The art of poetry - a compact universe in a pamphlet

12 May 2010

The British Library today (12 May 2010) announces the shortlist for the Michael Marks Awards for Poetry Pamphlets in partnership with the Poetry Book Society and with the generous support of the Michael Marks Charitable Trust. In their second year, the Awards celebrate the importance of the pamphlet form in introducing new poetry to readers in the internet age.

Poetry pamphlet shortlist

• The Terrors, Tom Chivers (Nine Arches Press). Eighteenth century hangman narratives... conducted by email.
• The Titanic Café closes its doors and hits the rocks, David Hart (Nine Arches Press). An elegy to a café in Birmingham that no longer exists, this single poem is collage, song, and paean in one.
• Advice on Wearing Animal Prints, Selima Hill (Flarestack Poets). A disconcerting tragicomedy told across the letters of the alphabet - this story follows the life of its idiosyncratic heroine Agatha.
• Devorgilla's Bridge, Hugh McMillan (Roncadora Press). This single fold-out poem, beautifully complemented by a linocut by Hugh Bryden, is devoted to what is said to be Scotland's oldest bridge: ‘an astronaut in stone'.
• The Reluctant Vegetarian, Richard Moorhead (Oystercatcher Press). This pamphlet is a wry and sensual cross between a medieval herbal, a farmer's calendar and an English dictionary.
• ballast: a remix, Nii Ayikwei Parkes (tall-lighthouse). A breathtaking account of slavery told through near sci-fi effects: imagine the slave trade had operated through hot air balloons rather than ships.

The shortlist was judged by novelist Ali Smith, poet Jo Shapcott and Richard Price, poet and Head of Modern British Collections at the British Library, for an outstanding work of poetry published in pamphlet form in the UK during 2009.

Ali Smith, Chair of the judges, said:

"We really locked horns over 150 pamphlets to arrive at this shortlist. In their range of voice and form, their sheer energy and shape-shifting design, the shortlisted poets reveal exactly why the pamphlet can be said to be one of the most exciting forms - a place where spontaneity, imagination and design come together to produce something completely fresh and lasting."

Books of 36 pages or less are where new poetry often first meets its audience – slim volumes allow readers to savour a concentrated gathering or carefully paced sequence of poems. Poetry pamphlets can be exquisitely designed, with striking visual qualities that form a strong part of the meaning of the book as a whole.

Small press publishers have been at the forefront of developing new audiences for poetry through such attractive and innovative publications. The British Library also announces an award for a UK publisher of poetry in pamphlet form, on the basis of their publishing programme in 2009.

Publishers' shortlist

• HappenStance Press
• Oystercatcher Press
• Templar Poetry
• Veer

Richard Price, Head of Modern British Collections at the British Library, commented:

"Pamphlets are the real thermometer of new poetry - these are the only UK-wide awards of their kind and this shortlist shows us the great range of approaches and ambition of modern poetry in Britain. If there's a theme this year it's the remix, the mash-up of history, time and place – like Bladerunner or Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go, there's a retro futurism in many of these which opens the door to non-poetry audiences without giving up any of the poetry. The shortlisted poets have all risen to the challenge of what a pamphlet can be, fusing both physical and visual form with poetry."

The winners will be announced and presented with a cheque for £5,000 at a reading and awards ceremony at the British Library on 16 June 2010. For more information on the Michael Marks Awards for Poetry Pamphlets, see: www.bl.uk/poetrypamphlets.

For more information, please contact
Julie Yau, Arts Press Officer, British Library
020 7412 7237 / julie.yau@bl.uk

Notes to editors

Tickets to the readings and awards ceremony can be booked online at http://boxoffice.bl.uk, over the phone +44 (0)1937 546 546 or in person at the British Library.

The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and one of the world's greatest research libraries. It provides world class information services to the academic, business, research and scientific communities and offers unparalleled access to the world's largest and most comprehensive research collection. The Library's collection has developed over 250 years and exceeds 150 million separate items representing every age of written civilisation. It includes: books, journals, manuscripts, maps, stamps, music, patents, newspapers and sound recordings in all written and spoken languages www.bl.uk.

The Poetry Book Society was set up by T S Eliot and friends in 1953 to support the sales of poetry books. The Poet Selectors choose the best new poetry book of the quarter as the Choice, which is sent to members. There is also a quarterly Pamphlet Choice. It also awards the annual T S Eliot Prize, and runs the Children's Poetry Bookshelf (which holds the annual Old Possum's Children's Poetry Competition). www.poetrybookshoponline.com. The Poetry Book Society will shortly relaunch its bookselling website www.poetrybookshoponline.com.

The Michael Marks Charitable Trust was established in 1966 by the late Lord Marks, 2nd Baron of Broughton. Since its foundation it has committed over £20m to assist non-profit organisations and charities dedicated to the preservation and promotion of culture and the environment. The Michael Marks Awards for Poetry Pamphlets are generously supported by the Michael Marks Charitable Trust. They are inspired by but independent of the Callum Macdonald Memorial Award, also supported by the Michael Marks Charitable Trust, founded by Tessa Ransford to celebrate poetry published in pamphlet form in Scotland.

Poets' biographies

Tom Chivers was born in 1983 in South London and currently lives in the East End. His books include How To Build A City (Salt Publishing, 2009), The Terrors (Nine Arches Press, 2009) and, as editor, the anthologies Generation Txt and City State: New London Poetry (Penned in the Margins, 2006 & 2009). He was the first Poet in Residence at The Bishopsgate Institute; in September 2009 he presented a documentary about the poet Barry MacSweeney for Radio 4. Tom runs live literature producer and small press Penned in the Margins, and is co-Director of London Word Festival."
David Hart, born in Aberystwyth, lives in Birmingham, has been (many years ago) a university chaplain, theatre critic and arts administrator, and now lives as a poet, with recent part time teaching posts at Warwick and Birmingham Universities; residencies include psychiatric and general hospitals, Worcester Cathedral and the Aldeburgh Poetry Festival; Birmingham Poet Laureate 1997-98; winner National Poetry Competition 1994, 2nd in 2003. Elected Member of the Welsh Academy. Poems widely published in magazines and anthologies. Books include Setting the poem to words, Crag Inspector (a poem of Bardsey Island), and Running Out (all Five Seasons Press), and The Titanic Café closes its door and hits the rocks. (Nine Arches, 2009).
Selima Hill grew up in a family of painters in rural England and Wales, and now lives by the sea in Dorset. She has published thirteen collections of poems since her first, Saying Hello At The Station, appeared in 1984. Selima Hill regularly collaborates with artists, and has worked on multimedia projects with the Royal Ballet, Welsh National Opera, and BBC Bristol. She has taught creative writing in hospitals and prisons, tutored for the Poetry School and the Arvon Foundation, and was Royal Literary Fund Fellow at the University of Exeter in 2003 - 2006.
Hugh McMillan's latest collection is The Lost Garden (Roncadora Press) He has had 5 full collections and several pamphlets including After a Storm (Prizewinner in the Smith/Doorstep Poetry Competition 2005) and Postcards from the Hedge (Roncadora Press), winner of the Callum MacDonald Award 2009. He lives in south west Scotland.
Richard Moorhead lives in Cardiff with a partner who is concerned about his selection of vegetables as muses. He has two children and is an academic at Cardiff University. His poems have appeared in Mimesis, Horizon Review and Poetry Monthly International. The Reluctant Vegetarian is his first poetry pamphlet. His only previous claim to literary fame was to beat the twice Booker shortlisted Novelist David Mitchell to the sixth form English Prize. The moment was crowned by his teacher's congratulations, ‘You're not as good as David. But you tried so hard.'
Nii Ayikwei Parkes is a Ghanaian writer and Senior Editor at flipped eye publishing. A 2007 recipient of Ghana's national ACRAG award for poetry and literary advocacy, he is a former International Writing Fellow at the University of Southampton. In 2009, his short story, Socks Ball, was highly commended in the Caine Prize for African Writing, and his novel Tail of the Blue Bird (Jonathan Cape, 2009) was shortlisted for the 2010 Commonwealth Writers' Prize.

Publishers' biographies

HappenStance
Helena Nelson's HappenStance, shortlisted for last year's Award favours an accessible but never simplistic poetry. The press combines the work of well-known poets such as Alison Brackenbury and Mark Halliday with those gradually gaining wider recognition (thanks in part to HappenStance), including Clare Best and Sally Festing. Based in Glenrothes it has a commitment to Scottish writing but its list is international. Design is understated, clear, fresh. Through its sister publication, the magazine Sphinx, HappenStance also highlights chapbooks produced by other presses, helping to develop audiences for this special form. www.happenstancepress.com

Oystercatcher
Last year's winner, Peter Hughes's Oystercatcher Press has not sat on its laurels. It continues to explore contemporary life through its authors' rich exploration of contemporary language. Its enviable list includes the work of well-known poets of the avant-garde, including Ken Edwards, Randolph Healy, Allen Fisher and the late Anna Mendelssohn. Those in a minimalist tradition such as Alex Finlay and Gerry Loose are also featured, and those that gloriously defy categorisation, including Carrie Etter, Lisa Samuels and Richard Moorhead. Oystercatcher is based in Norfolk. www.oystercatcherpress.com

Templar
Templar, based in Derbyshire, was shortlisted for last year's Award. It produces pamphlets whose look, size and, of course, poetry, make you want to read them. Its excellent contemporary poets include Siobhan Campbell, David Morley, Jane Routh, Nuala Ní Chonchúir, Jane Weir, and Paul Maddern and the competition it has to select pamphlets that it publishes is an important stimulus to work within the form. www.templarpoetry.co.uk

Veer
This is a press that is pushing poetry to its boundaries. The publishing arm of Birkbeck College's Contemporary Poetics Research Centre, Veer publishes work that subverts expectations, using its Burner Veer label for pamphlets. These include James Wilkes's prose poems in his collection of imaginary book reviews entitled simply Reviews, and Tom White's Old Sense, a complex reflection on desire. This is an experimental press that is both intellectual and unexpectedly of the body. http://www.bbk.ac.uk/cprc/publications/veer-books

Judges' biographies

Ali Smith is the author of Free Love, Like, Hotel World, Other Stories and Other Stories, The Whole Story and Other Stories, The Accidental, Girl Meets Boy and The First Person and Other Stories. Her second novel, Hotel World (2001), won the Encore Award, a Scottish Arts Council Book Award and the inaugural Scottish Arts Council Book of the Year Award. It was also shortlisted for both the Orange Prize for Fiction and the Booker Prize for Fiction. Her third novel, The Accidental (2004) won the Whitbread Novel of the Year Award in 2005. Ali is a regular contributor of articles and reviews to journals and newspapers including The Scotsman, the Times Literary Supplement and The Guardian.
Jo Shapcott is the author of three award-winning collections: Electroplating the Baby (1988), Phrase Book (1992) and My Life Asleep (1998), which are gathered in a collection of poems entitled Her Book (2000). She has won the Commonwealth Writers Prize for Best First Collection, the Forward Prize for Best Collection and the National Poetry Competition (twice). Tender Taxes, her versions of Rilke, were published in 2001. Jo teaches on the MA in Creative Writing at Royal Holloway College, University of London and is also Visiting Professor in Poetry at the University of Newcastle and the University of the Arts, London. She is Consulting Editor for Arc Publications and is currently President of The Poetry Society.
Richard Price is the Head of Modern British Collections at the British Library and an acclaimed poet. As a curator and co-founder of a small press he has a wide knowledge of UK poetry pamphlets. His poetry collections include Lucky Day (2005)and Rays (2009). His poetry website is www.hydrohotel.net.