Two Bridport Prize winners will be writers in residence at Dorset Museum, taking inspiration from the venue and county to influence their writing.

Grace Peters-Clarke and Stephenjohn Holgate from Birmingham recently arrived in Dorchester for a visit ahead of their residencies in April and June as winners of the inaugural Bridport Prize Black Writer Residencies, championed by best-selling author of My Name is Leon, Kit de Waal.

Kit de Waal is the residencies' mentor, a former twice winner of the Bridport Prize international writing competition, who later became one of its judges.

The Bridport Prize is committed to giving under represented writers a voice. This residency was to discover new writers of African or African Caribbean heritage over 18 who lived, worked or studied in Birmingham and The Black Country, where residency mentor Kit de Waal grew up.

He said: "I'm delighted to be part of the Black Writer Residency. Too often we are thought of as only urban writers, concerned with inner cities and housing estates but here is the chance for two unpublished writers to experience Hardy country and enjoy writing in a rural environment. It's a wonderful opportunity."

Kit de Waal's novel, My Name is Leon, was shortlisted for the Costa Book Award and is coming soon to BBC One in an adaptation with Sir Lenny Henry OBE, Christopher Eccleston, Shobna Gulati and Cole Martin.

Lord Paul Boateng, who became the UK's first black cabinet minister in May 2002, sent his congratulations to the winners and called the residency "a great idea".

As well as Dorset Museum, there will also be insight and input from publisher Tinder Press and Create Central, an industry body working with some of the most creative thinkers.

Grace and Stephenjohn were able to explore their residency base - where they will be from April 25 to 29 and June 20 to 24, respectively - with Dorset Museum's interim director Elizabeth Selby also giving them the opportunity to explore behind the scenes in the new Collections Discovery Centre, where a large proportion of the museum's treasure trove of four million objects are stored.

Elizabeth Selby said: "We're thrilled that Grace and Stephenjohn will be joining us as writers in residence this April and June. We're excited to see how the two writers will take inspiration from the museum, our collections and the wider experience of spending a week in Dorset. We can't wait to see how this experience shapes their writing during and after their visit."

The pair will be staying at The King's Arms while in Dorse, a favourite of Thomas Hardy and The Beatles.

Grace Peters-Clarke grew up in the Dorsethills in the Caribbean and now lives in Birmingham where she teaches English in a secondary school.

"It was fascinating to experience a museum through the lens of those who work behind the scenes," she said about her day at Dorset Museum, "and to see first hand the vast collection of artefacts that are painstakingly archived. I was inspired by Hardy's Dorset gallery and the Elisabeth Frink collection, that writing is often bred by landscapes, artefacts, the cultures of the spaces in which it is created."

Stephenjohn Holgate is a lecturer from the West Midlands. He was born in Jamacia and says of the Dorset residency: "The coast was always an important part of my life as a child. It is one of the things I miss the most. I want to explore the Jurassic coast and see what ideas that geography would inspire.

"It was exciting to go backstage at the museum to see what was not on display, the drawers of beautiful birds were fascinating. The thought of just going to the museum meant I managed to scrabble out a short story. It was inspiring."