Poetry School / Pighog Poetry Pamphlet Competition longlist announced

The Poetry School and Pighog are pleased to announce the longlist for their second annual pamphlet competition. After receiving over 600 entries (a big increase on last year’s entries), judges Simon Barraclough and Catherine Smith can reveal the 35 poets on the longlist.

Simon Barraclough says of the judging process ‘Arriving at the long-list was an epic and enjoyable journey through many styles, forms, moods, and stories. I often wished I was a magazine editor who could take fantastic single poems as well as being a judge who had to consider whole manuscripts.’

Catherine Smith says ‘It was a privilege to co-judge this competition. The standard of entries was so high, technically very skilled, and the subject matter so richly diverse. There were very many fine individual poems, within the submissions, deserving a wider audience.’

The shortlist will be announced in mid-April. The shortlisted poets will then be invited to submit the remainder of their pamphlet manuscripts for the final judging. The overall winner and runners-up will be announced in May.

The Longlist

Aiden Semmens – The Museum of Preposterous History

Amy McCauley – Slops

Anna-May Laugher – Crivelli’s Garden

Cliff Forshaw – Yod

Fiona Cartwrigt – Mrs Darwin’s Egg

Francine Elena – Fluoro

Giles Goodland – The Masses

Hannah Jane Walker – You interrupt my brain sweetheart

James Howard – Slug and Pomkins

Julia Webb – Bird sisters

Justina Hart – A wire to grief

K. V. Skene – The Love Life of Bus Shelters

Kamini Banga – Family Telltales

Kate Taylor – The Fat Fox Does not sleep under the moon.

Katie Griffiths – My shrink is pregnant

Liz Hall – This new land she has reached

Luke Allan – Minimum soft exchange

Mandy Haggith – Why the sky is far away

Mona Arshi – Small hands

N. J. Hynes – Turtles All the Way Down*

Natacha Bryan – If I talked everything my eyes saw

Pat Winslow – As dogs are, we are not

Paul Adrian – Small ceremonies

Peter Berry – Near and far and further still

Ramona Herdman – Flea Circus

Robin Boothroyd – Unsculpt

Rowena Knight – Proof

Sarah Barnsley – The Fire Station

Sharon Black – Spring Fever

Sharon Black- House of Prayer

Susannah Hart – False bottoms and trapdoors

Tess Adams – Fragmented

Vicki Husband – Extremely Large Telescope

Victoria Field – Full of Noises

Victoria Gatehouse – Lilith’s Love Song to the Monk

*withdrawn from going forward to the shortlisting process

The Organisers

The Poetry School is a national arts education charity based in London. It exists to nurture poetic talent and support the development of poets in aid of a dynamic, diverse and popular contemporary poetry for readers and audiences everywhere.

Pighog is an award-winning publisher based in Brighton, England. It publishes high quality original work from a diverse range of regional and international voices.

Judges’ Biogs

Simon Barraclough is poet and developer of multi media poetry events. His latest collection Neptune Blue is published by Salt. He is currently poet in residence at the Mullard Space Science Laboratory. More details at http://simonbarraclough.com/

Catherine Smith is an award winning poet, fiction and radio drama writer, and a regular teacher for the Poetry School. Her latest collection Otherwhere is published by the Poetry Business. More details at http://www.catherinesmithwriter.co.uk/