Kate Clanchy MBE (born 1965 in

Glasgow, Scotland Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popu ...

) is a British poet, freelance writer and teacher.

Early life

She was born in 1965 in Glasgow to medieval historian

Michael Clanchy Michael Thomas Clanchy (28 November 1936 – 29 January 2021) was Professor Emeritus of Medieval History at the Institute of Historical Research, University of London and Fellow of the British Academy. Early life and education Clanchy was bo ...

and teacher Joan Clanchy (née Milne). She was educated at

George Watson's College George Watson's College is a co-educational independent day school in Scotland, situated on Colinton Road, in the Merchiston area of Edinburgh. It was first established as a hospital school in 1741, became a day school in 1871, and was m ...

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

and at the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

, where she studied English.

Career

She lived in London's

East End The East End of London, often referred to within the London area simply as the East End, is the historic core of wider East London, east of the Roman and medieval walls of the City of London and north of the River Thames. It does not have uni ...

for several years, before moving to

Oxfordshire Oxfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the north west of South East England. It is a mainly rural county, with its largest settlement being the city of Oxford. The county is a centre of research and development, primaril ...

where she now works as a teacher, journalist and freelance writer. Her poetry and seven radio plays have been broadcast by

BBC Radio BBC Radio is an operational business division and service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a royal charter since 1927). The service provides national radio stations covering ...

. She is a regular contributor to ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers '' The Observer'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the ...

'' newspaper; her work appeared in ''

The Scotsman ''The Scotsman'' is a Scottish compact newspaper and daily news website headquartered in Edinburgh. First established as a radical political paper in 1817, it began daily publication in 1855 and remained a broadsheet until August 2004. Its pare ...

'', the ''

New Statesman The ''New Statesman'' is a British political and cultural magazine published in London. Founded as a weekly review of politics and literature on 12 April 1913, it was at first connected with Sidney and Beatrice Webb and other leading members ...

'' and '' Poetry Review''. She also writes for radio and broadcasts on the BBC's World Service, Radio 3 and Radio 4. She is a Creative Writing Fellow of

Oxford Brookes University Oxford Brookes University (formerly known as Oxford Polytechnic) is a public university in Oxford, England. It is a new university, having received university status through the Further and Higher Education Act 1992. The university was named ...

and teaches Creative Writing at the

Arvon Foundation The Arvon Foundation is a charitable organisation in the United Kingdom that promotes creative writing. Arvon is one of Arts Council England's National Portfolio Organisations. Andrew Kidd is the Chief Executive Officer, Patricia Cumper is Cha ...

. She is currently one of the writers-in-residence at the charity First Story. Her poetry has been included in ''A Book of Scottish Verse'' (2002) and ''The Edinburgh book of twentieth-century Scottish poetry'' (2006). Clanchy was appointed an MBE in 2018.

Book controversy

In August 2021, Clanchy announced that she would rewrite her book ''Some Kids I Taught and What They Taught Me'' after passages from it were criticised online for their depictions of ethnic minority, autistic and working class children, including use of terms described by some as "dehumanising", "racist", "anti-Black", and "

antisemitic Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism. Ant ...

". Detractors included fellow writers

Dara McAnulty Dara Seamus McAnulty (born 2004) is a Northern Irish naturalist, writer and environmental campaigner. He is the youngest ever winner of the RSPB Medal and received the Wainwright Prize for UK nature writing in 2020 after being the youngest au ...

Monisha Rajesh Monisha Rajesh (born 1982) is a British journalist and travel writer. Early life Rajesh was born in Norfolk, England, the child of two Indian doctors. The family moved from Sheffield to Madras, India, in 1991. After two years, "fed up with soap ...

, Sunny Singh and

Chimene Suleyman Chimene or Chimène Suleyman is a writer from London of Northern Cypriot descent, who has written on the politics of race and immigration in media including ''The Guardian'', ''The Independent'', the BBC and NPR, and co-edited '' The Good Immig ...

. Clanchy was defended by the writers

Amanda Craig Amanda Craig (born 1959) is a British novelist, critic and journalist. She was a recipient of the Catherine Pakenham Award. Early life Born in South Africa, Craig grew up in Italy before moving to London. Her parents were British journalist, ...

and

Philip Pullman Sir Philip Nicholas Outram Pullman (born 19 October 1946) is an English writer. His books include the fantasy trilogy '' His Dark Materials'' and '' The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ'', a fictionalised biography of Jesus. In 2008, ''T ...

. Clanchy had initially claimed, incorrectly, that the extracts concerned were "all made up", then argued that the quotes, which she described as "racist", had been taken out of context. Clanchy later issued a statement apologising for "overreacting" to the critiques and stating that she "got many things wrong, and welcome the chance to write better, more lovingly". Later, however, she seemed to retract her agreement to rewrite, in an article she wrote for Unherd accusing the publisher's sensitivity readers of having "sullied" her memoir.

Prizes and awards

*1994

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 seve ...

*1997 Forward Poetry Prize (Best First Collection) for ''Slattern'' *1996

London Arts Board The regional arts boards (formerly regional arts associations) were English regional subdivisions of the Arts Council of Great Britain History As the Arts Council began to move away from organising art activities in the 1950s, regional offices ...

New Writer Award *1996 Saltire Society Scottish First Book of the Year Award for ''Slattern'' *1996 Scottish Arts Council Book Award for ''Slattern'' *1997 Mail on Sunday/

John Llewellyn Rhys Prize The John Llewellyn Rhys Prize was a literary prize awarded annually for the best work of literature (fiction, non-fiction, poetry, drama) by an author from the Commonwealth aged 35 or under, written in English and published in the United Kingdo ...

(shortlist) for ''Slattern'' *1997 Somerset Maugham Award for ''Slattern'' *1999 Forward Poetry Prize (Best Poetry Collection of the Year) (shortlist) for ''Samarkand'' *1999 Scottish Arts Council Book Award for ''Samarkand'' *2004 Forward Poetry Prize (Best Poetry Collection of the Year) (shortlist) for ''Newborn'' *2009 Scottish Arts Council Book Award for ''What Is She Doing Here?: A Refugee's Story'' *2009 Writers' Guild Award for Best Book (''What is She Doing Here'') *2009 BBC National Short Story Award for ''The Not-Dead and The Saved'' *2013

Costa Book Awards 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, the ...

(First Novel), shortlisted for ''Meeting the English'' *2018 Cholmondeley Award *2020 Orwell Prize for Political Writing for ''Some Kids I Taught and What They Taught Me''

Bibliography

* 1st edition Chatto & Windus, 1995 * * (editor) * 1st edition Picador, 2004 * * * * *

References

External links

"Kate Clanchy", ''British Council''

* ttp://www.poetrymagazines.org.uk/magazine/record.asp?id=3329 "The Girl from Nowhere: John Stammers interviews Kate Clanchy". ''Magma'' No 9 - Spring 1997
"Poet Kate Clanchy wins BBC National Short Story award". ''Guardian'' article. 7 December 2009

A review to 'La testa di Shakila' by Andrea Galgano. ''Città del Monte'' italian article about Kate Clanchy. 2 September 2019
{{DEFAULTSORT:Clanchy, Kate 1965 births Living people Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature Scottish women poets Scottish women dramatists and playwrights 20th-century Scottish poets 20th-century Scottish dramatists and playwrights 20th-century Scottish women writers 21st-century Scottish poets 21st-century Scottish dramatists and playwrights 21st-century Scottish women writers Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Alumni of the University of Oxford Writers from Glasgow