Theatre News

Jasmine Lee-Jones wins 2019 Alfred Fagon Award

The writer of ”seven methods of killing kylie jenner” scooped the top prize

Jasmine Lee Jones and Roy Alexander Weise
Jasmine Lee Jones and Roy Alexander Weise
(© Richard H Smith)

The winner of the annual 2019 Alfred Fagon Awards have been revealed.

Jasmine Lee-Jones, writer of seven methods of killing kylie jenner, was given a top prize of £6,000 and the award by joint artistic director of the Royal Exchange Roy Alexander Weise at the Dorfman Theatre on Friday 15 November.

The award is given on a yearly basis to the best new play by a black British writer, and honours the memory of boxer, actor, playwright and poet Alfred Fagon, who died in 1986.

Lee-Jones said: "It's truly an honour that the judging panel have given me this award. I've always wanted to write plays and grew up following the Alfred Fagon Award and its recipients, as well as Alfred Fagon's legacy, so to be in a lineage of an award that has honoured the likes of Michaela Coel, Charlene James, Theresa Ikoko, and other artists whose work I truly respect and adore, is awe-inspiring."

Juliet Gilkes Romero was awarded the Roland Rees Bursary of £3000, to allow her to dedicate more time to writing.

The shortlisted shows for the award were:

Comrades, Mugabe, My Dad and Me by Tonderai Munyevu
Foreign by Carmen Harris
Retrograde by Ryan Cameron
seven methods of killing kylie jenner by Jasmine Lee-Jones
Superhoe by Nicôle Lecky
The Dark by Nick Makoha