Joelle Taylor and Michael Symmons Roberts are shortlisted for the 2021 T. S. Eliot Prize
Congratulations to Joelle Taylor and Michael Symmons Roberts on being shortlisted for the 2021 T. S. Eliot prize for their poetry collections C+nto & Othered Poems (The Westbourne Press) and Ransom (Cape Poetry) respectively.
C+nto & Othered Poems by Joelle Taylor
An electrifying collection of poetry exploring the underground lesbian culture by a pioneer of the British spoken word scene.
The female body is a political space. Cunto enters the private lives of characters from the butch counterculture, telling the inside story of the protests these women led to reclaim their bodies as their own for self-expression and against hatred. History, magic, rebellion, party and sermon vibrate through Joelle Taylor's cantos, which celebrate these underground communities throughout the '90s.
Taylor writes into the silence surrounding masculine women and shows how personal narrative can become a political act. Part-memoir and part-conjecture, she explores sexuality and gender in poetry that is lyrical, expansive, imagistic, epic and intimate. Cunto is a love poem, a riot, a late night and an honouring.
'Meaty, inventive, powerfully moving work' Telegraph
‘This writing is visionary – I was taken to the heart of a dense poetic history, saw every image as though I were living it. What a powerful thing to experience in a book. I loved it.’ Hollie McNish
'An excellent book of poetry... exploring how some lesbian women’s histories, political destinies, safety and survival are tied to their physical identity' Morning Star
Ransom by Michael Symmons Roberts
Ransom, the new collection from Michael Symmons Roberts, is an intense and vivid exploration of liberty and limit, of what it means to be alive, and searches for the possibility of hope in a fallen, wounded world. The poems in Ransom display all the lyrical beauty and metaphysical ambition for which his work is acclaimed, but with a new urgency, a ragged edge to what the Independent described as his 'dazzling elegance'. At the heart of this new book are three powerful sequences - one set in occupied Paris, one an elegy for his father, and one a meditation on gratitude - that work at the edges of belief and doubt, both mystical and philosophical. The idea of 'ransom' is turned and turned again, poem by poem, seen through the lenses of personal grief and loss, cinematic scenes of kidnap and release, narratives of incarnation and atonement. This is a profound and timely book from one of our finest poets.
'One of the finest poets writing today... Ransom... moved me greatly.' Bel Mooney, Daily Mail
The T.S. Eliot Prize, for the best new poetry collection written in English and published in 2021 in the UK or Ireland, is run by The T.S. Eliot Foundation. It is the most valuable prize in British poetry – the winning poet will receive a cheque for £25,000 and the shortlisted poets will be presented with cheques for £1,500. For more on the shortlisted poets, including videos, readers’ notes and reviews, visit the T.S. Eliot Prize website.
The T. S. Eliot Prize Shortlist Readings will take place on Sunday 9th January 2022 in the Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall, hosted by Ian McMillan. Tickets for the readings in-person in the Royal Festival or livestreamed online are available from www.southbankcentre.co.uk.