The shortlist for the UK Forward prize was announced yesterday. It’s an interesting list, partly due to the success of Salt, who have collectively more nominations than all the usual big publishing names.
I think of myself as a dedicated reader of poetry, but I’ve only read two of these collections. Firstly, Gift Songs, by John Burnside, a complex examination of meaning and place in a secular reality. It's an ambitious collection, and the writing is terrific in places, but it's not my favourite Burnside book (The Good Neighbour is my favourite). I got bored at times, although that might be more my fault than Burnside's. Secondly, there's The Harbour Beyond the Movie by Luke Kennard, which blends wit and surrealism to emerge as a vastly entertaining and uncategorisable read. You can read Luke’s reaction to the news at his MySpace site, and decide whether you want to kill him or not. I think I’d rather just read his book again.
Best collection prize (£10,000)
Domestic Violence by Eavan Boland (Carcanet)
Gift Songs by John Burnside (Jonathan Cape)
The Drowned Book by Sean O'Brien (Picador)
Birds with a Broken Wing by Adam Thorpe (Jonathan Cape)
The Harbour Beyond the Movie by Luke Kennard (Salt Publishing)
Beasts of Nalunga by Jack Mapanje (Bloodaxe)
Best first collection prize (£5,000)
Twenty Four Preludes and Fugues on Dimitri Shostakovich by Joanna Boulter (Arc Publications)
Galatea by Melanie Challenger (Salt Publishing)
Look We Have Coming to Dover! by Daljit Nagra (Faber and Faber)
Andraste's Hair by Eleanor Rees (Salt Publishing)
Best single poem prize (£1,000)
The Hut in Question by David Harsent (Poetry Review)
Thursday by Lorraine Mariner (The Rialto)
Dunt by Alice Oswald (Poetry London)
The Day I Knew I Wouldn't Live Forever by Carole Satyamurti (The Interpreter's House)
Goulash by Myra Schneider (The North)
The Birkdale Nightingale by Jean Sprackland (Poetry Review)
