Morrissey to chair T S Eliot prize judging panel

Sinead Morrissey is to chair the judging panel for the 2018 T S Eliot Prize.

Poets Daljit Nagra and Clare Pollard will join Morrissey on the panel, which will be looking for the best new poetry collection written in English and published in the calendar year.

Morrissey said: "It's a great honour to act as chair this year to the T S Eliot Prize, a prize which has meant a great deal to me personally over the course of my writing career. I look forward to working with my fellow judges and to immersing myself in the dynamic and flourishing world of poetry being written in the UK and Ireland today."

The call for submissions will go out in June, with the submission window closing in early August.

The 2018 T S Eliot Prize Shortlist Readings will take place on Sunday 13th January 2019 at Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall. The winner of the 2018 Prize will be announced at the Award Ceremony on Monday 14th January 2019.

The T S Eliot Prize is the richest prize in British poetry - the winning poet will receive a cheque for £25,000 and the shortlisted poets will be presented with cheques for £1,500.

Last year’s winner was Ocean Vuong’s Night Sky with Exit Wounds, who has just secured high-profile deals for his debut novel On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous which was bought by Jonathan Cape in the UK and Penguin Press in the US.