2009 Winners of the Book & Pamphlet Competition
Judge: Andrew Motion, FRSL and former UK Poet Laureate
OVERALL WINNER:
Nina Boyd, 'Dear Mr Asquith'
"A collection of cleanly-written and well-organised poems that, for all their efficiencies, are capable of leaving us with an appealing sense of mystery and unfinished business." [AM]
FIRST-STAGE WINNERS:
Sue Boyle, 'Too Late for the Love Hotel'
"The title* proposes an idea of modesty – which is certainly present in the humble attentiveness these poems pay to their subjects, but is also belied by the range and strangeness of the book’s interests." [AM]
*Originally 'Unregarded Lives'
Alan Payne, 'Exploring the Orinoco'
"An exotic and ambitious collection, in which deceptively simple structures are built to carry an impressive weight of interest and reference." [AM]
Jane Aspinall, 'American Shadow'
"Bravely-written poems which, as they cover their wide range of subjects, manage to pull of the difficult trick of sounding at once valiant and vulnerable." [AM]
The shortlist also includes:
- Robbie Burton
- Nick MacKinnon
- Pauline Plummer
- Simon Currie
- Robert Hamberger
- C J Allen
- Martin Edwards
- Christy Ducker
And the long list also includes:
- Malene Engelund
- Caroline Clark
- Jane Anderson
- John Gosnell
- Colin Watts
