Benedetta is in her second year of a part-time MSt in Creative Writing which she balances alongside her full-time career in digital marketing.
We are delighted to celebrate the publication of a prayer book, debut poetry collection by Benedetta Mancusi, a part-time student on the University of Cambridge’s MSt in Creative Writing. The collection has just been released by London-based independent publisher Femmesocial Press.
Her writing is inspired by her homeland, Puglia, and the lineage of eccentric women from whom she descends. She has been shortlisted for the Heroica Poetry Prize 2024, longlisted for the Mslexia Poetry Competition 2021, and received an Honourable Mention in the Dark Poets Prize. Her short story, “Controra”, was shortlisted for the Florence Staniforth Student Fiction Prize 2025. Her poem “Goon” was published in Body Odyssey: A Poetry Anthology by Heroica. While still in school, she won first prize in a national writing contest in 2013 and was a semi-finalist in the Italian literary competition “Premio Campiello Giovani” in 2017. Her writing has appeared in Polyester Zine, CRoB Digital, neun Magazine, Tummy Ache, Offscreen, ASBO Magazine, and others. In 2019, she completed a three-month novel-writing course at Curtis Brown Creative, where she met her current writing group (and favourite beta readers). She is a regular contributor to The Upcoming.
a prayer book is her debut poetry collection and marks a significant milestone in her creative career.
The book is available now from Femmesocial Press.