We are thrilled to congratulate LUP author Mona Arshi on winning the Forward Prize for best new collection for Small Hands, awarded in a ceremony on Monday 28^th September 2015. The jury praised her work for its “imagination, sensuality and beguiling playfulness”, also commenting on her “beautiful precision and her willingness to experiment with form, including couplets, ghazals, sonnets and prose poetry.”

Mona Arshi was born to Punjabi Sikh parents in West London where she still lives. She initially trained as a lawyer and worked for Liberty, the UK human rights organisation, for several years. She began writing poetry in 2008 and received a Masters in Creative Writing from the University of East Anglia.

Mona’s collection was published in 2015 as part of Pavilion Poetry, a new contemporary poetry series from Liverpool University Press. More information on Small Hands, as well as the other titles in the series, can be found here: Pavilion Poetry.

You can also read more about Mona’s win and watch an interview with her here: Forward Prize 2015.