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Début collections of poetry account for half of the T S Eliot Prize shortlist this year, in a record-breaking year for submissions.
The shortlist selection includes previous winner Philip Gross and five début collections. British and Irish publishers submitted 201 poetry collections for the prize, which rewards the winner with a cheque for £20,000 and shortlistees with £1,500. The judges are chaired by poet and writer Jean Sprackland, who is joined by Hannah Lowe, winner of the Costa Book of the Year Award for her poetry collection in 2021, and poet and former T S Eliot Prize-winner Roger Robinson.
“What a joy it’s been for the three of us to have such deep immersion in new poetry,” Sprackland said. “There were a record-breaking 201 entries this year; a reminder that far from being silenced by crisis poets rise to meet it through language.The 10 shortlisted books are unflinching in their explorations of love and grief, brutality and desire. They are alive with insects and angels, psychedelic plants and deep-sea fish; and haunted by the ghosts of Caravaggio and Daniel O’Connell.
“The English of these books is supple and shapeshifting, inflected with Yoruba, Newry street dialect, and the rhythms of Caribbean speech. These are books that thrilled, surprised and struck us to the heart.”
Shortlist readings will take place on 15th January 2023 at 7pm in the Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall as part of its literature programme, hosted by Ian McMillan. The winner will be announced at a ceremony the following day.
Last year’s winner was Joelle Taylor for her collection C+nto & Othered Poems (The Westbourne Press).
The shortlist in full:
Quiet by Victoria Adukwei Bulley (Faber & Faber)
Ephemeron by Fiona Benson (Cape Poetry)
Wilder by Jemma Borg (Pavilion Poetry)
The Thirteenth Angel by Philip Gross (Bloodaxe Books)
Sonnets for Albert by Anthony Joseph (Bloomsbury Poetry)
England’s Green by Zaffar Kunial (Faber & Faber)
Slide by Mark Pajak (Cape Poetry)
bandit country by James Conor Patterson (Picador Poetry)
The Room Between Us by Denise Saul (Pavilion Poetry)
Manorism by Yomi Sode (Penguin Poetry)