Ishion Hutchinson and Jason Allen-Paisant are on the shortlist for the T.S. Eliot Prize for Poetry 2023 announced on Tuesday, October 3, 2023.
The T. S. Eliot Prize for Poetry was inaugurated to celebrate the UK Poetry Book Society’s 40th birthday and honour its founding poet in 1993. T.S. Eliot, full name Thomas Stearns Eliot had the poetry collections Prufrock and Other Observations (1917), Ara Vos Prec (London) and Poems: 1920 (New York). The United States born poet, who passed away in 1965, was also an essayist, publisher, playwright, and literary and social critic. It is awarded annually to the author of the best new collection of poetry published in the UK and Ireland. Previous winners include Derek Walcott (2010), John Burnside (2011), Sharon Olds (2012), Sinéad Morrissey (2013), David Harsent (2014) Sarah Howe (2015), Jacob Polley (2016), Ocean Vuong (2017), and Hannah Sullivan (2018). Anthony Joseph won the award last year.
The jury for 2023 comprises Paul Muldoon (Chair), Sasha Dugdale, and Denise Saul. They announced the shortlist for the award with the chair saying, “We are confident that all ten shortlisted titles not only meet the high standards they set themselves but speak most effectively to, and of, their moment. If there’s a single word for that moment it is surely ‘disrupted’, and all these poets properly reflect that disruption. Shot through as they are with images of grief, migration, and conflict, they are nonetheless imbued with energy and joy. The names of some poets will be familiar, others less so; all will find a place in your head and heart.”
The writers of African descent who made the list are;
- Jason Allen-Paisant, Self-Portrait as Othello (Carcanet Press)
- Ishion Hutchinson, School of Instructions (Faber & Faber)
Responses
I am deeply honoured to see “School of Instructions” shortlisted for the 2023 T.S. Eliot Prize. Warm congrats to the other poets on the list. Thanks to everybody at Faber and Faber, especially to my phenomenal editor, Matthew Hollis, for helping me make “School of Instructions” a reality. The collection will be out later this month in the UK and then late November in the US.
Ishion Hutchinson
The winner of the 2023 Prize will be announced at the award ceremony on Monday 15 January 2024, where the winner and the shortlisted poets will be presented with their cheques.
Leave a Reply