Moth Poetry Prize reveals all-female shortlist

Four female poets - Natalya Anderson, Audrey Molloy, Cheryl Moskowitz and Teresa Ott - are in the running for this year’s €10,000 (£8,914) Moth Poetry Prize.

The award is run by The Moth, an art and literature magazine based in Ireland, and is given to a single, unpublished poem. Anderson is on the list for a poem called “A Gun in the House”, whilst Molloy is shortlisted for “Fortune Reshuffled, Reshuffled”. Moskowitz is in the running for “Shirtless” and Ott is shortlisted for “In what way are forests black or white. We saw them blue. With forget me nots”.

The prize is judged by one single poet and this year’s judge was Daljit Nagra, who recently published a collection of poetry called British Museum with Faber.

“This was a hugely entertaining prize to judge because there were so many deeply serious poems, both in terms of poetic craft, but also in terms of global politics,” he said. “My winners include poems about gender identity, corrupt authority and the treatment of women – but also the role of poetry in shaping the imagination, and the joy of writing poetry.”

The winner will be given the €10,000 prize at a ceremony in Dublin in April. The three runners-up will receive €1,000 (£891).