Prize for writing up for grabs

7:40pm Thursday 24th July 2008

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A FORMER Worcester woman who now lives in Hong Kong has co-founded a new literary prize and is urging county people to take part.

Gillian Bickley was head girl of Worcester City Grammar School for Girls in 1961, and the only daughter of the late Leonard and Catherine Workman, who both taught at various schools in Worcester, including St George’s CE Primary School.

She moved to Hong Kong more than 30 years ago and was a senior lecturer and associate professor at Hong Kong Baptist University for 22 years.

Along with her husband, Verner Bickley, Mrs Bickley wrote a book called The Golden Needle. It was about Frederick Stewart, the founder of Hong Kong government education.

Now the couple’s latest venture has seen the establishment of a literary prize through their firm Proverse Hong Kong, a publishing and distribution firm.

The Proverse Prize is for an unpublished, publishable book-length work of non-fiction, fiction or poetry, submitted in English by anyone 18 years old or older.

The first entries will be accepted in the first part of 2009 .

Entry forms for The Proverse Prize will be available from the Proverse Hong Kong website, geocities.com/ proversehk, no later than November 1.