The 2009 Crashaw Prize Shortlist
The 2009 Crashaw Prize attracted 120 full length manuscripts from poets in the UK and Ireland, the USA, Australia and New Zealand. The international prize continues to provide an extraordinary shapshot of new writing from most of the English-speaking world, as such it is the only prize of its kind, drawing attention to the best debut collections from around the globe.
The Crashaw prize is unique in discovering poets from many different cultures and locations, yet it is clear that we share not only a language but increasingly a shrinking, more accessible, digital world. Poetry in English is now a global exchange of ideas and practices: there are no dominant modes of writing, no success patterns to adopt or defend, no single model of expression and our heritage is a global one. Audiences, too, are as diverse as the writing and writers. This diversity as well as the community of poetry in English is to be celebrated and, indeed, forms the background and impetus to the Crashaw Prize itself.
This year’s submissions were especially perplexing: the standard of submissions was exceptionally high, the talents astonishingly various, the book themselves filled with an abundance of innovative and rewarding poems that deserve a wide audience. After a great deal of deliberation and from an internal longlist of thirty-five collections we have now chosen twelve manuscripts we feel are exceptional works. All of these poets deserve our interest.
This year’s shortlist consists of :
- Phil Brown, Il Avilit (ENGLAND)
- Matt Bryden, Boxing the Compass (ENGLAND)
- Theodore Z. Cotler, House with a Dark Sky Roof (USA)
- Nathan Hoks, Book of Clouds (USA)
- Yvonne C. Murphy, Aviaries (USA) WITHDRAWN
- Andrew Pidoux, Year of the Lion (USA)
- Nick Potamitis, The Book of Night Terrors (ENGLAND)
- Terry Ann Thaxton, Getaway Girl (USA)
- Jonty Tiplady, Zam Bonk Dip (ENGLAND)
- Ryan Van Winkle, Untitled (SCOTLAND)
- Eoghan Walls, The Salt Harvest (IRELAND) WITHDRAWN
- Anna Woodford, Birdhouse (ENGLAND)
From this shortlist we will make our selection of this year’s winners and will publish four collections during in 2010 — the tenth anniversary of Salt. The winners will be announced on Friday 26th of February.
Many many congratulations to all the shortlisted poets. Lots of good luck for the next round.
Vanessa (A Salt not-poet).
[...] Ryan Van Winkle by Andrew Philip And the first blogly act of 2010 is to congratulate all those shortlisted for Salt’s 2009 Crashaw Prize, not least Ryan Van Winkle, the reader in residence at the [...]
[...] out — I’ve been short-listed for Salt Publishing’s 2009 Crashaw Prize. Which, as it goes, is a lot better than cancer and a whole hell of a lot better than whatever [...]
I am delighted to see that Eoghan Walls has made the shortlist. He is a former member of the Seamus Heaney Writers’ Group at Queen’s University, Belfast, and a very fine poet. However, I am slightly puzzled as to why his collection has been withdrawn.
Hi Ray,
As I was finalising the shortlist, Eoghan accepted an offer from the excellent Seren Press and withdrew from the prize.
Hello Crashaw Prize
Could you please tell me what is the prize
for this contest? and who won?
Thank you,
Diane
Hi Diane,
It will be announced on the 26th February. The winners receive simultaneous publication in the UK, USA and Australia — and new from this next year in Canada.
All best
C
Good luck everyone. I hope a collegue of mine wins, but I’ll be happy for everyone else too!
Alan