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Forward Poetry Prizes 2020

The Forward Prizes for Poetry are the most coveted awards for poetry published in Britain and Ireland: they have played a key role in bringing contemporary poetry to the attention of the wider public for a quarter of a century. Created in 1991 by William Sieghart, the Forward Arts Foundation awards three different prizes annually: best collection, best debut collection and best single poem (published by a writer whose work has not yet been collected). We review titles shortlisted for best collection and best debut collection here. The 26th annual Forward Prizes will be awarded 25th October 2020. For more information on the Forward Foundation and its Prizes visit: https://www.forwardartsfoundation.org/forward-prizes-for-poetry/
Featured image of Tiger Girl (SHORTLISTED, 2020 FORWARD PRIZE FOR BEST COLLECTION)

Tiger Girl (SHORTLISTED, 2020 FORWARD PRIZE FOR BEST COLLECTION)

Tiger Girl is Pascale Petit’s eighth collection. Her previous works include Mama Amazonica which has won, among others, the Ondaatje Prize. This is a rare win for a woman, and for a poet too since the prize is usually awarded to travel writers. But when it comes to Petit’s work, this honour makes sense. Reading Read More

Featured image of Magnolia, 木蘭 (SHORTLISTED, 2020 FORWARD PRIZE FOR BEST FIRST COLLECTION)

Magnolia, 木蘭 (SHORTLISTED, 2020 FORWARD PRIZE FOR BEST FIRST COLLECTION)

Nina Mingya Powles’ invigorating first full poetry collection is not called just Magnolia. The Chinese characters 木蘭 that complete the title – transliterated as ‘mulan’ – are an important clue as to the nature of her work, suffused as it is with layers of meaning across different languages. Born in 1993, in New Zealand, of Read More

Featured image of Citadel (SHORTLISTED, 2020 FORWARD PRIZE FOR BEST FIRST COLLECTION)

Citadel (SHORTLISTED, 2020 FORWARD PRIZE FOR BEST FIRST COLLECTION)

Citadel is Martha Sprackland’s first full collection, following two previous pamphlets (Glass as Broken Glass in 2017 and Milk Tooth in 2018) and a raft of poetry editing credentials. The slim volume carries fifty poems and has a density to the reading. This stems from the complex premise packed into the work: a historical reimagining Read More

Featured image of Fury (SHORTLISTED, 2020 FORWARD PRIZE FOR BEST COLLECTION)

Fury (SHORTLISTED, 2020 FORWARD PRIZE FOR BEST COLLECTION)

In this latest collection of poems, David Morley, prize-winning poet and Professor of Creative Writing at Warwick University, puts his versatile lyrical toolkit on display. Sustaining his interest in the Romany gypsy community, its mythology and folklore—subjects of his previous Poetry Book Society Recommendation and Choice books, The Invisible Kings and The Gypsy and the Read More

Featured image of The Air Year (WINNER, 2020 FORWARD PRIZE FOR BEST COLLECTION)

The Air Year (WINNER, 2020 FORWARD PRIZE FOR BEST COLLECTION)

The Air Year is Caroline Bird’s sixth collection with Carcanet. Her most recent and highly successful, In These Days of Prohibition, was shortlisted for the 2017 T.S. Eliot Prize and the Ted Hughes Award. Bird, who published her first collection at the age of 15, displays an astonishing talent and a unique ‘voice’, and is Read More

Featured image of Shine, Darling (TE ELIOT PRIZE 2020, FORWARD PRIZE FOR BEST FIRST COLLECTION 2020, SHORTLISTED)

Shine, Darling (TE ELIOT PRIZE 2020, FORWARD PRIZE FOR BEST FIRST COLLECTION 2020, SHORTLISTED)

One may be surprised to discover that Shine, Darling is Ella Frears’ debut poetry collection. Frears presents an unapologetic front through her straightforward style, favouring lyric poetry as her medium. There is a raw intimacy to perform these experiences, whether it be a near-abduction, a suicide when she was in college, or having sex on Read More

Featured image of Rendang (TS ELIOT prize 2020, Shortlisted; WINNER, 2020 FORWARD PRIZE FOR BEST FIRST COLLECTION)

Rendang (TS ELIOT prize 2020, Shortlisted; WINNER, 2020 FORWARD PRIZE FOR BEST FIRST COLLECTION)

Sitting outside in a motorway cafe on a cool August evening after the mizzling rain, Kirsty Gunn and I talked intensely (as we do) about a novel we had difficulties with. Many of our exchanges were underpinned by the question: how does form and genre enable writing to tackle its subject matter successfully? Will Harris’ Read More

Featured image of Postcolonial Love Poem (TS ELIOT PRIZE 2020, FORWARD PRIZE FOR BEST COLLECTION 2020, SHORTLISTED)

Postcolonial Love Poem (TS ELIOT PRIZE 2020, FORWARD PRIZE FOR BEST COLLECTION 2020, SHORTLISTED)

  Amongst other dedications in Postcolonial Love Poem, Natalie Diaz singles out bodies—’towards our many bodies of flesh, language, land and water.’ Bodies are critical because they are primary symbols of the self and constants in our equations with others; whether it is love or war – these bodies form tribute and legacies, weapons and Read More

Featured image of My Darling from the Lions (Shortlisted, 2020 Forward Prize for Best First Collection)

My Darling from the Lions (Shortlisted, 2020 Forward Prize for Best First Collection)

The way we are forced to work around the pandemic unfortunately applies to the launching of poetry publications also; as Rachel Long’s My Darling from the Lions was published at the start of August, chances for public appearances, speaking and promoting her work are all but whipped away. The publication must speak for itself. Long Read More

Featured image of I Want! I Want! (Shortlisted, 2020 Forward Poetry Prize for Best Collection)

I Want! I Want! (Shortlisted, 2020 Forward Poetry Prize for Best Collection)

Like elderly actresses, performing until they drop, one boasts an errant streak […] (‘These roses you gave me’) Perhaps it’s unsurprising that these lines come from a poem with the central metaphor of flowers. Vicki Feaver, more than almost anyone, has seized that subject, daring to write it – as a woman – not in Read More

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