‘Symphony of fresh voices, ideas and forms’ nominated for poetry awards

A “symphony of fresh voices, ideas and forms” have been nominated for a set of poetry awards celebrating an “astonishing breadth of styles and themes”.

Responses to wars in Ukraine and Gaza, toxic landlords, the opioid epidemic, the miners’ strike and the Met Gala are among the 20 poems shortlisted for the 2024 Forward Prizes For Poetry.

The awards have been running in the UK and Ireland since 1992, and see £10,000 awarded to the winner of the Forward Prize For Best Collection.

A sum of £5,000 is given to the winner of the Felix Dennis Prize For Best First Collection, and £1,000 is awarded to the winners of the Jerwood Prize For Best Single Poem Performed and Forward Prize For Best Single Poem Written.

Over the last three decades the prizes have celebrated some of the most recognised names in poetry including Simon Armitage, Ted Hughes and Carol Ann Duffy.

This year’s judging panel is chaired by poet, actor and radio DJ Craig Charles, who said of the nominees: “I’m really thrilled to be in a position to champion all the incredible poets shortlisted.

“Poetry has long been an important part of my life, and my love for it has been a driver for championing poetry on my BBC6 show.

“My favourite part of this process was getting to spend intensive time with these fresh voices and my fellow judges, all professional poets.

“I especially love getting to showcase the vibrant spoken word scene I love so much.”

The Red Dwarf star was joined by poets Alycia Pirmohamed, Vanessa Kisuule, Daniel Sluman and Jane Clarke on the judging panel, and they praised the nominees for “responding to the urgency of our times like no other art form”.

Kisuule said: “Judging this year has been many things, humbling, occasionally daunting and often thrilling.

“I am heartened by the astonishing breadth of styles and themes that contemporary poetry currently has to offer.

“The poems that stood out to me had a distinct and self-possessed voice, were unafraid to have fun and be funny even when addressing the starkest of subjects.

“Our shortlisted poets are all, in their way, traversing topics pertinent to our time – climate change, precarious housing and ongoing war are just some topics that feature amongst them.

“Vivid and harrowing, yet still offering us moments of tenderness and levity, the best poems told it like it is, but never devolved into dogma.

“It’s been a special joy to see a strong turnout for the performance poetry category, with a whole host of dynamic voices proving there’s many ways to bring a poem to life on stage.”

Co-executive director of the Forward Arts Foundation, which runs the prizes, Monica Parle, said she was “extraordinarily proud” of the shortlists.

She said: “The judges steeped themselves in a trove of books from publishers big and small across the UK, as well as hundreds of individual poems.

“In this list, you will find a symphony of fresh voices, ideas and forms.

“These selections incisively capture the lived experience of the world today, as poetry is so immediate and capable of responding to the urgency of these times like no other artform.

“Anyone who wants a compelling way to think about our times, read these books.”

The nominees for the Forward Prize For Best Collection are God Complex by Rachael Allen, With My Back To The World by Victoria Chang, Goodlord by Ella Frears, […] by Fady Joudah, and Strike by Sarah Wimbush.

On the shortlist for the Felix Dennis Prize For Best First Collection are I Cannot Be Good Until You Say It by Sanah Ahsan, Inheritance by Jasmine Cooray, Food For The Dead by Charlotte Shevchenko Knight, The Wrong Person To Ask by Marjorie Lotfi, and American Anthem by Kelly Michels.

The Forward Prize For Best Single Poem Written nominees are On Hearing The Seismologist Say There Could Be An 8.5R Earthquake Near Athens by Vasiliki Albedo, A Craft Talk On The Praxis Of An August Evening by Derek Chan, Ward Of One by Cindy Juyong Ok, I Wanted To Show You A Donkey by Lisa Kelly, and The Only Other Dark Skinned Girl by Tife Kusoro.

Those nominated for the Jerwood Prize For Best Single Poem Performed are Ghazal, Screaming by Toby Campion, Nearly White Girl Girling On Behalf Of Proximity To Mammal by Eve Esfandiari-Denney, Dear John Berger by Leyla Josephine, Choose Your Own Adventure by Nasim Rebecca Asl, and What Grief Feels Like to Me by Michael Pedersen.

This year’s winners will be announced at a special ceremony at the opening of Durham Book Festival on October 10.