Poetry School is a national arts organisation, registered charity and adult education centre providing creative writing tuition, with teaching centres throughout England as well as online courses and downloadable activities. It was founded in 1997 by poets

Mimi Khalvati Mimi Khalvati (born 28 April 1944) is an Iranian-born British poet. Life and career She was born in Tehran, Iran on 28 April 1944. She grew up on the Isle of Wight and was educated in Switzerland at the University of Neuchâtel, and in London ...

Jane Duran Jane Duran, born , is a Spanish-American poet, born in Cuba whilst her father was working as a diplomat in the country. Background Duran was born in Cuba to an American mother and a Spanish father, Gustavo Durán, who had fought with the Republ ...

and Pascale Petit. Poetry School offers an accredited

Master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

in Writing Poetry, delivered in both London and Newcastle, in collaboration with

Newcastle University Newcastle University (legally the University of Newcastle upon Tyne) is a UK public university, public research university based in Newcastle upon Tyne, North East England. It has overseas campuses in Singapore and Malaysia. The university is ...

. Online courses are delivered via CAMPUS, a social network dedicated to poetry. In 2018 the Poetry School moved to new premises at Dock Offices,

Canada Water Canada Water is an area of the Docklands in south-east London. It is named after a freshwater lake and wildlife refuge. Canada Water tube, Overground and bus station is immediately north of the lake, along with Canada Water Library which ov ...

, London, from their previous offices on

Lambeth Walk Lambeth Walk is a street in Lambeth, London, England, off Lambeth Road. It was at the heart of a working-class residential area and there was a street market. The area was originally developed with wells and a recreation ground. Houses fol ...

. The Poetry School's annual Books of the Year list is released in December, and celebrates noteworthy books and pamphlets of poetry published during the year. Poetry School works with a number of partner organisations to deliver a range of projects, including the Ginkgo Prize for Ecopoetry, the Primers mentorship scheme, and, from 2018, a new poetry award and mentorship programme, The Women Poets' Prize, in memory of

The Literary Consultancy The Literary Consultancy (TLC) is a UK-based editorial consultancy service that was founded in 1996, becoming the first service of its kind to offer "professional, in-depth editorial advice and assessment to anyone writing in the English languag ...

co-founder Rebecca Swift. The Women Poets' Prize offers three female-identifying poets a programme of support and creative professional development opportunities in collaboration with seven partner organisations, including, in addition to Poetry School,

Faber and Faber Faber and Faber Limited, usually abbreviated to Faber, is an independent publishing house in London. Published authors and poets include T. S. Eliot (an early Faber editor and director), W. H. Auden, Margaret Storey, William Golding, Samuel B ...

Bath Spa University Bath Spa University is a public university in Bath, England, with its main campus at Newton Park, about west of the centre of the city. The university has other campuses in the city of Bath, and one at Corsham Court in Wiltshire. The instit ...

RADA The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA; ) is a drama school in London, England, that provides vocational conservatoire training for theatre, film, television, and radio. It is based in the Bloomsbury area of Central London, close to the Senat ...

City Lit City Lit is an adult education college in Holborn, central London, founded by the London County Council in 1919, which has charitable status. It offers part-time courses across four schools and five "centres of expertise", covering humanities an ...

and Verve Festival.

Ginkgo Prize for Ecopoetry

Poetry School runs the Ginkgo Prize for Ecopoetry (formerly the Resurgence Prize), a major international award for poems embracing ecological themes, with a first prize of £5,000. The Resurgence Prize was founded in 2014 by poet

Andrew Motion Sir Andrew Motion (born 26 October 1952) is an English poet, novelist, and biographer, who was Poet Laureate from 1999 to 2009. During the period of his laureateship, Motion founded the Poetry Archive, an online resource of poems and audio reco ...

and actress and activist

Joanna Lumley Dame Joanna Lamond Lumley (born 1 May 1946) is an English actress, presenter, former model, author, television producer, and activist. She has won two BAFTA TV Awards for her role as Patsy Stone in the BBC sitcom ''Absolutely Fabulous'' (1992 ...

. The Ginkgo Prize was established in 2018 with funding from the Edward Goldsmith Foundation to commemorate the poet

Teddy Goldsmith Edward René David Goldsmith (8 November 1928 – 21 August 2009), widely known as Teddy Goldsmith, was an Anglo-French environmentalist, writer and philosopher. He was a member the prominent Goldsmith family. The eldest son of Major Fr ...

on the 25th anniversary of the publication of his book ''The Way''.

Winners of the Resurgence Prize (to 2017)

* 2015 –

Luisa Igloria Luisa A. Igloria (born 1961) is a Filipina American poet and author of various award-winning collections, and is the most recent Poet Laureate of Virginia (2020-2022). Education B.A. Humanities - ''Cum Laude'' - major in Comparative Literature ...

, "Auguries" * 2016 – Rob Miles, "Captivity" * 2017 –

Seán Hewitt Seán Hewitt FRSL (born 1990) is a poet, lecturer and literary critic. In 2023, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. Biography Seán Hewitt was born in Warrington, UK, to an Irish mother and English father. He studied E ...

, "Ilex"

Winners of the Ginkgo Prize (from 2018)

*2018 ::1st: Jemma Borg, "Unripe" ::2nd: Teresa Dzieglewicz, "If you’re married, why do you call her Teresa?" ::3rd: Linda France, "In the Physic Garden" *2019 ::1st: Sue Riley, !A Polar Bear in Norilsk! ::2nd: Anne McDonnell, "Once There Were Fish" ::3rd Rosamund Taylor, "Lammergeier" ::Environmental Defenders Prize: Emma Must, "Toll" *2020 ::1st: Jane Lovell, "Ming" ::2nd: Daniel Fraser, "Field Notes" ::3rd: Emily Groves, "What Survives of Us" ::AONB Best Poem of Landscape Prize: Liz Byrne, "Anglezarke Moor" *2021 ::1st: Teresa Dzieglewicz,"Earth I don't know how to love you" ::2nd:

Hilary Menos Hillary Menos (born 1964 in Luton) is an English poet. She studied philosophy, politics and economics at Wadham College, Oxford, then worked as a food journalist and restaurant critic in London before moving to Devon to renovate a Domesday manor. ...

, "3.5 % Rule" ::3rd Liz Byrne, "An Owl the Size of my Smallest Fingernail" ::AONB Best Poem of Landscape: Ross Styants, "Avon in Summer Rain"

Laurel Prize

In November 2019

poet laureate A poet laureate (plural: poets laureate) is a poet officially appointed by a government or conferring institution, typically expected to compose poems for special events and occasions. Albertino Mussato of Padua and Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch) ...

Simon Armitage Simon Robert Armitage (born 26 May 1963) is an English poet, playwright, musician and novelist. He was appointed Poet Laureate on 10 May 2019. He is professor of poetry at the University of Leeds. He has published over 20 collections of poetr ...

announced that he would donate his salary as poet laureate to create a new prize for a collection of poems "with nature and the environment at their heart". The prize is to be run by the Poetry School. The first award was to be announced on 23 May 2020 at the

Yorkshire Sculpture Park The Yorkshire Sculpture Park (YSP) is an art gallery, with both open-air and indoor exhibition spaces, in West Bretton, Wakefield, in West Yorkshire, England. It shows work by British and international artists, including Henry Moore and Barbar ...

, the judges being Armitage, Robert Macfarlane, and

Moniza Alvi Moniza Alvi (born 2 February 1954) is a Pakistani-British poet and writer. She has won several well-known prizes for her verse. Life and education Moniza Alvi was born in Lahore, Pakistan, to a Pakistani father and a British mother. Her father ...

. Armitage has said that the prize should "be part of the discourse and awareness about our current environmental predicament".

Laurel Prize winners 2020

The shortlisted poems were discussed on

BBC Radio 3 BBC Radio 3 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It replaced the BBC Third Programme in 1967 and broadcasts classical music and opera, with jazz, world music, Radio drama, drama, High culture, culture and the arts ...

's ''

The Verb BBC Radio 3 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It replaced the BBC Third Programme in 1967 and broadcasts classical music and opera, with jazz, world music, drama, culture and the arts also featuring. The stati ...

'' in September 2020, and the winners were announced on

National Poetry Day National Poetry Day is a British campaign to promote poetry, including public performances. National Poetry Day was founded in 1994 by William Sieghart. It takes place annually in the UK on the first Thursday in October. Since its inception, it ha ...

. *1st: Pascale Petit, ''Mama Amazonica'' ( Bloodaxe) *2nd:

Karen McCarthy Woolf Karen McCarthy Woolf (born 1966) is a poet of English and Jamaican parentage. Early life and education Karen McCarthy Woolf was born in London to English and Jamaican parents. Her father emigrated to the United Kingdom in 1957 as a part of the ...

, ''Seasonal Disturbances'' (

Carcanet Carcanet Press is a publisher, primarily of poetry, based in the United Kingdom and founded in 1969 by Michael Schmidt. In 2000 it was named the '' Sunday Times'' millennium Small Publisher of the Year. History ''Carcanet'' was originally a li ...

) *3rd:

Colin Simms Colin Simms (born 1939) is a British biologist, curator and poet. Career Biologist and curator Simms was appointed Keeper of Biology at the Yorkshire Museum in 1964. He held this position until 1982. Poet Simms has produced several collections ...

, ''Hen Harrier'' ( Shearsman) *Best First Collection:

Matt Howard Matt Howard (born January 23, 1989) is an American former professional basketball player who last played for Hapoel Tel Aviv of the Israeli Premier League. Previously, he played college basketball with the Butler Bulldogs. He helped lead the ...

, ''Gall'' (

Rialto The Rialto is a central area of Venice, Italy, in the ''sestiere'' of San Polo. It is, and has been for many centuries, the financial and commercial heart of the city. Rialto is known for its prominent markets as well as for the monumental Rialto ...

)

Laurel Prize winners 2021

* 1st:

, ''Tongues of Fire'' (

Jonathan Cape Jonathan Cape is a London publishing firm founded in 1921 by Herbert Jonathan Cape, who was head of the firm until his death in 1960. Cape and his business partner Wren Howard set up the publishing house in 1921. They established a reputation ...

) * 2nd: Ash Davida Jane, ''How to Live with Mammals'' (

Victoria University Press Te Herenga Waka University Press or THWUP (formerly Victoria University Press) is the book publishing arm of Victoria University of Wellington, located in Wellington, New Zealand. As of 2022, the press had published around 800 books. History Vi ...

) * 3rd: Sean Borodale, ''Inmates'' (

) * Best First Collection: Will Burns, ''Country Music'' (Offord Road Books)

Laurel Prize winners 2022

* 1st: Linda France * 2nd: Steve Ely * 3rd: Jemma Borg * Best First Collection: Cynthia Miller * Best International First Collection: Rebecca Hawkes

Primers

Primers is an annual mentoring and publication scheme organised by Poetry School and Nine Arches Press. It provides a unique opportunity for talented poets to find publication and receive a programme of supportive feedback, mentoring and promotion.

Previous winners

* 2015 – Geraldine Clarkson, Lucy Ingrams, Katie Griffiths, Maureen Cullen * 2016 – Cynthia Miller, Ben Bransfield, Marvin Thompson * 2017 – Romalyn Ante,

Aviva Dautch Aviva Dautch (born 5 May 1978) is a British poet, academic, curator and magazine publisher, who is of Eastern European Jewish ancestry. Work She has been writer in residence at the British Museum, the Jewish Museum London and thSeparated Child ...

, Sarala Estruch * 2018 – Lewis Buxton, Victoria Richards, Amelia Louli

References

External links

Poetry School website

Ginkgo Prize for Ecopoetry website

MA in Writing Poetry, Newcastle University
{{coords, 51.4967, -0.0510, display=title Poetry organizations British writers' organisations British poetry