Two for Cape on Laurel Prize shortlist

The four-strong shortlist for this year's Laurel Prize for nature and eco-poetry has been announced, with two nominations for Jonathan Cape titles.

Run by the Poetry School, the annual award is funded by Simon Armitage’s Laureate’s honorarium, which he receives annually from the Queen. It is awarded to the best collection of environmental or nature poetry published each year.

Cape bagged two of the four shortlist places with Seán Hewitt's Tongues of Fire and Sean Borodale's Inmates. Joining them on the list are Ash Davida Jane with How to Live with Mammals (Victoria University Press) and Will Burns for Country Music (Offord Road Books).

Armitage called it “a worldwide and world-class selection of books reflecting poetry’s global response to the planet’s precarious environmental situation.”

The prize awards £5,000 for a winner, with £2,000 and £1,000 for second and third place. This year's judging panel was chaired by Maura Dooley who was joined by poets Imtiaz Dharker and James Thornton.

Partner award, the Gingko Prize for Ecopoetry, is open for submissions until 21st December 2021. It is an international prize for the best single eco-poetry work written in the English language.

A prize ceremony and day of poetry readings and workshops, curated and funded by the Laurel and Ginkgo Prizes, will be held at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park on 8th October 2021.