NHB playwright Joe Ward Munrow has been named the inaugural winner of the Robert Holman Grant Award for professional playwrights from or based in the north of England.

Munrow, who receives a £7,000 award to support his writing, was announced the winner of the prestigious new award given by the Royal Literary Fund. His plays include The Legend of Ned Ludd, which explores issues of work, automation and capitalism around the world, and was premiered at Liverpool Everyman in 2024.

Munrow is from South London but has been based in Liverpool for all of his working life.

The Robert Holman Grant Award was created in honour of the celebrated playwright Robert Holman, who died in December 2021. Holman's plays, including Making Noise Quietly, German Skerries, Jonah and Otto and A Breakfast of Eels, are published by Nick Hern Books.

Author photo: Tony Hay/Royal Literary Fund