Fiona Doyle's play SO Gay has been announced as the winner of A Play for the Nation's Youth.

This national competition was organised by Salisbury Playhouse, Nick Hern Books, Out of Joint, BBC Writersroom and the National Association of Youth Theatres and received more than 60 submissions.

SO Gay follows a group of teenagers at a multi-cultural, mixed sex secondary school. Katie, Eamon, Leanne and Sarah face the battles of growing up and the challenges of difference and acceptance amongst the obstacles of their peers, parents and teachers.

The plays were read in several rounds by representatives of each partner organisation but also, crucially, by young people of the age for which the plays were written. SO Gay impressed the judges with its theatrical potential and engaging subject matter. Moreover, Fiona’s story, language and characters were ones that a company of young actors related to and wanted to explore the most.

Fiona Doyle, from Kerry, Ireland, studied Drama and Theatre Arts at Goldsmiths College. She has won the £1000 seed commission and will now receive support from the partner organisations to develop the script prior to workshops and a rehearsed reading.

Doyle, 34, says “This is really unexpected. I’m totally thrilled. I’ve only been writing seriously since 2012 and this is the best thing to happen with my work since then. I am currently based in both Kerry and London so that I have time devoted to my writing. Winning A Play for the Nation’s Youth is a clear example of how this is working for me”.

The UK has a thriving network of youth theatres who often struggle to find expansive plays that both captivate and challenge. This new partnership was set up to discover a new play that could be performed by a large cast of young people and to engage an exciting playwright with the nation's young actors.

Max Stafford-Clark, Artistic Director of Out of Joint (and author of several books published by NHB) says, "It is rare to see a good, gritty, original play for young people, written in and about the here and now, with characters as young as those who will perform them. This lively play redresses this, and I think it will also be very enjoyable to perform. I wish it well and look forward to seeing it staged".

Nick Hern Books has a strong tradition of publishing plays for young people, including works by leading playwrights such as Fin Kennedy and Stuart Paterson. Recent publications include Ali Taylor’s adaptation of Robert Westall’s Carnegie medal-winning novel The Machine Gunners, Mike Kenny’s dramatisation of Kenneth Grahame’s classic tale The Wind in the Willows, and Helen Edmundson and Neil Hannon’s version of Arthur Ransome’s Swallows and Amazons, which was nominated for the Ned Sherrin Award for Best Musical at the Evening Standard Awards 2012.

On Wednesday (1 May), renonwned director Peter Brook appeared on the BBC's flagship current affairs show Newsnight to discuss the Shakespeare authorship question and his new book The Quality of Mercy: Reflections on Shakespeare.

In the book, he takes issue with those who claim Shakespeare's plays were written by someone other than Shakespeare: 'there were many other writers [at that time], and they were as bitchy and jealous as all other writes are anywhere', he points out. 'And nobody wrote a little pamphlet, left a little note or stood at a street corner or stood up in a pub to say, "this guy's a fake"?

He also insists the realities of the rehearsal process - where a script is often questioned by the actors, and rewrites made - means that the pretence would have been impossible to maintain. As he says in The Quality of Mercy: 'No-one smelt a rat...? I'm sorry, academics - if you'd have been part of any rehearsal process you would think differently.'

Brook also spoke to Newsnight about his long, varied and illustrious career, his opinion of the curent state of British theatre and a number of other topics. The interview is now available to view on the BBC News website: click here to watch.

Additionally, on Monday (29 April), Brook was the focus of a National Theatre Platform, held in a sold-out Lyttleton Theatre. Interviewed by culture journalist Mark Lawson, he discussed topics raised in the book, and also answered questions from the audience on subjects such as acting, Shakespeare in translation and the benefits of mixing different theatrical cultures. Click here to read an IdeasTap piece on the Platform.

His new book, The Quality of Mercy, addresses a wide range of Shakespearean topics, as well as revisiting some of the plays he has directed with notable brilliance, such as King Lear, Titus Andronicus and, of course, A Midsummer Night's Dream. A celebration of a great director's relationship with our greatest playwright, it has received an enthusiastic critical response, with the Guardian praising it as 'modest and brilliant... should be required reading'. An extract of the book is available to read now on the Guardian's website; click here to get a taste.

Brook will also be talking about The Quality of Mercy on BBC Radio 3's programme Night Waves in the next couple of weeks. Keep an eye out for more information.

The 2013 Olivier Awards were handed out last night (28 April), with Nick Hern Books plays and authors enjoying success across a variety of categories.

Stephen Sondheim’s brilliant, bloody musical Sweeney Todd was one of the big winners of the night; the critically-acclaimed Chichester Festival production picked up three awards, including Best Musical Revival, Best Actor in a Musical (Michael Ball) and Best Actress in a Musical (Imelda Staunton). The hat-trick of Olivier Awards adds to an already impressive haul for the production, which won five prizes at the audience-voted Whatsonstage.com Awards in February, as well as the Ned Sherrin Award for Best Musical at the Evening Standard Awards back in November.

Long Day’s Journey Into Night, Eugene O’Neill’s intensely autobiographical, magnificently tragic play, won Best Revival. The production, starring David Suchet as aging actor James Tyrone, ran at the Apollo Theatre between April and August. The script, and a wide variety of other Eugene O'Neill plays, is available from NHB.

Also recognised was the Royal Court’s season of new writing in the Jerwood Theatre Upstairs, which won the Outstanding Achievement in an Affiliate Theatre award. The season contained no less than four NHB plays: Luke Norris’ taut and tender debut Goodbye to All That, Bruntwood Prize-winner Vivienne Franzmann’s dark and penetrating thriller The Witness, Jez Butterworth’s haunting, ethereal The River, and the startlingly inventive A Time to Reap by Polish playwright Anna Wakulik, translated by Catherine Grosvenor. All four are published by Nick Hern Books.

The winners, voted for by a combination of selected panellists and members of the Society of London Theatre, were announced at a ceremony at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.

As part of our 25th anniversary celebrations, we've put together a visual timeline telling the story of Nick Hern Books so far. Featuring key titles and milestones in our history, it's an enjoyable guide through the last two-and-a-half decades not just of Nick Hern Books, but of theatre in Britain.

A small extract is visible below - click here to see the full timeline. For more information on everything that's happening to celebrate our 25th anniversary, click here.

UPDATE - 12:05, 3/5/13: THIS COMPETITION HAS NOW CLOSED. LOOK OUT FOR ANOTHER SILVER TICKET GIVEAWAY SOON.

We’ve been publishing great scripts alongside their production since 1988, and this year is no exception. So to celebrate our anniversary, we’re teaming up with theatres and producers to offer you a chance to win a pair of tickets to some of the shows we’re involved in, plus a free copy of the playscript.

May's Silver Ticket Giveaway show is:

Once: The Musical by Enda Walsh, Glen Hansard & Markéta Irglová

We’ve got two top-price tickets to give away to a performance of the show (restrictions apply).

For more information, including how to enter, click here.

UPDATE - 12:05, 22/3/13: THIS COMPETITION HAS NOW CLOSED. LOOK OUT FOR ANOTHER SILVER TICKET GIVEAWAY SOON.

We’ve been publishing great scripts alongside their production since 1988, and this year is no exception. So to celebrate our anniversary, we’re teaming up with theatres and producers to offer you a chance to win a pair of tickets to some of the shows we’re involved in, plus a free copy of the playscript.

April's Silver Ticket Giveaway show is:

The Low Road by Bruce Norris

Thanks to the folks at the Royal Court, we’ve got two tickets to give away to the 14:30 matinee performance at the Royal Court Theatre, London on Saturday 13 April. 

For more information, including how to enter, click here.

Michael Pennington’s fascinating book Sweet William: Twenty Thousand Hours with Shakespeare has been named among the nominees for the sixth Sheridan Morley Prize for Theatre Biography.

An illuminating exploration of Shakespeare’s life and work, Sweet William is a collection of essays from a leading actor and director, whose solo show on Shakespeare has been acclaimed throughout Europe and the US. Full of practical analysis, wonderfully detailed and entertaining interpretations of characters and scenes, and vivid reflections of Shakespeare’s theatre and ours, the book has been praised by a wide range of critics, with Speaking English calling it ‘the most important and best set of original Shakespeare essays… in over thirty years’.

Established in 2008, the Prize is to honour Sheridan Morley’s career as the author of 37 books, the majority of which were biographies, including the authorised lives of Sir John Gielgud, Sir Noel Coward, and David Niven. Nick Hern Books has had success at the 'Sherrys' since their inception, with previous nominees including Taking Stock by Max Stafford-Clark and Philip Roberts, Talking Theatre by Richard Eyre, and The Reluctant Escapologist by Mike Bradwell. Simon Callow's book My Life in Pieces won the Prize in 2010.

The Prize is judged by a distinguished jury of theatrical and literary practitioners, and this year includes theatre critic Mark Shenton, director and founding Artistic Director of the Royal Exchange in Manchester, Braham Murray, and actor and writer Isla Blair. The winner will be announced on 27 February.

The Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting is the biggest national competition for playwriting. It is the search for great new plays and great writers.

The Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting began in 2005. Since then, 11 writers have been awarded a total of £120,000, there have been six full productions and well over 5,000 entries generated. Submissions to the Prize are now being accepted until 5pm on 3 June. Click here for more information about the Prize.

Nick Hern Books has a longstanding relationship with the Bruntwood Prize, and so help you get inspired for your entry we're offering 25% off plus free UK P&P on all previous NHB-published Bruntwood Prize winners, when bought through our website. Just use the code BRUNT13 at checkout.

This offer is valid until 3 June. For full details, including information on the plays included in the offer, click here.

UPDATE - 12:05, 1/2/13: THIS COMPETITION HAS NOW CLOSED. LOOK OUT FOR ANOTHER SILVER TICKET GIVEAWAY SOON.

We’ve been publishing great scripts alongside their production since 1988, and this year is no exception. So to celebrate our anniversary, we’re teaming up with theatres and producers to offer you a chance to win a pair of tickets to some of the shows we’re involved in, plus a free copy of the playscript.

The first Silver Ticket Giveaway show is:

Great Expectations by Charles Dickens, adapted for the stage by Jo Clifford

Thanks to the folks at Beckman Unicorn Productions, we’ve got two tickets to give away to the 15:00 matinee performance at the Vaudeville Theatre, London on Saturday 23 February. 

For more information, including how to enter, click here.

Nick Hern Books reaches a significant milestone in 2013, as the company celebrates its 25^th anniversary. To mark the occasion, we'll be running a series of promotions throughout the year, including a 25% discount on all titles through our website.

NHB came into being in June 1988, when Nick Hern, formerly drama editor at Methuen, set up his own imprint under the aegis of Walker Books. In 1990 the Nick Hern Books imprint was taken on by Random House, before becoming a fully independent company on 1 January 1993 when Nick Hern acquired the list. NHB won the Sunday Times ‘Small Publisher of the Year Award’ the following year.

Over the last 25 years the company has grown to become one of the leading drama publishers in the UK, devoted to publishing the best new plays in English, as well as building an unrivalled list of classic plays and theatre books.  

To celebrate our anniversary, we’re offering 25% off all Nick Hern Books titles on our website. This discount will run for the whole year, and is automatically applied at checkout.

We’ll also be running other special promotions throughout 2013 – sign up to our newsletter, or follow us on Twitter and Facebook, to make sure you don’t miss out. We'll also be keeping track of everything anniversary-related here.