Novels, short stories, poetry, biography… all powerful and all in the running for the 2017 New Angle Prize, which celebrates and rewards literature associated with or influenced by East Anglia.

The £2,500 competition – organised by the Ipswich Institute and sponsored by Gotelee Solicitors and Scrutton Bland accountants – is an important feature of the local literary calendar.

Authors of the shortlisted books (announced on March 13) will be asked to attend a book-reading event at the Ipswich Institute on Wednesday, July 5.

Prize-winners will be announced at an awards dinner on Wednesday, September 6.

Details can be found on the New Angle prize website – www.ipswichinstitute.org.uk/NAP.html – and progress can be followed on Twitter @PrizeNewAngle

The 2017 New Angle Prize Judges’ Longlist

Francesca Armour-Chelu, Fenn Halflin and The Fearzero (Walker Books, June 2016): “A thought-provoking debut in which the threat from the east coast sea is not all there is to worry about”.

Julia Blackburn, Murmurations of Love, Grief and Starlings (Full Circle Editions, April 2015): “The swirl of starlings in the evening skies become a metaphor and celebration of the human spirit and a life lived to the full”.

Julia Blackburn, Threads, The Delicate Life of John Craske (Jonathan Cape, April 2015): “Beautifully written, beautifully illustrated and beautifully produced – a life of rediscovered genius.”

Jill Dawson, The Crime Writer (Hodder & Stoughton, June 2016): “a destabilising book in which you’re never quite sure what’s real, imagined, or simply the result of madness”.

Daisy Johnson, Fen (Jonathan Cape, June 2016): “the flatlands of East Anglia are a setting for this gripping and refreshing debut collection of short stories”.

Fiona Melrose, Midwinter (Little, Brown, November 2016): “An incredibly-assured debut that explores the emotions of men of the land, which we don’t often see”.

Julie Myerson, The Stopped Heart (Jonathan Cape, February 2016): “an examination of deep loss that is a fine example of the author’s power to produce dark and scary material”.

Sarah Perry, The Essex Serpent (Profile Books, May 2016): “A novel that has the power to surprise, genuinely – set amid the beauty and oppressive nature of the muddy Essex shores”.

Michael Rimmer, The Angel Roofs of East Anglia (Lutterworth Press, August 2015): “a fine work which does a wonderful job explaining what’s on our doorsteps, how it got there, and why”.

Philip Terry, Quennets (Carcanet, July 2016): “sparse by design, this poetry is a strong reminder of the power of words when allied to our imagination, experience and emotions”.

Rosie Thornton, Sandlands (Sanderstone Press, July 2016): “short stories that capture perfectly that the past and present are separated only by a thin screen”.

Elizabeth Wilhide, If I Could Tell You (Fig Tree, February 2016): “a story that forces us to confront the uncomfortable questions we try to hide in the darkest corners of our minds”.

The New Angle Prize Judges for 2017 are

Midge Gillies: Cambridgeshire-based biographer and director of creative-writing at Cambridge Institute of Continuing Education

Kate Worsley: Harwich-based author of prize-winning first novel She Rises

Steven Russell: books editor of the East Anglian Daily Times.