Bernard wins for the poetry collection
Surge (Penguin Random House/Chatto & Windus), which is about the disastrous party blaze in Southeast Londo9n in 1981 known as the New Cross Fire. Thirteen Black partiers aged 13 to 22 were killed in the event, and a 14th party attendee later committed suicide. The event became a potent and lasting flashpoint in British race relations and official indifference, prompting the protest slogan, “13 Dead, Nothing Said.”
Bernard’s treatment of the subject draws parallels to the 2017 Grenfell Fire incident, in which the blaze at a 24-story apartment building reportedly killed 72 people and injured at least 70.
The writer who prefers the pronouns