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2025 Awardees

Find out more about the 2025 awardees below. We'll share more about the writers' journeys into the Archives and publicise any outreach events related to their projects as these start to take shape.

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ALEX MJ SMITH
Alex MJ Smith is a multi-disciplinary storyteller from the West Country who sometimes uses genre and comedy as lenses to explore weighty themes like mental health and invisible illness, and other times writes about goblins hitting each other with sticks. Much of his work is directly inspired by living in Cornwall: its wild landscapes, folklore, history and contemporary challenges.
He has written comedy for various BBC Radio 4 shows, thousands of brands, and the Minack Theatre. He is a graduate of the Channel 4 New Writers Scheme and BBC Writers Cornish Voices. He recently began writing interactive narratives for tabletop roleplaying games.
The Ronald Duncan Stipend will allow him to explore the Special Collections and Archives in search of places, people and curious artifacts to populate a new stage play or tabletop RPG. He looks forward to sharing this project with the community throughout its undoubtedly messy development.
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SAM GODFREY

Sam Godfrey is a multidisciplinary artist, writer and curator currently studying for a PhD in Art History and Visual Culture by Practice at the University of Exeter.

Inspired by Ronald Duncan’s experimental stereophonic play ‘O-B-A-F-G’ and his poetry collaboration ‘The Seasons’ with the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, they are planning to create an audio and spoken word soundscape using field recordings from the Welcombe coast and surrounding areas. Through their poetry and sound composition, they aim to engage with some of the deep time and ecological themes within Duncan’s professional and autobiographical writings.

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SAMA HUSSEIN

Sama has been awarded the 2025 Stipend in partnership with Exeter City of Literature.

Sama Hussein is an Iraqi writer and editor, author of two books with a third translated into English. She is a recipient of the UAE Golden Visa for cultural and artistic talents, and has received multiple honors and awards for her literary and cultural work. Sama is the founder of (Project Dhiid), a youth-led cultural initiative, and has worked as a writer and editor for various local and Arab newspapers. She also serves as Managing Editor of Eilda Magazine for feminist literature.

As part of her ongoing efforts to uncover cultural voices yet to reach the Arab world, Sama will use the Ronald Duncan Stipend to develop (Finding Ronald Duncan) , a project that brings Duncan’s life and work into Arabic. She will creatively reframe his biography through a reflective, interactive narrative shaped by her research in his archives. In addition, she plans to produce a documentary tracing her journey from Baghdad to the University of Exeter, which will be showcased on the interactive platforms of (Project Dhiid), highlighting the importance of making Duncan’s literature and Exeter’s archives accessible to Arab readers and young audiences.