Isle of Man Woman Shortlisted For Historical Fiction Manuscript About War Veteran

Joanne Clague from Laxey, Isle of Man, has been shortlisted for the Page Turner Writing Award, for her Historical Fiction manuscript Flying Down Blake Street.

Joanne Clague from Laxey, Isle of Man, has been shortlisted for the Page Turner Writing Award, for her Historical Fiction manuscript Flying Down Blake Street.

Joanne entered the Page Turner Awards, where published authors and unpublished writers of fiction and non-fiction across all genres can enter their writing to get discovered by high-profile judges from the literary world.

Flying Down Blake Street is about a war veteran who walks out on his marriage after seventy years, desperate to hide a secret dating back to his service in the Second World War.

Joanne was inspired by her grandparents' lives in the city of Sheffield to write a saga spanning eighty years.

Flying Down Blake Street was a wonderful opportunity to delve into recent history and a personal project for Joanne, who started with the pages she'd been given of a memoir her grandfather had begun to write about his childhood and first job in a filing factory.

Joanne said, “The Page Turner Awards is judged by industry experts and a great way of getting your writing noticed. I'm absolutely thrilled by this news. It's a real confidence booster.”

The Page Turner Awards, sponsored by ProWritingAid, writers and authors the chance to enter unpublished or published fiction and non-fiction books, where a group of literary agents and publishers will read the work.

Judges are carefully selected literary agents and publishers who are looking for writers to represent and publish, plus influencers in the publishing industry.

Since entering the Page Turner Awards, Joanne is now represented by literary agent Kate Nash, writing historical fiction.

Founder of Page Turner Awards and award-winning novelist, Paula Wynne said: “There are writers from all walks of life, from manual laborers to academics. All with stories to tell, most of them heart-warming and moving. We’re proud that our Awards celebrates excellent writing and helps writers and authors to get their stories discovered.”

Success stories from this year’s awards include three writers winning literary representation, six writers winning a writing mentorship, five writers winning a publishing contract and thirteen independent authors winning an audiobook production.

Find out more about The Page Turner Awards: https://pageturnerawards.com. Submissions for 2021 will open on the 1st of January 2021.