A donation page has been set up to create a writing prize to honour Manchester-based writer, blogger and critic Dave Murray, aka Quiet Man Dave, who died earlier this year at the age of 53.
Dave Murray graduated in engineering from Cambridge then retrained as an accountant with University of Warwick. Originally from Aberdeen (he announced his intention of returning to Scotland in his final blog post), for the latter few years of his life he had lived in and around Manchester, becoming involved in theatre and writing through local amateur dramatic societies and writing groups, as a writer of flash fiction, at open mike poetry sessions, as a panellist for the Manchester Theatre Awards and through his popular blog posts. He was a regular visitor to all Greater Manchester theatres but was especially supportive of fringe theatre and new writing.
The Quiet Man Dave Prize for new writing is being established by Dave's family and friends in collaboration with Manchester Metropolitan University. At the time of publication of this article, donations had already exceeded £9,500. For more details, see the campaign page on JustGiving.