Welcome to UK Poetry - September 2010
The UK’s edition of Poetry International Web this autumn brings together a selection of judges from our awards past and present: the National Poetry Competition and the Foyle Young Poet of the Year Award – both run by the Poetry Society.
Following on from the UK’s previous edition, which looked at poetry off the page, we feature Jane Draycott, a poet who has worked extensively in poetry and sound-art for radio. Follow the links on her profile page to hear her recordings and her prize-winning sound collages. Shortlisted numerous times for both the Forward Prize and the TS Eliot Prize, this year she is the judge of the Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award, along with poet Luke Kennard.
Daljit Nagra was a judge for the National Poetry Competition in 2009. Renowned for his exuberant ‘Punglish’ verse – a mixture of his parents’ native Punjabi and idiomatic English — his first collection, Look We Have Coming to Dover! sent an electric shock through the British poetry world with Nagra’s vibrant representations of young British-Asian voices.
And finally, Deryn Rees-Jones takes over from Daljit Nagra as one of the 2010 judges of the National Poetry Competition. Rees-Jones is well-known in the UK for both her poetry and her criticism – her Modern Women Poets has become a seminal text in criticism on contemporary verse written by women. Her poetry has also earned her widespread acclaim, with the publication of her first Liverpool-based narrative poem, Quiver, followed by a pamphlet published by Shoestring Press, Falls and Finds.
The Foyle Young Poet of the Year Competition has now closed for entries; but the National Poetry Competition is open until 31 October and international entrants are welcome. Poems can be entered online via the Poetry Society website.
