A DOZEN books – whose subjects include a celebration of East Anglia’s coast and the too-short life of a bright young thing from the Cobbold brewing dynasty – are in the running for a local literary honour.

East Anglian Daily Times: WINNER LAST TIME: Jim Kelly won the last New Angle Prize, and is now a judge for the 2013 competitionWINNER LAST TIME: Jim Kelly won the last New Angle Prize, and is now a judge for the 2013 competition (Image: Archant)

The New Angle Prize lauds work with a distinct East Anglian flavour. Judges have announced a 12-strong “longlist” of contenders, which on March 18 will be reduced to a shortlist. The result is announced on September 4.

East Anglian Daily Times: TOUGH DECISIONS: Esther Freud is one of three judges who will decide the winner of the 2013 New Angle PrizeTOUGH DECISIONS: Esther Freud is one of three judges who will decide the winner of the 2013 New Angle Prize (Image: Archant © 2010)

The New Angle Prize is run by The Ipswich Institute, a charity offering educational courses, talks and visits, and a lending library. The winner receives £2,000 and the runner-up £500. There’s also a Reader’s Choice competition organised with the EADT.

The longlist:

n Dog Days, Elspeth Barker: Anthology including criticism and work on East Anglian landscape painting;

n At the Yeoman’s House, Ronald Blythe: A look back at friendships with artists, writers, farmers, gardeners and neighbours;

n James Dodds, Tide Lines, Ian Collins: Study of the shipwright, painter, printmaker and publisher;

n The Voice from the Garden, Jane Dismore: A woman at the centre of a fated union between trade (the Cobbold family) and title (the Hambros);

n Art, Faith and Place in East Anglia, T A Heslop, Elizabeth Mellings & Margit Thofner: how religious artworks have been embedded in communities, belief systems, histories and landscapes;

n 22 Britannia Road, Amanda Hodgkinson: Novel set in post-war Ipswich about a Polish couple reunited after crimes of love and conflict;

n This Luminous Coast, Jules Pretty: Meditation on the changing landscape of our threatened coastline;

n Seldom Seen, Sarah Ridgard: Coming-of-age novel set against the unromantic backdrop of a market town;

n Daughters in Law, Joanna Trollope: A woman struggling to let go after dedicating her life to raising children in their scruffy Suffolk home;

n Weirdo, Cathi Unsworth: Seaside noir set in Norfolk in the 1980s and the present, looking at teenage friendship;

n The Last Hunters: The Crab Fishermen of Cromer, Candy Whittome & David Morris: the story of a traditional rural occupation;

n Grace, Esther Morgan: Poetry on loss, loneliness, family and ancestry, and the secrets of hidden lives.

HAVE you read any of these books? Which is your favourite? Email and let us know your thoughts