Vicki Feaver (born 1943) is an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

poet. She has published three poetry collections. Feaver's poem "Judith", from her book, ''Handless Maiden'', was awarded 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 Single Poem. The book was also the recipient of a Heinemann Prize and shortlisted for the

. Feaver was also a recipient of a

Cholmondeley Award The Cholmondeley Awards () are annual awards for poetry given by the Society of Authors in the United Kingdom. Awards honour distinguished poets, from a fund endowed by the Dowager Marchioness of Cholmondeley in 1966. Since 1991 the award has bee ...

Biography

Feaver was born in 1943 in

Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. She studied music at

Durham University , mottoeng = Her foundations are upon the holy hills (Psalm 87:1) , established = (university status) , type = Public , academic_staff = 1,830 (2020) , administrative_staff = 2,640 (2018/19) , chancellor = Sir Thomas Allen , vice_chan ...

and English at

University College, London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = � ...

, and later worked as a lecturer and tutor in English and Creative Writing at University College, Chichester, where she is an emeritus professor. On 14 January 2014, Feaver participated in the BBC Radio 3 series "The Essay - Letters to a Young Poet". Taking

Rainer Maria Rilke René Karl Wilhelm Johann Josef Maria Rilke (4 December 1875 – 29 December 1926), shortened to Rainer Maria Rilke (), was an Austrian poet and novelist. He has been acclaimed as an idiosyncratic and expressive poet, and is widely recogni ...

's classic text ''

Letters to a Young Poet ''Letters to a Young Poet'' (original title, in German: ''Briefe an einen jungen Dichter'') is a collection of ten letters written by Bohemian-Austrian poet Rainer Maria Rilke (1875–1926) to Franz Xaver Kappus (1883–1966), a 19-year-old off ...

'' as inspiration, leading poets wrote a letter to a protege. Feaver lives in

South Lanarkshire gd, Siorrachd Lannraig a Deas , image_skyline = , image_flag = , image_shield = Arms_slanarkshire.jpg , image_blank_emblem = Slanarks.jpg , blank_emblem_type = Council logo , image_map ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

Collections of poetry

* 1978: ''Monograph'' (Pamela Robertson-Pearce) * 1981: ''Close Relatives'' (Secker & Warburg) * 1986: ''Clean Sheets'' (Cathcart Press) * 1991: ''Penguin Modern Poets Vol 2'' (with Carol Ann Duffy and Eavan Boland) * 1992: ''Crab Apple Jelly'' (Somers Press) * 1994: ''The Handless Maiden'' (Jonathan Cape, shortlisted for

) * 2003: ''Girl in Red and Other Poems'' (Scottish Book Trust) * 2006: ''The Book of Blood'' (Jonathan Cape, shortlisted for

and Costa Award) * 2015: ''Second Wind'' (Saltire Society, with Douglas Dunn and Diana Henry) * 2019: ''I Want! I Want!'' (Jonathan Cape, forthcoming autumn 2019)

Other works

* 2005: ''Machinery of Grace: A Tribute to Michael Donaghy (1954-2004)'' (contributor) * 2011: ''This Moment Will Never Come Again: A Selection of Daily Photographs from the Attic Salt Exhibition'' (co-author)

Prizes

* 1992: Arvon Competition Prize for the poem "Lily Pond" * 1993:

Forward Poetry 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 ...

, Best Single Poem, for the poem 'Judith' * 1994: W. H. Heinemann Award for ''The Handless Maiden'' * 1998:

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 ...

for the poem 'Bats' * 1999:

References

External links

British Council entry

Poetry Archive entry

recording and text of the Forward Prize-winning 'Judith'
* No More "Mrs Nice": an interview in Poetry Magazine

1943 births Living people Writers from Nottingham English women poets Alumni of University College London Academics of the University of Chichester Alumni of St Aidan's College, Durham {{England-poet-stub