The winner of the Dame Ivy Compton-Burnett Scholarship 2025
- anewton2
- Jul 29
- 2 min read
The Estate of Dame Ivy Compton-Burnett is delighted to announce that the winner of the scholarship is Dr Helen Charman.
Dr Charman is a Fellow of Clare College, Cambridge. Her first book Mother State was published by Penguin/Allen Lane in 2024 and attracted considerable media and academic interest. She is an experienced Chair of literary events and panel discussions.
Dr Charman will be working on the theme of governesses in Dame Ivy’s novels and will produce both an essay and a series of podcasts.
The scholarship was advertised in March this year and attracted a significant number of high quality proposals. The scholarship is intended to support research into Dame Ivy’s life and work and to increase awareness of the brilliance of her writing. Dr Charman will do some of her research during a month’s stay at the magnificent Palazzo Butera in Palermo, Sicily (www.palazzobutera.it) and then will present her research at a special event at the Palazzo on 27th June 2026.
The selection panel for applicants included the following; the director, writer, actress Maria Aitken, the novelist Philip Hensher, Dr Mark Wormald, Fellow in English, Pembroke College, Cambridge, Dr Claudio Gulli, Director of Studies at the Palazzo Butera and Richard Compton-Burnett from the Ivy Compton-Burnett Estate.
The Estate will be working with at least one other applicant over the next year to secure the production of other podcasts and research on Dame Ivy’s legacy.
The podcasts and the essay by Dr Charman will be published on the Dame Ivy website (www.ivycompton-burnett.com ) after the presentation at the Palazzo Butera in Palermo, Sicily at the end of June 2026.