News

Burnside wins T S Eliot Prize

17.01.12 | Benedicte Page

John Burnside's Black Cat Bone (Jonathan Cape) has won the 2011 T S Eliot Prize for Poetry, worth £15,000.

Chair of the judges Gillian Clarke said: "Amongst an unprecedentedly strong and unusually well-received shortlist, John Burnside's Black Cat Bone is a haunting book of great beauty, powered by love, childhood memory, human longing and loneliness." The judges felt it was an "outstanding" collection which "grew with every reading", she added.

Siôn Hamilton, manager of Foyles Charing Cross Road, described the title as "an elegant collection of poems that greatly reward[s] re-reading".

Burnside beat shortlisted poets Carol Ann Duffy, Leontia Flynn, David Harsent, Esther Morgan, Daljit Nagra, Sean O'Brien and Bernard O'Donoghue to take this year's prize.

However Alice Oswald and John Kinsella withdrew from the shortlist in December, citing ethical concerns with the award's new sponsor Aurum Funds.

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By Adele Ward

I'm in the middle of Alice Oswald's book, which she withdrew from the prize. I'm reading it on Kindle and it's interesting to see how they have dealt with the conversion. Poetry isn't easy to convert, and Oswald's lines can be quite long for a screen in this poem. I turn the Kindle round to landscape rather than portrait, which helps, and is something a poetry editor can't normally do in a printed book with standard page sizes. I like the way they make lines indent slightly when they run over too, if I increase the font size.

I wasn't going to buy poetry for Kindle, although I buy all my novels that way, but will continue with ebooks now. Next on the list is Carol Ann Duffy's collection, and I've heard some very strong poems by John Kinsella from his (also withdrawn) book.

Tue, 17/01/2012 - 14:46
By Anonymouse

Adele Ward - sorry, but what relevance does this have to the T S Eliot Prize winner? Don't you have a blog or somewhere else you can post your rather boring opinions? Not sure this is the place to be discussing ebook conversions, perhaps you posted on the wrong article?

I thought Black Cat Bone was a worthy winner.

Tue, 17/01/2012 - 15:35
By Adele Ward

Sorry - somebody told me off about being boring on the subject of editing. I can get a bit enthusiastic about poetry editing and apologise.

Tue, 17/01/2012 - 16:30
By Anonymouse

Enthusiasm is a great thing, but to continually use this space to plug your own agenda regardless of what's being discussed above and below the line can get quite tiresome I'm afraid. I'm sure I'll get censored just like the last person.

Tue, 17/01/2012 - 17:00
By Stargell Says

The message appears to have been harshly moderated, but I think the complaint was more about the utter irrelevance of your post to the subject of the article. As an editor, I am sure you must appreciate the importance of context - and, indeed, the value of the unsaid.

Black Cat Bone is a fantastic collection - dizzy with the glorious, teetering impossibility of love. Hats off to John Burnside for a well-deserved win.

Tue, 17/01/2012 - 17:27
By Adele Ward

Ah well. I tried to remove my own comments by flagging them as unsuitable seeing as you dislike them so much but they won't go.

Tue, 17/01/2012 - 17:27
By Adele Ward

Yes, Stargell, I'm sorry. I popped over and thought out loud on the message. I have tried to flag it as unsuitable as it caused such annoyance but it came back. Apologies again. It was a ramble and not part of an agenda.

Tue, 17/01/2012 - 17:30
By Adele Ward

I'm in the middle of Alice Oswald's book, which she withdrew from the prize. I'm reading it on Kindle and it's interesting to see how they have dealt with the conversion. Poetry isn't easy to convert, and Oswald's lines can be quite long for a screen in this poem. I turn the Kindle round to landscape rather than portrait, which helps, and is something a poetry editor can't normally do in a printed book with standard page sizes. I like the way they make lines indent slightly when they run over too, if I increase the font size.

I wasn't going to buy poetry for Kindle, although I buy all my novels that way, but will continue with ebooks now. Next on the list is Carol Ann Duffy's collection, and I've heard some very strong poems by John Kinsella from his (also withdrawn) book.

Tue, 17/01/2012 - 14:46
By Anonymouse

Adele Ward - sorry, but what relevance does this have to the T S Eliot Prize winner? Don't you have a blog or somewhere else you can post your rather boring opinions? Not sure this is the place to be discussing ebook conversions, perhaps you posted on the wrong article?

I thought Black Cat Bone was a worthy winner.

Tue, 17/01/2012 - 15:35
By Adele Ward

Sorry - somebody told me off about being boring on the subject of editing. I can get a bit enthusiastic about poetry editing and apologise.

Tue, 17/01/2012 - 16:30
By Anonymouse

Enthusiasm is a great thing, but to continually use this space to plug your own agenda regardless of what's being discussed above and below the line can get quite tiresome I'm afraid. I'm sure I'll get censored just like the last person.

Tue, 17/01/2012 - 17:00
By Stargell Says

The message appears to have been harshly moderated, but I think the complaint was more about the utter irrelevance of your post to the subject of the article. As an editor, I am sure you must appreciate the importance of context - and, indeed, the value of the unsaid.

Black Cat Bone is a fantastic collection - dizzy with the glorious, teetering impossibility of love. Hats off to John Burnside for a well-deserved win.

Tue, 17/01/2012 - 17:27
By Adele Ward

Ah well. I tried to remove my own comments by flagging them as unsuitable seeing as you dislike them so much but they won't go.

Tue, 17/01/2012 - 17:27
By Adele Ward

Yes, Stargell, I'm sorry. I popped over and thought out loud on the message. I have tried to flag it as unsuitable as it caused such annoyance but it came back. Apologies again. It was a ramble and not part of an agenda.

Tue, 17/01/2012 - 17:30

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