Poetry SchoolFiona Benson has been shortlisted for this year’s Laurel Prize 2026! Read more about her and her poem ‘Bluebells’ from her collection Midden Witch.
Image credit: Jessica Farmer of Perspectives Photography
About Fiona
Fiona Benson lives in Devon with her husband and their two daughters. Midden Witch is her fourth collection and was preceded by Bright Travellers (Seamus Heaney Prize for First Collection, Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize), Vertigo & Ghost (Roehampton Poetry Prize and the Forward Prize for Best Collection), and Ephemeron. She has recently contributed as editor and poetry translator to Artur Dron’’s We Were Here and Yaryna Chornohuz’s Dasein (both with Jantar Press); she is currently working on Fedir Rudyi’s debut collection The Position with co-translator Victor Shepelev. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.
On being shortlisted
This shortlisting has been an enormous reprieve and act of mercy for my little witch, who (after a short-lived broom stick flight as a PBS choice) was basically dead on the ducking stool in the contemporary poetry millpond. It is in some ways a collection about invisibility, and Midden Witch is so grateful to have been seen. As a midlife poet a lot of my work lately has also been invisible – teaching, translating, editing – and this shortlisting feels like such a joyous moment of sunshine for my own poems.
My poems tend to be interested in the interface between the human and the natural world, and all through the writing of this collection I was drenched in the green world – its people, its creatures, its medicines and its flora. The poems are not, I think, straightforwardly ‘eco’, and I am so grateful to the judges for their generosity in recognising this facet of the collection.
On ‘Bluebells’
I’d like to share with you ‘Bluebells’ although I’m still a little mystified by what it means or where it came from. Perhaps it’s about the strange and sacred places we still find in small pockets of wild, that do not abide by human laws or time. Perhaps it’s about ancient bluebell woods as a place of intense magic that we should come to with a pure heart or leave the hell alone.
This year’s Laurel Prize winner will be announced on Friday 25 September at a special event as part of BBC Contains Strong Language.
Ceremony Date: Friday 25 September 2026
Location: BBC Philharmonic Studio, MediaCity, Salford, M50 2EQ
Time: 7.00 – 8.30pm
The ceremony will feature readings and discussion with the shortlisted poets on a panel chaired by Professor of Creative Writing at Manchester Metropolitan University, Helen Mort. The event will culminate with the live announcement of this year’s winning writer. This event is free to attend but you must book your place:
The full line up for the Contains Strong Language weekend can be found here. There will also be two Laurel workshops run by the Poetry School over the weekend:
Writing the Quays with Sammy Weaver
Saturday 26 September, 11am-1pm, University of Salford
Join award-winning poet and narrowboat dweller, Sammy Weaver, for this 2-hour poetry and walking workshop exploring the Salford Quays. BOOK HERE.
As Easily as Leaves to a Tree: A Workshop in Negative Capability with David Morley
Saturday 26 September, 2pm-4pm, University of Salford
Laurel Prize Chair of Judges David Morley leads a 2 hour generative writing workshop exploring ‘negative capability’ as a practical method for writing poetry. BOOK HERE.
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