Douglas Dunn and Michael Symmons Roberts shortlisted for the T.S. Eliot Prize 2017

Congratulations to Douglas Dunn and Michael Symmons Roberts, who have been shortlisted for the T.S. Eliot Prize 2017 for their collections The Noise of a Fly (Faber & Faber) and Mancunia (Jonathan Cape) respectively. 

To mark the 25th anniversary of the T. S. Eliot Prize, the T. S. Eliot Foundation has increased the winner’s prize money to £25,000. Judges Bill Herbert (Chair), James Lasdun and Helen Mort have chosen the shortlist from a record 154 poetry collections submitted by publishers:

Tara Bergin – The Tragic Death of Eleanor Marx (Carcanet)

Caroline Bird – In these Days of Prohibition (Carcanet)

Douglas Dunn – The Noise of a Fly (Faber & Faber)

Leontia Flynn – The Radio (Cape Poetry)

Roddy Lumsden – So Glad I’m Me (Bloodaxe)

Michael Symmons Roberts – Mancunia (Cape Poetry)

Robert Minhinnick – Diary of the Last Man (Carcanet)

James Sheard – The Abandoned Settlements (Cape Poetry)

Jacqueline Saphra – All My Mad Mothers (Nine Arches Press)

Ocean Vuong – Night Sky with Exit Wounds (Cape Poetry)

Chair Bill Herbert said:

“This was a very strong year, and it was a privilege to read so many books that possessed as well as intrigued us; our shortlist explores grief, pleasure, place and history in a formidable variety of ways.”

The T. S. Eliot Prize Shortlist Readings will take place on Sunday 14th January 2018 in Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall. The shortlist readings are the largest annual poetry event in the UK and will be hosted once again by Ian McMillan. 

The winner of the 2017 Prize will be announced at the Award Ceremony on Monday 15th January 2018, where the winner and the shortlisted poets will be presented with their cheques.