Sunderland author Glenda Young hopes to unearth the city's next best-selling writer with £2,000 scholarship

Popular Sunderland author Glenda Young is helping to discover the city's next best-selling author with a £2,000 scholarship for students studying Creative and Professional Writing at the University of Sunderland.

Glenda, best-selling author of historical sagas set in Ryhope and cosy crimes set in Scarborough, launched The Glenda Young Prize for Creative Writing earlier this year with the University of Sunderland.

As well as helping to fund their studies, the scholarship also includes support and mentoring from the award winning author.

The winner of this year's competition who is set to benefit from Glenda's expertise is 18-year-old Grace-Mae Carpenter.

The Seaburn youngster hopes the award will help her in a future career as a writer and teacher, and plans to pass on Glenda’s insight, and her love for literature, to others.

She said: “I applied for the Glenda Young Prize because I thought that through Glenda’s support and our shared love for reading and literature I could further develop my writing skills.

"I would love to pursue a career in journalism or teaching, where I can pass on my love for literature and the skills I’m learning around writing to others.

“It is really inspirational that Glenda is giving opportunities to local young women to pursue creative writing careers.”

Glenda Young is the author of eight historical sagas set in Ryhope, the first of which, Belle of the Back Streets, was published in 2018, and the most recent, The Sixpenny Orphan, published in paperback this year.

She is also the author of three crime thrillers set in Scarborough, which were shortlisted at the Dead Good Readers Awards, alongside Val McDermid and Richard Osmond, at the 2022 Harrogate Crime Festival.

Glenda said: “It’s an absolute honour for me to be in a position where I’m able to offer this package of support to a student at the University of Sunderland. I’m delighted that Grace-Mae has been chosen to receive the award.  I’m very impressed by Grace’s determination and her love of books and literature.

“I hope the award will help her make the most of every single minute of her time at University. She’s an intelligent, creative young woman with the world at her feet and I look forward to seeing where her love for writing takes her.

"When she’s ready, I’ll be here for her with advice on finding a literary agent and how to get her work into print with a leading publisher.”

Published by Headline, Glenda’s new book, Foul Play at the Seaview Hotel, a cosy crime novel starring a team of obsessive crazy golfers in Scarborough, is out now in paperback.