The West Yorkshire writer will hold the historic post for the next decade, taking over from Dame Carol Ann Duffy. The post famously comes with a barrel of sherry. Other distinguished laureates have included Alfred Lord Tennyson, Ted Hughes and more recently Andrew Motion. Sat 27 Oct 2018 05.59 EDT ... To order either book go to guardianbookshop.com or call 0330 333 6846. “I would also like to thank Dame Carol Ann Duffy for her work over the last decade - championing literature, showcasing other poets’ contributions, and marking significant national moments through her outstanding poetry.”. “Since the laureateship was first conceived many hundreds of years ago Britain has changed enormously and the position of Poet Laureate has changed accordingly - I want to celebrate and speak on behalf of the variety of voices who contribute to the rich chorus of British poetry from a wide range of personal, literary and cultural experiences, and to help poetry explore its potential in a multi-faceted, multi-vocal and multi-media age. “The poetry of these islands is one of our greatest achievements, and as well as being proud of its traditions I want poetry to feel confident and at home in the contemporary world and to demonstrate that in a hectic and sometimes frenetic age the combination of considered thought and crafted language is more relevant and vital than ever.

Forget-me-nots. Fri 2 Nov 2018 13.08 EDT Last modified on Tue 28 Apr 2020 07.20 EDT. Don’t think it’s only the heart that b-b-b-breaks. I would very much like to break down barriers and stereotypes between the young and old, different cultures and different sexes, and show people that poetry can be for any ‘type’ of person. It was quite an extraordinary moment.” Her voice, a wandering mix of her parents’ Irish lilt and the flat Scots of her childhood, has a hypnotic quality, well-suited to her incantatory verse. “You can tell by the title of that collection, that I was keen on asserting feminist principles.” Sadly, “we still have a way to go”. When people discover that I am also a poet, they are surprised that I don’t match the usual ‘type’ of what a poet ‘should’ be and I am often surprised to how many people then open up to me and admit to being a ‘secret’ writer. We can't wait to see what he achieves with this new role! Carol Ann Duffy is due to stand down from the position in May 2019, with Simon Armitage, Patience Agbabi, Daljit Nagra, Patience Agbabi, Vahni Capideo, Wendy Cope, and Zephaniah all named potential successors. She also supported emerging talent through her series of pamphlets with the Poetry Business / Smith Doorstop publishing, including the Laureate's Choice anthology, featuring a new generation of poets. “I’ve never ever thought ‘I’m going to write a political poem’,” she says now. Free UK … He joked that he had "missed the boat" to write a poem for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex's baby. Benjamin Zephaniah has vehemently reacted to being named one of the candidates for the next poet laureate. “Empty Nest”, for her daughter Ella (Duffy is an unashamedly doting mother), is at the heart of the collection. Follow us on Facebook, on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts, or on Instagram at bbcnewsents. “I remember my father talking about the negligence of the coal board allowing that slide. I fold the laundry; hang your flower dress in darkness. ", I write in praise of air. The first was in 2016, when they travelled from Falmouth to St Andrews, coincidentally “with the Brexit vote right in the middle” – a great way “to hear all the voices and all the reasons”. The poem uses kennings, an ancient form that describes something using compound words – in this case a Duffyesque litany of insults, mixing medieval and Elizabethan phrases with modern or invented coinages (“tie-treader”: “he wears very long ties”). To order either book go to guardianbookshop.com or call 0330 333 6846. “It’s a huge honour to be appointed Poet Laureate, one of the great high offices of literature. Zephaniah is an outspoken critic of the monarchy and previously turned down an OBE in 2003, commenting: “OBE, me? "It's been made very clear to me that although the monarch is my line manager, for want of a better word, there are no expectations or obligations in that direction.". I stabbed at a wedding-cake. “Combover ... twitter-rat, tweet-twat, tripe-gob, muckspout” … so runs the first stanza of “Swearing In” by Carol Ann Duffy. He joked that he had "missed the … Carol Ann Duffy has held the title of Poet Laureate since May 2009 when she became the first woman to be given the position.

“I don’t think the poet laureate is the ‘best poet’,” she says, not for the first time. Responding to his candidacy for poet laureate, the poet, author, actor and musician tweeted: “I have absolutely no interest in this job.

He also writes extensively for television and radio, and is the author of two novels and the non-fiction bestsellers All Points North (1998), Walking Home (2012) and Walking Away (2015). Nancy begins her role as Canal Laureate this month, taking over from poet Luke Kennard (2016-17) and poet Jo Bell, who became the inaugural Canal Laureate (2013-15). Her mantra is borrowed from Picasso: “Inspiration will come, but it must find you working.” When she is at home she is at her desk, either in her study, at the kitchen table, in an attic library or in the garden (she had to resist having a special rain-shelter desk built). Sincerity is published by Picador. You still are a parent, but that kind of daily devotional ritual is gone.” She plans to put together an anthology on the subject “so that people have somewhere to go with that sorrow”. “I write to connect with people and have never felt the need to go via the church, the state, or the monarchy to reach my people. The role does not entail any specific duties, but there is an expectation that the holder will write verse for significant national occasions. Some nights better, the lost body over me, then down till I suddenly bite awake. Puce curses that are sounds not words. ... Simon also received The Queen’s Gold Medal for Poetry for the year 2018, awarded for excellence in poetry, on the basis of his body of work.

The acclaimed poet succeeds Dame Carol Ann Duffy, who served in the role between 2009 and 2019 and was the first female poet to hold the post. The daily lifestyle email from Metro.co.uk. Read about our approach to external linking. In this collection she writes of taking her mother’s wedding ring off her finger when she died: “the small o in love and loss”. The books interview: After 10 years, the poet laureate is preparing to step down. The Poet Laureate — which was a position for life until Duffy’s predecessor, Andrew Motion, limited his tenure to 10 years — has no statutory duties but is expected to create verse to mark significant national events, in return for the prestigious title.

There had been reports that Imtiaz Dharker would be offered the post, but had decided to turn it down. She stresses “how the political moves out of the personal”, for example in one of her new poems, “Britannia”, which connects the Grenfell fire last year with the Aberfan tragedy in 1966. Carol Ann Duffy is due to stand down from the position in May 2019, but Zephaniah has ruled himself out of taking on the title Recently she composed “The Wound In Time” to mark the 100th Armistice Day next weekend. — BBC Radio Stoke (@BBCRadioStoke) October 4, 2018. Whilst National Poetry Day was created to encourage people to read poems, it was also designed to give poets the recognition they deserve. Again she has fun with another ancient form, this time the sestina, used – as the title suggests – to make a political objection, in which six key words are rotated in a strict pattern as line endings, all coming together in a furious finale.

Carol Ann Duffy became the first woman in the position's 341-year history when chosen for the post in 2009. ‘I like the word “sincerity”.

The warning comes amid plans to bring in a three-tier local lockdown system to slow the spread of Covid. After 10 years, the poet laureate is preparing to step down. Today, Thursday 4 October, we celebrate National Poetry Day and everything that is special about poems and the poets behind them. “As anyone who has lost their parents knows, it can take a very long time to feel comfortable with all the happy memories and being back in the world,” she reflects. There are lots of poet laureates all around the world, but in the rest of this page we’ll be referring to the UK’s Poet Laureate. The announcement comes five months after Armitage, from Marsden, won the Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry 2018, arguably the most prestigious accolade in poetry behind the laureateship. (She brushes off the 1999 brouhaha that ensued when her predecessor Andrew Motion was chosen over her because Tony Blair reportedly thought she might be too bold a choice for middle England, as so much tabloid “crap”.)

MORE: Buying lunch could be difficult today as hospitality workers go on strike over pay, MORE: Margot Robbie and Saoirse Ronan ‘kept apart’ while filming Mary Queen of Scots to heighten rivalry, Practical changes you can make that will genuinely help your mental health. There can be days when nothing emerges from the silence.” But she certainly doesn’t seem to have been afflicted by “the curse of the poet laureate” (Motion grumbled that taking the post hampered his own writing). It rains a lot in her poems: “I live in Manchester, what do you expect?” she retorts.