York English student wins prize at Yorkshire Asian Young Achiever Awards

MA Global Literature and Culture student Sonia Hunjan, 24, was nominated for the ‘YAYAs Overcoming Life Obstacles’ award category.

The category looked for candidates who ‘have overcome, or are overcoming, ... factors, such as health issues, mental or physical disabilities, drug or alcohol addiction … building lives for themselves in the face of them.’

Sonia’s award was presented by Professor Udy Archibong in front of a live audience of over 300 guests at the Cedar Court Hotel in Bradford on Thursday 4 November.

Of Indian Sikh heritage but born and brought up in Leeds, Sonia became her single parent’s primary carer, learning to cook and maintain the house. A recipient of free school meals at Allerton Grange High School in Leeds, she had a hand in managing the family budget from a young age. She developed disordered eating patterns in her teens, which peaked during her undergraduate studies of English Literature at Leeds Beckett University. She was nonetheless awarded a very high 2.1 for her degree.

Sonia arrived at the Department of English & Related Literature at the University of York in September 2018 to study part-time for the MA in Global Literature and Culture. All the while, Sonia was supporting herself financially with work in retail and social care. In 2019, she gained an NVQ Level 2 in Social Care, alongside studying for her MA. 

During her master’s, Sonia was diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa, a degenerative eye condition, which has led to her being certified as severely sight impaired (legally blind).  Retinitis pigmentosa is a rare genetic disorder that affects night and peripheral vision, which is currently incurable. Although this came as a shock, it also explained Sonia’s increasing difficulties getting around York’s dark rural campus at night time. 

Despite this life-changing news and the challenges posed by the pandemic, Sonia was recently awarded the highest grade of Distinction for her MA in Global Literature and Culture. She gained a truly splendid 82% for her 15,000-word dissertation on South Asian women’s life writing about food. Sonia has overcome very significant disadvantages to get this far, and her achievements are a testament to her courage, spirit and determination, against remarkable odds. 

She is also a very accomplished creative writer. Three of her poems have recently been shortlisted in a writing competition by Hive Young Writers. Her poem ‘Scott Hall Pool’ was highly commended and published by the East Riding Festival of Words in 2021.

Sonia told us: ‘Creative writing became a wonderful way to both process sight loss and distract from it. Receiving the YAYA award feels like a huge compliment. Growing up I found it really hard to admit that I was a carer. When I was a little older and found out about my eyesight condition I decided to speak up and reach out to people I trusted for support. I hope my openness shows other young South Asians that they are deserving of help when they need it. I may not know what everyday is going to look like, but through my writing I can envisage a brighter future.’

Professor Claire Chambers, Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts from the Department of English (and Sonia’s supervisor), said: ‘Sonia is an inspiration to us all. From the moment she started the MA and especially after she received her diagnosis, I was struck by the quality of Sonia’s preparations for, and input into, our challenging seminars at York. She has a great deal of emotional intelligence in the way in which she interacts with other students and with colleagues. Sonia also writes expressively and elegantly. And her work is being underpinned by penetrating research and a lively imagination. Although she experienced several daunting setbacks during her master’s, she reacted to these with resilience and sensitivity. All of the academics who have taught her have been impressed by Sonia’s warmth and thoughtfulness. She is a creative writer of major talent, and will be a poet and novelist to watch for the future.’

Sonia hopes to return to the Department and continue contributing to its Equality and Diversity goals while pursuing a PhD in English with Creative Writing. 

The YAYAs were launched in an online format in 2020, because of the pandemic. These awards celebrate young people aged 16-30 of South Asian heritage who are from or live and work in Yorkshire. The awards are run by QED Foundation, a social enterprise that seeks to improve the social and economic circumstances of disadvantaged communities in the UK and in Europe.