Words and Women: Four

This year's anthology is an eclectic collection of high quality prose, a many-layered read of subtlety, passion, and depth. There are startling, compelling and moving texts: an insight into the dark and crippling relationships between husbands and wives, and the love between a father and daughter. Nocturnal visitors bivouac on the edge of vision, the lost follow a winter's map. There is a rapid intellectual joy ride with a Komodo dragon. There are memories of haunted trees, the struggle for recognition and change, of living with the threat of sectarian violence, and so much more. This book reflects the way we live, hope and love now.

This is a book for the reader who wants to peel back the layers and wander through rich and complex worlds featuring winning entries from our annual new writing competition. This year's guest judge Naomi Wood, author of The Godless Boys, has selected a range of texts that show us what it is to be alive in a time of change.

Jamilah Ahmed, Kate Harmond Allan, Deborah Arnander, Margaret Callaghan, Tricia Cresswell, Louise Dumayne, Kate Feld, Lilie Ferrari, Melissa Fu, Pia Ghosh-Roy, Guinevere Glasfurd, Sara Gowen, Anna Metcalfe, Clare Morgan, Helen Morris, Shiona Morton, Nasrin Parvaz, Marianne Picton, Ronne Randall, Kate Robinson, Cherise Saywell, Victoria Shropshire, Penny Simpson, Mary White