Since 2022, we've been working with exam board Pearson and publishers Penguin Books on the Lit in Colour Pioneers Pilot Programme, an initiative to help schools diversify their curriculums by adopting a text by an author of colour for study at GCSE or A Level.

NHB has contributed to the programme by donating copies of the brilliant play Sweat by Lynn Nottage, a set text for Edexcel's A Level in English Literature. Schools who signed up to the Pioneers Pilot received a full classroom set of their chosen text, as well as access to support programmes and CPD resources.

So far, the programme has reached over 250 schools and 29,000 learners – and Lit in Colour have just released a report, written by University of Oxford researchers in collaboration with The Runnymede Trust, showing the positive impact a more diverse and inclusive curriculum can have on young people, and the barriers that need to be overcome to achieve further progress.  

The Pioneers Pilot is just one of a number of activities NHB has been involved in to help drive change in this area. We've collaborated on Lit in Colour's Incomplete Play List, and have been working with exam boards AQA, Eduqas and OCR to encourage adoption of new GCSE set texts Leave Taking by Winsome Pinnock and Princess & The Hustler by Chinonyerem Odimba – including by commissioning and publishing the first study guides for these texts.

As Lit in Colour's report says, 'change is possible and has begun'. We're committed to playing our part.

Entries for the Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting – the largest playwriting competition in Europe – are now open until 6pm GMT on Thursday 9 January 2025.

The Prize is open to writers based in the UK and Ireland, and submissions must be original plays (i.e. not adaptations, translations or musicals) over one hour long which have not been previously received a professional production. There are two further awards categories – the International Award (open by invitation via five overseas theatres) and the North West Original New Voice Award and Residency, for writers who live in the North West of England. Further details of each category, eligibility and the entry process can be found here.

A total prize pot of £50,000 is available, and the overall winner will also enter a relationship with the Royal Exchange with the aim of developing their play towards production.

Nick Hern Books has been the proud Publishing Partner of the Bruntwood Prize ever since its inception in 2005, and has so far published almost twenty plays recognised by the Prize – see the full list of plays here. Good luck to everybody entering this year!

The nominees for The Stage Debut Awards 2024 have been announced, with multiple NHB authors and plays recognised across different categories.

A fantastic three NHB authors feature on the shortlist for Best Writer: Martha Loader for Bindweed, Harry McDonald for Foam, and Azuka Oforka for The Women of Llanrumney.

The Best Creative West End Debut shortlist includes nominations for Marcelo Dos Santos (writer of Backstairs Billy) and Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey (composer and lyricist of next to normal, respectively). There is also recognition for the acclaimed West End transfer of Tyrell Williams' play Red Pitch, with a nomination for Daniel Bailey (director).

Elsewhere, Elvis Costello is shortlisted for Best Composer, Lyricist or Book Writer for his music for Conor McPherson's adaptation of Cold War. There is also recognition in other categories for The House Party (Best Performer in a Play, Nadia Parkes), Little Women (Best Director, Emily Foran), next to normal (Best West End Debut Performer, Jack Wolfe) and Player Kings (Best West End Debut Performer, Toheeb Jimoh).

The Stage Debut Awards ceremony will take place in London on 29 September. Previous winners of the Awards include NHB authors Michael R Jackson, Rob Madge, Katherine Soper, Andrew Thompson and Tyrell Williams.

We're proud to share that we've partnered with the producers of the West End transfer of Benedict Lombe's wonderful play Shifters – now on at the Duke of York’s Theatre, having originally been seen at the Bush Theatre in West London – on the Shifting The Narrative Bookshop, a pop-up bookshop stocked with titles that shift the narrative of Blackness away from trauma, and instead focus on Black joy, love, futurism and celebration.

The bookshop is located in the outer foyer of the Duke of York's Theatre, and is open at the following times:

• Mon 12 - Tues 20 August (not Saturday 17): 12 noon - 2pm BST
• Saturday 17 August: 11am - 1pm BST
• Sunday 18 August: Closed

A fantastic range of brilliant, celebratory plays by NHB-published Black British writers are available in the bookshop – including Nine Night by Natasha Gordon, Red Pitch by Tyrell Williams, and HEART by Jade Anouka – as well as Benedict Lombe's debut play, the multi-award-winning Lava.

All books are available to purchase with a recommended donation of the RRP but will be free to those whose circumstances are financially challenging. Proceeds from the bookshop will go to the Free Books Campaign, Black Minds Matter UK, and Sistah Space.

Matt Applewhite, Managing Director of Nick Hern Books: 'As the proud publisher of Bene Lombe's Shifters – and dozens more brilliant plays by Black British writers – we are delighted to be supporting this urgent and joyful initiative sharing and celebrating these stories and voices even more widely.'

Nick Hern Books are bringing their pop-up bookshop, the Big Bargain Bookshop at the Bush, to the acclaimed London new-writing venue the Bush Theatre later this month, following the popular first incarnation at the same location in 2021.

Open on Friday 26 and Saturday 27 July from 1pm to 7.30pm, the pop-up bookshop will offer a massive range of playscripts and books all at special, one-off prices, with hundreds available for just £2.

Plus, 20% of the proceeds from all books sold will go to theatrical charity Arts Emergency, to support their important work breaking down barriers and creating pathways for under-resourced young people to access education, training and work in the creative industries.

Friday 26 and Saturday 27 July, 1.00pm - 7.30pm
Bush Theatre, 7 Uxbridge Road, London, W12 8LJ
Nearest Tube: Shepherd's Bush Market (Circle/Hammersmith & City line) or Shepherd's Bush
(Central line)

Veteran theatre director Bill Alexander's book on Shakespeare in the rehearsal room, published by Nick Hern Books, has been shortlisted for the 2024 Theatre Book Prize.

Exploring Shakespeare: A Director's Notes from the Rehearsal Room joins titles by Dame Judi Dench, Michael Ball and Richard Pilbrow in contention for the prestigious prize, which is awarded annually by the Society for Theatre Research to encourage the writing and publication of books on British-related theatre history and practice.

In the book, Alexander takes us inside the rehearsal room to reveal – in unprecedented detail – exactly what happens there. He examines the key relationship between the actors and the director, how they work together to bring Shakespeare's vision to life, and how choices are made that will shape every aspect of the play in production. There are detailed studies of eight plays spanning the full length and breadth of the Shakespearean canon.

The winner will be announced on 11 June at a reception at Sadler's Wells Theatre.

We have been instructed by LAMDA to temporarily pause the sale of LAMDA Acting Anthology: Volume 5, and so are not currently accepting orders for this title via our website.

Here is a statement from LAMDA:

'We regret to inform you that we are temporarily pausing the sale of LAMDA’s publication due to unforeseen issues with the anthology. As we strive for excellence in all aspects of our work, LAMDA wants to ensure that the anthology meets the high standards to which we hold ourselves, and that it provides you with the quality content you deserve.

During this pause, the team at LAMDA will be diligently working to review the situation.

We will continue the fulfilment and despatch of publications which have already been purchased.

We appreciate your patience and understanding during this time. If you have any queries, please contact LAMDA team at exams@lamda.ac.uk.'

Nick Hern Books playwrights scooped both of the playwriting awards at this year's Critics' Circle Theatre Awards, announced yesterday (25 March 2024) at a ceremony at the new West End venue @sohoplace.

The Best New Play award went to The Motive and the Cue, Jack Thorne's backstage drama about John Gielgud and Richard Burton rehearsing Hamlet in 1964. Thorne's play was premiered at the National Theatre in 2023, directed by Sam Mendes and starring Mark Gatiss as Gielgud and Johnny Flynn as Burton. It picked up the Evening Standard Award for Best New Play, and transferred to the West End's Noel Coward theatre in December 2023, where its run has just come to an end.

The coveted Most Promising Playwright award went to Marcelo Dos Santos for his play Backstairs Billy, which premiered in the West End in a production directed by Michael Grandage and starring Penelope Wilton and Luke Evans. The play is a rip-roaring comedy about the Queen's Mother's fifty-year relationship with her loyal servant Billy Tallon. The award was given jointly to Matilda Feyiṣayọ Ibini for her play Sleepova at the Bush Theatre.

The Critics' Circle Awards are voted for by the body of UK theatre critics, recognising performances from across the previous calendar year.

Congratulations to all of the award winners!

There were prizes for NHB-published plays at the Offies Awards this week (Sunday 25 February), with no fewer than seven of our plays taking home silverware, two of them in the OffFest Theatre Festival Awards.

James Fritz's The Flea won Best Director for Jay Miller as well as Best Costume Design (by Lambdog1066).

Tom Powell's The Silence and the Noise won Best Online Production.

Lauryn Redding won Best Lead Performance in a Musical for her performance in her own musical, Bloody Elle.

Samuel Barnett won Best Solo Performance in a Play for his performance in Marcelo Dos Santos's Feeling Afraid As If Something Terrible Is Going To Happen.

Sophie Swithinbank's play Bacon won Best Lighting Design (by Ryan Joseph Stafford).

At the OffFest Theatre Festival Awards, Ed Edwards won the New Writing Award for his play England & Son, while Elisabeth Lewerenz won the Vault Festival Award for How We Begin.

Many congratulations to all our winners!

Nick Hern Books is proud to be a participant in Tonic Changemakers, a membership programme run by Tonic for people doing Equality, Diversity and Inclusion work in the arts and cultural sector.

Tonic Changemakers is a community of likeminded people who are committed to driving EDI-related change in the arts and cultural sector. It is also a first-of-its-kind hub of training, support and professional development opportunities designed specifically for EDI changemakers. All of it is based on the insights from Tonic's 10+ years of ground-breaking work with hundreds of arts organisations, supporting them to achieve tangible, long-lasting EDI-related change.

Nick Hern Books has worked closely with Tonic since publishing 100 Great Plays for Women, by the company's founder Lucy Kerbel, in 2013. The book was the culmination of a project by Tonic (then Tonic Theatre) and the National Theatre Studio. Tonic Theatre was founded by Kerbel in 2011 to support the theatre industry in achieving greater gender equality in its workforces and repertoires.

In 2017, Nick Hern Books published Kerbel's subsequent book, All Change Please: A Practical Guide to Achieving Gender Equality in Theatre. Rufus Norris, Director of the National Theatre, said: 'Lucy Kerbel's work has become increasingly pivotal in helping the entire industry raise its game. This illuminating book answers the cynic, informs the impartial, converts the supporter into an activist and equips them all; not in a rallying cry of anger-fuelled idealism, but in a calm, pragmatic and clear-eyed way.'

Nick Hern Books also publishes the Platform series of plays in association with Tonic, offering big-cast plays with predominantly or all-female casts, written specifically for school, college and youth-theatre groups. The series was awarded Outstanding Drama Initiative at the Music and Drama Education Awards 2021.

There is more about Tonic Changemakers on Tonic's website here.