Bhutto to chair judges for 2022 Forward Prize

Writer and columnist Fatima Bhutto is to chair the judging panel for the 2022 Forward Prize for Poetry.

The awards comprise the Forward Prize for Best Collection (£10,000), the Felix Dennis Prize for Best First Collection (£5,000) and the Forward Prize for Best Single Poem (£1,000)

Bhutto is joined by poets Stephen Sexton, Rishi Dastidar, Alice Hiller, and Nadine Aisha Jassat on the panel. Bhutto, who has authored books including The Runaways (Viking) and The New Kings of the World (Columbia Global Reports), said: "Poetry is the art of the people and the times we live in. It’s an honour to be the chair of judges for the Forward Prize this year and to be spending time in the company of my very talented co-judges as we dedicate our attention to the wider world of contemporary poetry."

Poets including Seamus Heaney, Ted Hughes, Alice Oswald, Vahni Capildeo and Claudia Rankine have been recognised by the prize. Last year, Luke Kennard, Caleb Femi and Nicole Sealey all picked up awards, with Kennard scooping the top prize for Notes on the Sonnets (Penned in the Margins).  

The awards are sponsored by Bookmark, the global content marketing and communications agency, and are run by the Forward Arts Foundation.

The judges’ selection of shortlisted and highly commended poems will be published on Thursday 29th September in the annual Forward Book of Poetry.