Derek Walcott poetry prize shortlist announced

The shortlist for the first Derek Walcott Prize has been announced. The prize will be awarded annually to the author of a full-length book of poems published in 2019 by a living poet who is not a US citizen.

The shortlist consists of:

• Curl by TO Bobe

• Girlhood by Julia Copus

• Crow Gulch by Douglas Walbourne-Gough

• A Little Body Are Many Parts by Legna Rodriguez Iglesias

• The Hammer and other poems by Adelaide Ivanova

• Feel Free by Nick Laird

• My Mountain Country by Ye Lijun

• Selected Poems and Translations by Arvind Kirshna Mehrotra

• In Nearby Bushes by Kei Miller

• Stone Girl by Mary Noonan

• A Portable Paradise by Roger Robinson

• The Caiplie Caves by Karen Solie

• What We Live For, What We Die For by Serhiy Zhadan.

British poet Glyn Maxwell will choose the winner and the announcement will be made in July. The prize is being awarded jointly by Arrowsmith Press, together with the Boston Playwrights’ Theatre and the Derek Walcott Festival in Port of Spain.

The prize includes a US$1,000 cash award, along with a reading at the Boston Playwrights’ Theatre, the publication of a limited-edition broadside by Arrowsmith Press, and a week-long residency at Derek Walcott’s home in either St Lucia or Port of Spain.