The Bookseller.com

2nd December 2008

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Forward Prize in 'exciting' year

01.08.08 Anna Richardson

Jane Griffiths’ Another Country (Bloodaxe), Mick Imlah’s The Lost Leader (Faber) and Catherine Smith’s Lip (Smith/Doorstop Books) all feature on the best collection shortlist for this year’s Forward Prizes for Poetry.

They join Sujata Bhatt’s Pure Lizard (Carcanet), Jen Hadfield’s Nigh-No-Place (Bloodaxe) and Jamie McKendrick’s Crocodiles & Obelisks (Faber) in the running for the £10,000 category, while the best first collection and single poem categories also feature up-and-coming poets as well as established names such as Seamus Heaney and Don Paterson.

William Sieghart, chairman of the Forward Arts Foundation, said: “[This is] an exciting year for poetry stars of the future and respected poets who deserve a larger share of the limelight. The Forward Prizes champion new voices and it’s thrilling to see a huge presence of specialist presses.”
The winners will be announced on 8th October, the eve of National Poetry Day.

SHORTLISTS IN FULL:

Best Collection

Sujata Bhatt’s Pure Lizard (Carcanet)
Jane Griffiths’s Another Country (Bloodaxe)
Jen Hadfield’s Nigh-No-Place (Bloodaxe)
Mick Imlah’s The Lost Leader (Faber)
Jamie McKendrick’s Crocodiles & Obelisks (Faber)
Catherine Smith’s Lip (Smith/Doorstop Books)

Best First Collection

Simon Barraclough’s Los Alamos Mon Amour (Salt)
Andrew Forster’s Fear of Thunder (Flambard Press)
Frances Leviston’s Public Dream (Picador)
Allison McVety’s The Night Trotsky Came to Stay (Smith/Doorstop Books)
Stephanie Norgate’s Hidden River (Bloodaxe)
Kathryn Simmonds’s Sunday at the Skin Launderette (Seren)

Best Single Poem

Christopher Buehlman’s “Wanton”
Seamus Heaney’s “Cutaways”
Catherine Ormell’s “Campaign Desk, December 1812”
Don Paterson’s “Love Poem for Natalie ‘Tusja’ Beridze
Kate Rhodes’s “Wells-next-the-Sea”
Tim Turnbull’s “Ode on a Grayson Perry Urn”

Anna Richardson poetry Prize Forward Prizes