Newcastle University

The Decibel Writer of the year is sponsored by The Arts Council and is awarded to a writer ‘who is of African, Caribbean or Asian descent and who has made the greatest contribution towards or impact on the literary year’.

The awards ceremony took place at the Grosvenor Hotel, London on 28th March and was hosted by Richard and Judy. It was broadcast on Channel Four.

Jackie, a member of the School of English Language and Linguistics, was awarded an MBE last year for her ‘services to literature’ and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.

At the awards ceremony she drew attention to the anniversary of the abolition of slavery and to the many women who had preceded her. Her play, ‘The Lamplighter’, written to commemorate the abolition of slavery, and which weaves together four women’s voices, was broadcast on Radio 3 on Sunday 25th March, to rave reviews. The Guardian described it as ‘epic..huge, sprawling, ambitious, defiant, angry and gripping…This was dramatically towering stuff’.