'Consumed' by Karis Kelly was announced on 10 March as the winning script for The Women’s Prize for Playwriting 2021 in an award ceremony at the Library. The Prize, now in its second year, is produced by Ellie Keel and Paines Plough, with Principal Partner 45North and in association with Sonia Friedman Productions. Kelly has won for her play 'Consumed,' a story of four generations of Northern Irish Women and "a house full of hungry ghosts, with more than one skeleton in the closet." Having written a play about the transgenerational impacts of war, Kelly will be donating a portion of the prize money to those impacted by the war in Ukraine.

On winning the award, Kelly said “I’m absolutely blown away to be the Winner of the 2021 Women’s Prize for Playwriting. In today’s theatre ecology, we really do need programmes that highlight female and female identifying voices. I’m so proud to be a part of its legacy. Like many others in the arts, during the pandemic, I had a complete crisis of faith, and was considering a complete career change! So, to go from that point, to receiving recognition from such an amazing prize and panel of judges is genuinely a dream come true.”

We are pleased to welcome Kelly to the Library with a prize of two years' membership alongside the 7 other finalists of this year's prize who will each receive a year's membership: Alison Carr, Somebody Jones, Isabella Leung, lydia luke, Isley Lynn, Paula B Stanic and Abi Zakarian.