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Three books published by Salt are on the shortlist for the inaugural Seamus Heaney Prize for a First Collection of poetry.
The winner will receive £1,000 when the prize is awarded on Wednesday during the Contemporary British and Irish Poetry Conference at Queen's University, Belfast. Those shortlisted are Anne Berkeley's The Men from Praga (Salt), Sian Hughes' The Missing (Salt), Lorraine Mariner's Furniture (Picador), Tom Mathews' The Owl and the Pussycat (Dedalus) and Andrew Philip's The Ambulance Box (Salt).
Poet Michael Longley, who chairs the judging panel comprising poets Ciaran Carson and Sinead Morrissey, said: "The entries were a good cross section of Irish and British poetry. They were serious and introspective, formerly alert and interested in shape and form. This is a great morale boost for the winner."
Heaney said: "Positive responses to a first collection are important in a poet’s publishing history. It is an honour to have my name associated with the prize and the outstanding work being done by the Poetry Centre which sponsors it."