Spread the Word is pleased to announce the three writers commissioned to create new work as part of our 30th Anniversary LGBTQI+ writer commissions project.
Aislinn Evans, Conan Tan and Finn Brown have been selected by judges Remi Graves and Liam Konemann to develop a short, original piece of work across fiction, creative non-fiction and poetry.
Judge Liam Konemann said: “I was honoured to be a judge for Spread the Word’s 30th Anniversary LGBTQIA+ Emerging Writer commissions. At a time when the very concept of celebrating diversity is under attack, and against a cost of living crisis that further disenfranchises marginalised artists, the value of these paid commissions is immense. The quality of the works we received was very high, and I am greatly looking forward to seeing the finished pieces from our three talented commissioned writers.”
The commissions aim to showcase original work by London-based LGBTQI+ writers and provide a developmental and profile-raising opportunity.
Judge Remi Graves said: “It was so great to be a judge for these commissions, and we had a tricky time with shortlisting, which is testament to the quality of work we received! What a privilege to be involved in a project that values, remunerates and supports the work of all kinds of queer writers. These are trying times, but projects like this offer a little light for us all.”
The commission development period will run until January 2026.
About the writers
Aislinn Evans started in poetry, had a love affair with comics, a rather dramatic divorce with both, and now is something of an essayist. Her work concerns intimate and personal explorations of the built environment, a queer phenomenology of place, class struggle, and the failure of memory. Her practise can be defined as somewhat restless, formally ambiguous, and a tad confrontational. She makes videos and stuff too.
On the LGBTQI+ Emerging Writer Commissions, Aislinn said: “It’s an honour to receive this commission, which will give me the time and space to build my writing practice into something deliberate, considered and integrated into a wider world of creative nonfiction.”
Conan Tan is a queer poet. He is the winner of the 2024 Martin Starkie Prize, Singapore’s 2022 National Poetry Competition, and a finalist in the 2024 Oxford Poetry Prize and the 2025 Frontier Poetry Hurt and Healing Prize. He has received support from various organizations including Sing Lit Station, Poetry Translation Centre UK, the Transylvania County Library Foundation, and the Barbican Centre as a 2025 Barbican Young Poet. His poems appear in Oxford Poetry, Cincinnati Review, Rattle, Passages North, Salt Hill, Verse Daily, and elsewhere.
Conan commented: “I’m really honoured to be selected for this commission. A large part of my writing centres on the intersectional politics of queerness and race, and how queerness itself, like water, is fluid yet intrinsic to my identity. I’m excited to receive professional support to expand on these ideas in my writing.”
Finn Brown’s writing lives in publications including Queer Life, Queer Love 2 (Muswell Press), The Raven Review, Booth Journal, Annie Journal, Meniscus Journal, The Bombay Review, The Bittersweet Review and Snowflake Magazine. Their writing has also been shortlisted for the Creative Future 2024 Writers’ Award and commended for the Moth Short Story Prize 2025. They are an editor, curator and designer at queer and trans-led press t’ART.
Finn said: “I feel incredibly honoured to have received a commission to write a short story from Spread the Word. This is such a brilliant opportunity not just to write, but to develop as a writer under mentorship. I can’t wait to make the most of every bit of it. Thank you for supporting queer writers and for offering us the space to grow.”