhaps, never produced a book before.” The charity lunch was in aid of Mountbatten, whose chief executive, Nigel Hartley, attended.
A total of £1,300 was raised in donations. Representatives from the main sponsors: Hovertravel, Neil Chapman; Isle of Wight Festival, Jo Macauley and Hose Rhodes Dickson, Jamie Busbie also attended and presented the prizes. Due to Covid, almost all the awards were open to around 100 books published over the last five years, but next year’s event will only include new books published in the last 12 months. Other books shortlisted were, Non-Fiction: ‘The Infamous Sophie Dawes’, Adrian Searle; ‘Light and Love’, Kirsty Stonell Walker. Fiction: The Glass House, Jody Cooksley; ‘The Curious Death of William Bacchus’, Lawrence Harvey; Children’s: ‘Fool’s Gold’, Alan Barbara; ‘Nature Calls’ Jules Marriner.
Header image: Jamie Busbie (Hose Rhodes Dickson), Kenneth Hicks and Hunter Davies
