Steve says, “Anything I’ve achieved has depended entirely on the talents of other people and hopefully this is a recognition, not of an individual, but a way of working, and of all those who have been generous or daft enough to take part. A big thank you to them. It’s also worth saying at the a time when their existence is being questioned by government, that very little of what I’ve done would have been possible without the support of originally the northern arts boards, and now Arts Council England.”

Steve was particularly pleased to be in the same cohort as Core Team member Malika Booker who was elected an RSL Fellow, adding “We know just what a superb writer and friend to writers Malika is, but given the influence of Malika’s Kitchen on British writing and writing further afield, it’s recognition long overdue.”