Macphee wins Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize

Bloodaxe Books poetry title Perfect Blue by Kona Macphee has won the 2010 Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize, with the judges praising its "clariy and depth" as well as its "surprising and sometimes unsettling view of the world".

The prize, worth £1,000, is awarded annually and alternates between celebrating a volume of verse and a volume of prose fiction. Perfect Blue is Macphee's second book of poems, and includes verse on memories of childhood and snapshots of everyday life, as well as flights of fantasy.

The judging panel comprised Kate Kellaway, Bernard O'Donoghue and Stephen Romer, with the panel saying: "[Macphee's] compassion, seriousness and technical accomplishment were all evident over a wide range of subjects and forms. She can also describe moments of vulnerability directly and with courage.

"It was a book that we found ourselves returning to. What impressed us most of all was the way that Macphee's work combined clarity and depth with a surprising and sometimes unsettling view of the world."