THE wife of the Bishop of Worcester has been named among the judges for a prestigious award at the Hay Literary Festival.

A world-renowned author herself, Dr Denise Inge will be one of seven judges for the Michael Ramsey Prize – a theology literature gong carrying a £10,000 award for the winner.

Dr Inge, who is honorary senior research fellow at the University of Worcester and an expert on the 17th-century poet Thomas Traherne, will help choose the winner from six shortlisted authors at the festival in May.

“This is one of the largest prizes for theological writing in the world – the Man Booker of theology,” she said.

“It is a relatively new prize and its increasing profile suggests that theological writing is very much on the modern agenda.

“I am delighted to be chosen as one of this year’s judges and am very much looking forward to reading and discussing the shortlist.”

Rowan Williams, the former Archbishop of Canterbury, launched the prize in 2005 and is chairman of the judging panel. He said: “As in previous years, we have a broad variety of books submitted for the prize, all of them displaying the creative qualities we are looking for.

“Once again, the Michael Ramsey Prize shows that accessible theological writing of high quality is in good supply and I and the other judges look forward greatly to tackling these works and to bringing them to the wider public in the context of the Hay Festival.”

Dr Inge’s second book on Traherne was one of he Spectator’s books of the year.

She holds a PhD in theology from King’s College, London, and has several successful books, as well as academic articles and some journalism behind her.

She has previously appeared at the Hay Literary Festival in her own right.