Our 2026 Yeovil Literary Prize Judges are…

Raffaella Barker has been writing novels since the age of 26 and has been a promiscuous reader all her life. She has written 10 novels to date, with her new memoir, 'Who Knows Where the Time Goes', being published in 2026.

She also teaches private groups everywhere from Tuscany to Moniak Moor in Scotland, and Riad El Fenn in Marrakech. She lives in the countryside in Dorset.

Rue Baldry is a prize-winning short story writer and novelist. She won the Canada and Europe region of the 2023 Commonwealth Prize. Thirty-one of her stories have been published in journals such as Granta, Fictive Dream, Litro, MIR Online, Ambit, Mslexia, and the Honest Ulsterman, and placed in other competitions. Her debut collection, Nice Things, will be published by Fly On The Wall Press in December 2026.

In 2019, she was very proud to come second in the Yeovil Novel Prize. Her debut novel, Dwell, won the 2024 First Novel Prize and is forthcoming from Northodox Press in June 2026.

She has a BA in English Literature from The University of York and an MA in Literature and Creative Writing from Leeds University, was a Bridge Awards Emerging Writer, Jerwood/Arvon mentee, and a Women’s Prize Discoveries longlistee.

John Challis lives and works in the North East. His debut collection, The Resurrectionists (Bloodaxe, 2021), was a poetry book of the month in the Guardian and highly commended in the 2021 Forward Prizes for Poetry. His pamphlets include The Black Cab (Poetry Salzburg, 2017), a 2019 New Writing North Read Regional Title, and Hallsong (New Writing North, 2022), written while he was writer-in-residence at the National Trust’s Seaton Delaval Hall. His poetry has appeared on BBC Radio 3 and 4, in Poetry Ireland Review, Poetry London, The Poetry Review, The Telegraph and elsewhere. He is the recipient of a Northern Writers’ Award, a Pushcart Prize, and an Author’s Foundation Grant from the Society of Authors. He is an editor for Poetry Salzburg Review and is a Lecturer in Creative Writing at York St John University. His second collection, The Green Parcel, will be published by Bloodaxe in 2026.

Julia runs the children's book department at AM Heath and is always on the lookout for storytelling magic - for all ages!

Steve's first novel ‘The Evergreen in red and white’  was longlisted for the Historical Novel Society's Indie awards in 2015 - he then got the bug and has gone on to publish over 60 books: his own and those of others through his 1889 Books publishing company - in fact, anything he finds interesting: poetry, photography, fiction, history, (angling!) "It pays an awful lot less than a cleaning job would, so has to be fun. I'm constantly learning and trying to up my game," he says. He is currently doing battle with novel number 7 - shooting for the Booker but probably landing in his back garden again.

Steve said: “I am still very proud of The Evergreen in red and white, which was long-listed for the Historical Novel Society’s Indie Award. Rabbi Howell was the first Romani footballer, and the novel is set in his last turbulent year in Sheffield. Rab was a footballing pioneer: joining Sheffield United in their first season and leaving under a cloud just before they achieved glory. He is torn between two women and struggles to do the right thing, given the constraints of Victorian society. It is based on the facts that can be gleaned.

My historical fiction explores themes of love, loyalty and societal equality; I am a strong believer in the echoes of the past teaching us something about today.