Beda Higgins

Beda Higgins  is a poet and writer living in Newcastle upon Tyne.

Biography

Beda Higgins is an Anglo-Irish writer from Lancashire who lives in Newcastle upon Tyne, where she works as a Psychiatric and General Nurse. She completed a masters in creative writing from Northumbria University in 2000. In her career as a nurse she has been awarded the Queen's Nursing Institute Awards for her work using creative writing with patients. She is also a poet and short story writer who has won the Northern Writers' Awards on multiple occasions as well as the Geoff Stevens Memorial Prize. Her work is published in anthologies as well as two collections of short stories. In 2021 her work was shortlisted for the Pigott Poetry Prize.

Publications

As Sole Author

Anthologies and collections: Prose and poetry

Articles in Journals and Magazines Multiple articles and opinion pieces published in Independent Nurse.

Awards

2019 VS Pritchett short story prize longlist

2018 Hippocrates Poetry Award commendation

2016 Northern Writer New Fiction Bursary

2015 Edgehill Prize longlist

2015 Frank O’Connor Prize longlist

2012 Luke Bitmead Novel Award shortlist

2012 Edgehill Prize longlist

2011 Read Regional Recommendation

2010 Northern Writer Award

2010 Cinnamon Press novel Award shortlist

2009 winner Mslexia short story competition

2007 Residential Prize winner Biscuit Publishing

2004 Northern Promise Award

2004 Novel shortlisted Lit Idol national competition

Projects

2022 Speaker at Sunderland Symposium: Humanities in Medicine

2016–2020 BBC 2 500 words children’s competition Judge

2013 Writing mentor for New Writing North Cuckoo project

2010 Art’s council representative Toronto short story conference

2010 National Short Story Day commissioned story ‘Cinderella’ broadcast

2008 Queens Nursing Institute Award Creative Writing as a therapeutic tool

2007 Writing mentor regeneration project/New Writing North 2007

2006 Writing mentor Creative centre/New Writing North 2006

Regular contributor to Independent Nurse (Journal for Professional Nurses)
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