The Arts Foundation announce the four Shortlisted Artists of the Arts Foundation Futures Awards 2026 for Literature.
The Literature Award supports inventive independent writers who are pushing the boundaries of the medium of poetry. Meet the Shortlist:
Fahad Al-Amoudi is a writer and editor. His work is published in POETRY, The Poetry Review, Wasafiri, The London Magazine, and Mizna. His debut pamphlet, when the flies come (ignitionpress, 2023), was selected as a Poetry Book Society Winter Choice 2023 and was shortlisted for the Michael Marks Award.
Yanita Georgieva is a Bulgarian poet, facilitator, and journalist. She was raised in Lebanon and now lives in London. Her debut pamphlet, Small Undetectable Thefts, was published by Broken Sleep Books and received the 2024 Eric Gregory Award.
Lucy Mercer is a poet and writer based in London. Her debut poetry collection, Emblem (Prototype, 2022), was a Poetry Book Society Choice and a book of the year in Frieze, The New Statesman and The White Review. She is currently writing Afterlife, a nonfiction essay on wax and mortality, which was awarded the 2024 Fitzcarraldo Editions/Mahler & LeWitt Studios Essay Prize.
Camille Ralphs is a poet, critic and editor. Her first collection of poems, After You Were, I Am, was published by Faber in the UK (2024) and McSweeney’s in the US (2025). The UK edition was a Book of the Year in the Guardian and the Telegraph and on BBC Radio 4’s Poetry Extra.
With thanks to our independent Jury members: Imtiaz Dharker, Poet; Ted Hodgkinson, Head of Literature and Spoken Word, Southbank Centre; and Raymond Antrobus, Poet & Author, who said:
“Together, all the shortlisted artists of the Arts Foundation Futures Awards for Literature 2026 represent a powerful and diverse range of contemporary poetic voices across the UK. Fahad Al-Amoudi’s body of work has such a unique and deep understanding of story and storytelling. Yanita Georgieva’s poetry reflects a sharp intelligence and a gift for translation, alongside journalistic insight. Lucy Mercer’s writing is richly researched and historically resonant, and Camille Ralphs has a striking sense of precision, lyrical craft and intellectual depth to her work.”
The Arts Foundation has a long history of supporting literature and poetry practice, and Mary Jane Edwards, Director of The Arts Foundation, says:
“The four shortlisted poets demonstrate exceptional promise and originality at a pivotal early stage in their careers. Each brings a distinctive voice and a rigorous approach to language, form, and meaning, contributing to a vibrant and evolving landscape of contemporary poetry. By recognising and supporting these poets now, we seek to provide space for creative risk-taking and sustained development, affirming our commitment to nurturing outstanding literary talent and the vital role poetry plays in shaping cultural conversation.”
The winning Fellow, receiving £20,000, will be revealed at an Award Ceremony on 2 February 2026, with all Shortlisted Artists awarded £1,000 towards their artistic practice.
The Arts Foundation is a registered charity that supports individual artists and creatives in the UK with unconditional financial Fellowships of £20,000 through the Arts Foundation Futures Awards. Since it was founded in 1993, the Arts Foundation has awarded over £2 million to the most promising artists in the UK at a pivotal moment in their careers to enable them to concentrate on their creative development, experiment, and realise their artistic potential.
The Literature Award is generously supported in partnership with The Adrian Brinkerhoff Poetry Fund of the Sidney E. Frank Foundation.