PORTICO SADIE MASSEY AWARDS JUDGES 2021

Ayesha Ansari-Choudhury

Ayesha Ansari-Choudhury is originally from London but has lived in Manchester for thirteen years. She is an independent bookseller promoting inclusive books and authors, a mother of two, a community artist, a human rights campaigner and the founder of Mirror Me Write. She believes that representation is not a privilege but a right and that all children should see themselves in books. 

Photo by Tanya Weekes

Anna Mainwaring

Anna Mainwaring first read The Lord of the Rings when she was seven and she hasn’t stopped reading since. An author of YA fiction, her books include Rebel with a Cupcake and Tulip Taylor. Her debut novel The Lives and Loves of Jesobel Jones follows Jess through the joy and pain of being a teenager in the modern world and asks the big questions in life, like ‘how much cake is it really acceptable to eat?’

Okechukwu Nzelu

Okechukwu Nzelu was born in Manchester in 1988. In 2015 he won a New Writing North Award. His debut novel, The Private Joys of Nnenna Maloney, won a 2020 Betty Trask Award and was shortlisted for the Betty Trask Prize, the Desmond Elliott Prize, and the Polari First Book Prize. He now lives in Manchester and is a Lecturer in Creative Writing at Lancaster University.

MO RAY

Mo Ray is a writer who lives in Manchester. She has written reviews on theatre performances at HOME, Oldham Coliseum Theatre and the Royal Exchange, where she currently works. She is one of the founders of VAGUE, a community-led creative agency, and co-editor of its arts & culture club. Since 2012 she has run Within My Locket, a blog about storytelling in different forms, including film, theatre and literature.