Laurel Prize for nature poetry longlist revealed

The longlist for the £5,000 Laurel Prize has been announced featuring collections published by a string of indie presses.

Run by the Poetry School, the prize is funded by Poet Laureate Simon Armitage using his £5,000 honorarium from the Queen. It is awarded annually for the best published collection of environmental or nature poetry. This year’s longlist was judged by Armitage alongside chair Glyn Maxwell, Elena Karina Byrne and Tishani Doshi. 

The prize awards £5,000 to a winner, £2,000 for second prize and £1,000 for third. There is also £500 for Best First Collection.

In addition, each of the winners will receive a commission from the Areas of Outstanding Beauty to create a poem based in their favourite landscape.  

The winners’ ceremony will take place at the Birmingham Hippodrome on 9th September as part of the Contains Strong Language Festival.  

The longlisted collections are:  

Polly Atkin, Much with Body (Seren Books)  

Emily Berry, Unexhausted Time (Faber & Faber) 

Jemma Borg, Wilder (Pavilion Books)  

Steve Ely, The European Eel (Longbarrow Press)  

Forrest Gander, Your Nearness (Arc Publications)  

Linda France, The Knucklebone Floor (Smokestack Books)  

Helen Hajnoczky, Frost and Pollen (Invisible Publishing)  

Rebecca Hawkes, Meat Lovers (Auckland University Press)  

Sylvia Legris, Garden Physic (Granta)  

Alice Miller, What Fire (Pavilion Poetry)  

Cynthia Miller, Honorifics (Nine Arches Press)  

Caleb Parkin, This Fruiting Body (Nine Arches Press)  

Sumana Roy, V.I.P (Shearsman Books)  

Penelope Shuttle, Lyonesse (Bloodaxe Books)  

Stephanie Sy-Quia, Amnion (Granta)  

Mark Totterdell, Mollusc (The High Window Press)  

Katharine Towers, Oak (Picador)  

Jack Underwood, A Year in the New Life (Faber & Faber)  

Sarah Watkinson, Photovoltaic (Graft Poetry)  

Sarah Westcott, Bloom (Pavilion Poetry)