TS Eliot prize shortlist

Recovered addict's debut vies with Nobel laureates for TS Eliot prizeSeamus Heaney and Derek Walcott are joined by a soldier-poet and a man whose work chronicles his experience of heroin addiction on this year's TS Eliot prize shortlist


Lindesay Irvine -  guardian.co.uk, Thursday 21 October 2010

Poet Sam Willetts. Photograph: Adrian Sherratt


A debut collection by a poet drawing on his experiences of homelessness and heroin addiction is in competition with two Nobel laureates and some of the biggest names in poetry on the "unusually eclectic" shortlist for this year's TS Eliot prize,

New Light for the Old Dark by Sam Willetts, who has now recovered from his addiction, was selected from a record number of entries – 123 new collections – and now contends with nine other works that include the new volumes by Nobel laureates Seamus Heaney and Derek Walcott.

Chair of the judges Anne Stevenson praised "an exceptional year for poetry, with a record number of entries", and said that the judges had "agreed on a strong shortlist which is unusually eclectic in form and theme."

The TS Eliot prize, now in its 18th year, carries with it a £15,000 first prize, together with £1,000 awards for all the shortlisted authors. The richest prize in British poetry, it has been described by Andrew Motion as "the prize most poets want to win".

The award is run by the Poetry Book Society, and the PBS's four recommended titles for the year are automatically selected for the shortlist. These are Derek Walcott's White Egrets, Seamus Heaney's Human Chain, Seeing Stars by Simon Armitage and The Mirabelles by Annie Freud.

Also in contention is the second collection by American poet Brian Turner, Phantom Noise. Turner brings an unusual sensibility to contemporary poetry, as a veteran of the US army who was an infantry team leader in the Iraq war.

Rounding out the list are new collections by John Haynes, Pascale Petit, Robin Robertson and Fiona Sampson.

The TS Eliot prize is, uniquely, judged only by established poets, and this year Anne Stevenson is joined on the jury by Bernadine Evaristo and Michael Symmons Roberts.

The winner will be announced at a ceremony on 24 January 2011, and will be presented with their cheque by Mrs Valerie Eliot, the widow of Poetry Book Society founder TS Eliot, whose estate supports the prize.

The shortlist in full:

Seeing Stars         Simon Armitage (Faber)
The Mirabelles        Annie Freud (Picador)
You             John Haynes (Seren)
Human Chain         Seamus Heaney (Faber)
What the Water Gave Me    Pascale Petit (Seren)
The Wrecking Light    Robin Robertson (Picador)
Rough Music         Fiona Sampson (Carcanet)
Phantom Noise        Brian Turner (Bloodaxe)
White Egrets         Derek Walcott (Faber)
New Light for the Old Dark   Sam Willetts (Jonathan Cape)