Cancer, mental illness, youth violence and pirates are just some of the themes covered in the shortlists for The Forward Prizes 2010. On the Best Collection shortlist two former category winners will compete with poets on the list for the first time. Seamus Heaney has been nominated for the prize alongside Robin Robertson, previous winner of all three Forward Prizes.
Poet and author Ruth Padel is chair of the judges, with poet and columnist Hugo Williams, performance poet Dreadlockalien, journalist and broadcaster Alex Clark, and actress and director Fiona Shaw also on the panel.
Padel said: "It is an astonishing year for poetry, with an unusually wide range as well as high standard - from international luminaries, much-loved British voices and exciting newcomers. With very different tastes and areas of expertise, we spent eight hours reading poems aloud to each other: beautiful lyrics, prose poems, daring modernists and some very funny surrealists.
"It was tough, whittling a rainbow down to a shortlist, and giving up many books we really loved, which in other years would have certainly been on the shortlist. But what we have got represents the quality and brilliant variety of poetry and poetry publishing in Britain today."
The winners will be announced on 6th October, the eve of National Poetry Day, at a ceremony in Somerset House, London.
Shortlists in full:
The Forward Prize for Best Collection £10,000 – sponsored by the Forward Arts Foundation
Human Chain by Seamus Heaney (Faber & Faber)
Small Hours by Lachlan Mackinnon (Faber & Faber)
Through the Square Window by Sinéad Morrissey (Carcanet)
The Wrecking Light by Robin Robertson (Picador)
Rough Music by Fiona Sampson (Carcanet)
Of Mutability by Jo Shapcott (Faber & Faber)
The Felix Dennis Prize for Best First Collection - 5,000 – sponsored by Felix Dennis and the Forward Arts Foundation
Running the Dusk by Christian Campbell (Peepal Tree)
Berg by Hilary Menos (Seren)
How to Pour Madness into a Teacup by Abegail Morley (Cinnamon Press)
Learning Gravity by Helen Oswald (Tall Lighthouse)
A Curious Shipwreck by Steve Spence (Shearsman Books)
New Light for the Old Dark by Sam Willetts (Jonathan Cape)
The Forward Prize for Best Single Poem in memory of Michael Donaghy - £1,000 – sponsored by the Forward Arts Foundation
On Highgate Hill by Kate Bingham (Times Literary Supplement)
An easy passage by Julia Copus (Magma)
Night Drive by Lydia Fulleylove (Bridport Prize)
Sentences by Chris Jones (Staple)
Mrs Beltinska in the Bath by Ian Pindar (National Poetry Competition)
The Reach by Lee Sands (Times Literary Supplement)
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