Foundation Mission and Values

Hawthornden Foundation was founded to provide a peaceful setting and supportive environment for creative writers to work without disturbance. Our mission is, foremost, to support exceptional contemporary writers of all kinds – poets, novelists, short-story writers, playwrights, scriptwriters, writers of creative non-fiction and essayists– and give them a refuge from the distractions and duties of daily life to allow them to concentrate fully on their writing. We hope to support writers from around the world, from diverse geographical, racial, ethnic, gender, age and other communities.

More broadly, we aim to support literary arts on an international scale, funding non-profit organizations that serve writers, literary presses and journals, book festivals, literary centers, literary presenters, and literary service organizations. We also recognize and uplift exceptional talent in the annual award of a literary prize – the Hawthornden Prize. One of Britain’s oldest major literary prizes, it was founded in 1919 and is awarded to a British, Irish or British-based writer for a work of “imaginative literature" of any genre, including fiction, poetry, biography, travel, and drama. Previous winners include Siegfried Sassoon, Evelyn Waugh, Graham Greene, Ted Hughes, V. S. Naipaul, Oliver Sacks, Claire Tomalin, Bruce Chatwin, Hilary Mantel, Alice Oswald, Graham Swift, Colm Tóibín and Ali Smith.

As Hawthornden Foundation strengthens and builds its programs, committees, staff and board it aspires to foster an inclusive culture welcoming of visible and invisible differences, including but not limited to age; ethnicity; gender; gender identity and expression; nationality; parental status; physical, mental and developmental abilities; race; religion; sexual orientation; skin color; and socioeconomic status. We encourage the full Hawthornden Foundation community to embrace and adopt the ongoing practice of inclusion while advancing literature and supporting writers.

Hawthornden Foundation Residency Code of Conduct

Hawthornden Foundation is committed to creating a residency environment that is creative, respectful, safe and supportive of residents as writers and individuals. We understand and acknowledge that writing and other creative pursuits involve exposure to controversial and challenging ideas and language, but we expect that debate, critique and disagreement will be conducted in good faith and with respect. We are dedicated to providing for writers, staff and guests an environment that is free from discrimination or harassment on the basis of gender, gender identity and expression, age, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, race, ethnicity, economic class, citizenship status, country or region of origin, veteran status, religion (or lack thereof) or other visible or invisible differences. Should these values not be respected by anybody in the Hawthornden Foundation community, we reserve the right to respond with appropriate measures, including, if warranted, dismissal from the residency and ineligibility for any further residency or program.

(Adopted by the Board of Trustees, 31 October 2022)