Julia Copus

FRSL The Royal Society of Literature (RSL) is a learned society founded in 1820, by George IV of the United Kingdom, King George IV, to "reward literary merit and excite literary talent". A charity that represents the voice of literature in the UK, th ...

(born 1969) is a British

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral or writte ...

, biographer and children's writer.

Biography

Copus was born in London and grew up with three brothers, two of whom went on to become musicians. She attended

The Mountbatten School The Mountbatten School is an 11–16 secondary school located on Whitenap Lane in Romsey, Hampshire, England. The school is an Academy (English school), Academy, but opened in 1969 as a Comprehensive school, comprehensive. Specialist status and ...

, a comprehensive in

Romsey Romsey ( ) is a historic market town in the county of Hampshire, England. Romsey was home to the 17th-century philosopher and economist William Petty and the 19th-century British prime minister, Lord Palmerston, whose statue has stood in the t ...

, and Peter Symonds Sixth Form College. She went on to study Latin at St Mary's College,

Durham Durham most commonly refers to: *Durham, England, a cathedral city and the county town of County Durham *County Durham, an English county *Durham County, North Carolina, a county in North Carolina, United States *Durham, North Carolina, a city in No ...

. Copus' books of

poetry Poetry (derived from the Greek ''poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings i ...

include ''The Shuttered Eye'' (Bloodaxe, 1995), which won her an

Eric Gregory Award The Eric Gregory Award is a literary award given annually by the Society of Authors for a collection by British poets under the age of 30. The award was founded in 1960 by Dr. Eric Gregory to support and encourage young poets. In 2021, the seven ...

and was shortlisted for the

Forward Prize The Forward Prizes for Poetry are major British awards for poetry, presented annually at a public ceremony in London. They were founded in 1992 by William Sieghart with the aim of celebrating excellence in poetry and increasing its audience. The ...

for Best First Collection, the pamphlet ''Walking in the Shadows'' (1994), which won the Poetry Business competition, ''In Defence of Adultery'' (Bloodaxe, 2003), ''The World's Two Smallest Humans'' (Faber, 2012), shortlisted for both the Costa Book Awards (poetry category) and the

T.S. Eliot Prize The T. S. Eliot Prize for Poetry is a prize that was, for many years, awarded by the Poetry Book Society (UK) to "the best collection of new verse in English first published in the UK or the Republic of Ireland" in any particular year. The Priz ...

, and ''Girlhood'' (Faber 2019), winner of the inaugural Derek Walcott Prize for Poetry. She is known for establishing a new form in English poetry, which she has called the ''specular form'', in which the second half of the poem mirrors the first, using the same lines but in reverse order and differently punctuated.The Poetry Society (Julia Copus, Apna Ghar Age Concern)
/ref> ''Eenie Meenie Macka Racka'' (an original 45-minute play for radio) was first broadcast on

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...

in September, 2003, having been commissioned after Copus won the BBC's Alfred Bradley Bursary Award for Best New Radio Playwright in 2002. In the same year, she won First Prize in the National Poetry Competition with ''Breaking the Rule''. Copus was awarded a

Royal Literary Fund The Royal Literary Fund (RLF) is a benevolent fund that gives assistance to published British writers in financial difficulties. Founded in 1790, and granted a royal charter in 1818, the Fund has helped an extensive roll of authors through its long ...

Fellowship at the

University of Exeter The University of Exeter is a public university , public research university in Exeter, Devon, England, United Kingdom. Its predecessor institutions, St Luke's College, Exeter School of Science, Exeter School of Art, and the Camborne School of Min ...

in 2005, 2006 and 2007, and the following year was made an RLF Advisory Fellow and awarded an Honorary Fellowship at the University of Exeter. In 2010, she won the Forward Prize for Best Single Poem for ''An Easy Passage''. She has served on the judging panel for a number of literary prizes, including the

Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize The Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize is a British literary prize established in 1963 in tribute to Geoffrey Faber, founder and first Chairman of the publisher Faber & Faber. It recognises a single volume of poetry or fiction by a United Kingdom, Irish ...

, the

Ted Hughes Award The Ted Hughes Award is an annual prize given to a living UK poet for new work in poetry. It is awarded each spring in recognition of a work from the previous year. Background The award was established in 2009 with the permission of Carol Hughes i ...

, the

Costa Book Award The Costa Book Awards were a set of annual literary awards recognising English-language books by writers based in UK and Ireland. Originally named the Whitbread Book Awards from 1971 to 2005 after its first sponsor, the Whitbread company, then ...

, the UK's

National Poetry Competition The National Poetry Competition is an annual poetry prize established in 1978 in the United Kingdom. It is run by the UK-based Poetry Society and accepts entries from all over the world, with over 10,000 poems being submitted to the competition ...

, the Encore Award for best second novel, the Michael Marks Awards and

T. S. Eliot Prize The T. S. Eliot Prize for Poetry is a prize that was, for many years, awarded by the Poetry Book Society (UK) to "the best collection of new verse in English first published in the UK or the Republic of Ireland" in any particular year. The Priz ...

for poetry. Copus has also written four picture books: ''Hog in the Fog'', ''The Hog, The Shrew and the Hullabaloo ''(Faber 2015), T''he Shrew that Flew'' (Faber 2016) and ''My Bed is an Air Balloon'' (Faber 2018)''.''

Personal life

She lives in

Curry Mallet Curry Mallet (anciently "Cory Mallett") is a village and parish in Somerset, England. It is on the Fivehead River (also known as the River Ile), east of Taunton in the South Somerset district. The village has a population of 306. History At the ...

, with her husband, Andrew Stevenson.

Publications

Poetry collections

* ''The Shuttered Eye'', Bloodaxe Books 1995. * ''In Defence of Adultery'', Bloodaxe Books 2003. * ''The World's Two Smallest Humans'', Faber 2012. * ''Girlhood'', Faber 2019.

For children

''The Landlord's Cat'', Out of the Ark Music 2010
(with Antony Copus)
''A Harry & Lil story: Hog in the Fog'', Faber 2014

''A Harry & Lil story: The Hog, the Shrew and the Hullabaloo'', Faber 2015

''A Harry & Lil story: The Shrew that Flew'', Faber 2016''My Bed is an Air Balloon'', Faber 2018

As editor

*
Life Support: 100 Poems to Reach for on Dark Nights
' (Head of Zeus 2019) *
Charlotte Mew: Selected Poems and Prose
' (Faber 2019)

Non-fiction

*
This Rare Spirit: A Life of Charlotte Mew
', Faber 2021
''Brilliant Writing Tips for Students'', Palgrave Macmillan 2009

For radio

* ''Eenie Meenie Macka Racka'', afternoon play, BBC Radio 4, September 2003 * ''The Enormous Radio'' (based on the short story by John Cheever), afternoon play, BBC Radio 4, July 2008 * ''Ghost Lines'', a sequence of poems for radio, BBC Radio 3, December 2011 *
The Heart of Hidden Things
', on the life and work of

Charlotte Mew Charlotte Mary Mew (15 November 1869 – 24 March 1928) was an English poet whose work spans the eras of Victorian poetry and Modernism. Early life and education Mew was born in Bloomsbury, London, daughter of the architect Frederick Mew (18 ...

, BBC Radio 4, November 2019

Audio

''Julia Copus Reading from Her Poems'', (CD) The Poetry Archive 2010

Selected awards

* 199
Eric Gregory Award
(Society of Authors) * 1997 ''The Shuttered Eye'' shortlisted for Forward Poetry Prize for Best First Collection * 2002 National Poetry Competition, First Prize
'Breaking the Rule'
* 2002 BBC Alfred Bradley Bursary Award for Best New Radio Playwright, ''Eenie Meenie Macka Racka'' * 2005 Arts Council Writers' Award * 2010 Forward Poetry Prize (Best Single Poem)
'An Easy Passage'
* 2011 ''Ghost Lines'' shortlisted fo
Ted Hughes Award for New Work in Poetry
* 201
Costa Book Awards
(poetry category), shortlist, ''The World's Two Smallest Humans'' * 2012

T S Eliot Prize The T. S. Eliot Prize for Poetry is a prize that was, for many years, awarded by the Poetry Book Society (UK) to "the best collection of new verse in English first published in the UK or the Republic of Ireland" in any particular year. The Priz ...

, shortlist, ''The World's Two Smallest Humans'' * 201
Authors' Foundation Grant
(Society of Authors) * 202
Derek Walcott Prize for Poetry
for ''Girlhood''

References

External links

Julia Copus author page on the Faber & Faber websiteJulia Copus reading her poems on The Poetry Archive Julia Copus biography page on the Royal Literary Fund website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Copus, Julia British poets 21st-century British poets 21st-century English poets 21st-century English writers 21st-century British women writers 21st-century English women writers 1969 births Living people English women poets English women dramatists and playwrights Alumni of St Mary's College, Durham