Lavinia Elaine Greenlaw (born 30 July 1962) is an English poet, novelist and non-fiction writer. She won the

Prix du Premier Roman The Prix du Premier Roman (''debut novel, First Novel Prize'') is a French literary prize awarded to an unpublished novelist between the ages of 18 and 30. The monetary reward is 3,000 Euros. The prize was first awarded in 1977. Starting with 1 ...

with her first novel and her poetry has been shortlisted for awards that include 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 ...

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 ...

and Whitbread Poetry Prize. Her 2014

Costa Poetry 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 ...

was for ''A Double Sorrow: A Version of Troilus and Criseyde''. Greenlaw currently holds the post of Professor of Creative Writing (Poetry) at

Royal Holloway, University of London Royal Holloway, University of London (RHUL), formally incorporated as Royal Holloway and Bedford New College, is a public research university and a constituent college of the federal University of London. It has six schools, 21 academic departm ...

."Lavinia Greenlaw appointed Chair of Creative Writing"
Royal Holloway, University of London, 31 May 2017.

Biography

Meeting with writers from the UK 2019 (cropped)

Lavinia Greenlaw was born in London into a medical and scientific family, and has a sister and two brothers.Marianne Brace

''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'', 6 January 2006. When she was aged 11, the family moved from London to an

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

village, where they lived for seven years. This period Greenlaw has described as "an interim time", with "memories of time being arrested, nothing much happening." Greenlaw went on to read modern arts at

Kingston Polytechnic , mottoeng = "Through Learning We Progress" , established = – gained University Status – Kingston Technical Institute , type = Public , endowment = £2.3 m (2015) , ...

. She then studied at the

London College of Printing The London College of Communication is a constituent college of the University of the Arts London. It specialises in media-related subjects including advertising, animation, film, graphic design, photography and sound arts. It has approximately ...

and gained an MA in art history from the

Courtauld Institute The Courtauld Institute of Art (), commonly referred to as The Courtauld, is a self-governing college of the University of London specialising in the study of the history of art and conservation. It is among the most prestigious specialist coll ...

. She was employed as an editor at

Imperial College of Science and Technology Imperial College London (legally Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom. Its history began with Prince Albert, consort of Queen Victoria, who developed his vision for a cu ...

(1985–1986) and with the publishers

Allison & Busby Allison & Busby (A & B) is a publishing house based in London established by Clive Allison and Margaret Busby in 1967. The company has built up a reputation as a leading independent publisher. Background Launching as a publishing company in May ...

(1986–1987),Biography
at ''The International Literary Quarterly''. and subsequently with Earthscan (1988–90)."Greenlaw, Lavinia (Elaine)"
Encyclopedia.com. She also worked as an arts administrator for

Southbank Centre Southbank Centre is a complex of artistic venues in London, England, on the South Bank of the River Thames (between Hungerford Bridge and Waterloo Bridge). It comprises three main performance venues (the Royal Festival Hall including the Nat ...

(1990–1991) and the London Arts Board (1991–1994). Greenlaw's career as a freelance artist, critic and broadcaster began in 1994. She became the first artist-in-residence at the

Science Museum A science museum is a museum devoted primarily to science. Older science museums tended to concentrate on static displays of objects related to natural history, paleontology, geology, industry and industrial machinery, etc. Modern trends in mu ...

(1994–1995),"Lavinia Greenlaw"

British Council The British Council is a British organisation specialising in international cultural and educational opportunities. It works in over 100 countries: promoting a wider knowledge of the United Kingdom and the English language (and the Welsh lan ...

, Literature. and has since held residences at the

Royal Festival Hall The Royal Festival Hall is a 2,700-seat concert, dance and talks venue within Southbank Centre in London. It is situated on the South Bank of the River Thames, not far from Hungerford Bridge, in the London Borough of Lambeth. It is a Grade I l ...

, at a London solicitors' firm (1997–1998), and at the

Royal Society of Medicine The Royal Society of Medicine (RSM) is a medical society in the United Kingdom, headquartered in London. History The Society was established in 1805 as Medical and Chirurgical Society of London, meeting in two rooms in barristers’ chambers ...

(2004). In 2013 she won an Engagement Fellowship from the

Wellcome Trust The Wellcome Trust is a charitable foundation focused on health research based in London, in the United Kingdom. It was established in 1936 with legacies from the pharmaceutical magnate Henry Wellcome (founder of one of the predecessors of Glaxo ...

. Her sound work ''Audio Obscura'' was commissioned in 2011 by

Artangel Artangel is a London-based arts organisation founded in 1985 by Roger Took. Directed since 1991 by James Lingwood and Michael Morris, it has commissioned and produced a string of notable site-specific works, plus several projects for TV, film, r ...

and

Manchester International Festival The Manchester International Festival is a biennial international arts festival, with a specific focus on original new work, held in the English city of Manchester and run by Factory International. The festival is a biennial event, first taking ...

,"Biography"
Lavinia Greenlaw website. and heard at

Manchester Piccadilly station Manchester Piccadilly is the principal railway station in Manchester, England. Opened as Store Street in 1842, it was renamed Manchester London Road in 1847 and became Manchester Piccadilly in 1960. Located to the south-east of Manchester city ...

in July 2011 and London St Pancras station in September and October 2011. It won the 2011

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 ...

for New Work in Poetry, the judges calling it "groundbreaking".Flood, Alison
"Lavinia Greenlaw wins Ted Hughes award 2011 for new work in poetry"
''

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 Gu ...

'', 30 March 2012.Kaite O'Reilly
"Ted Hughes Award for New Work in Poetry 2011: Lavinia Greenlaw"
31 March 2012. Greenlaw taught at

Goldsmiths College, University of London Goldsmiths, University of London, officially the Goldsmiths' College, is a constituent research university of the University of London in England. It was originally founded in 1891 as The Goldsmiths' Technical and Recreative Institute by the Wor ...

. She served as professor of creative writing at the

University of East Anglia The University of East Anglia (UEA) is a public research university in Norwich, England. Established in 1963 on a campus west of the city centre, the university has four faculties and 26 schools of study. The annual income of the institution f ...

from 2007 to 2013, and as a visiting professor at

King's College London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public research university located in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of King George IV and the Duke of Wellington. In 1836, King's ...

(2015–2016) and

Freie Universität Berlin The Free University of Berlin (, often abbreviated as FU Berlin or simply FU) is a public research university in Berlin, Germany. It is consistently ranked among Germany's best universities, with particular strengths in political science and t ...

(2017). She currently holds the post of Professor of Creative Writing (Poetry) at

Royal Holloway Royal Holloway, University of London (RHUL), formally incorporated as Royal Holloway and Bedford New College, is a public research university and a constituent college of the federal University of London. It has six schools, 21 academic departm ...

, University of London. After judging the 2010

Manchester Poetry Prize The Manchester Poetry Prize is a literary award celebrating excellence in creative writing. It was launched by Carol Ann Duffy and The Manchester Writing School at Manchester Metropolitan University in 2008, and was the first phase of the annual M ...

, Greenlaw chaired in 2014 the judging panel for the inaugural

Folio Prize The Rathbones Folio Prize, previously known as the Folio Prize and The Literature Prize, is a literary award that was sponsored by the London-based publisher The Folio Society for its first two years, 2014–2015. Starting in 2017 the sponsor is ...

. She is a Council member of the

Royal Society of Literature 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 ...

and a former Chair of the

Poetry Society The Poetry Society is a membership organisation, open to all, whose stated aim is "to promote the study, use and enjoyment of poetry". The society was founded in London in February 1909 as the Poetry Recital Society, becoming the Poetry Society ...

. Greenlaw has lived in London for most of her life.

Writing

Primarily a poet, Greenlaw has also written novels, short stories, plays and non-fiction. She has made radio documentaries. Her work for music includes the libretto for the opera ''Peter Pan'' composed by

Richard Ayres Richard Ayres (born 29 October 1965, Cornwall) is a British composer and music teacher. Biography Born in Cornwall, England, Richard Ayres followed Morton Feldman's classes at the Darmstadt and Dartington summer schools. He studied composition, ...

(

Staatsoper Stuttgart The Staatsoper Stuttgart (Stuttgart State Opera) is a German opera company based in Stuttgart, the capital of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. The Staatsorchester Stuttgart serves as its resident orchestra. History Performances of operas, ballet and ...

Komische Oper Berlin The Komische Oper Berlin is a German opera company based in Berlin. The company produces opera, operetta and musicals. The opera house is located on Behrenstraße, just a few steps from Unter den Linden. Since 2004, the Komische Oper Berlin, a ...

Welsh National Opera Welsh National Opera (WNO) ( cy, Opera Cenedlaethol Cymru) is an opera company based in Cardiff, Wales; it gave its first performances in 1946. It began as a mainly amateur body and transformed into an all-professional ensemble by 1973. In its ...

and

Royal Opera House The Royal Opera House (ROH) is an opera house and major performing arts venue in Covent Garden, central London. The large building is often referred to as simply Covent Garden, after a previous use of the site. It is the home of The Royal Op ...

, 2015). Publications for which she has written include the ''

London Review of Books The ''London Review of Books'' (''LRB'') is a British literary magazine published twice monthly that features articles and essays on fiction and non-fiction subjects, which are usually structured as book reviews. History The ''London Review of ...

'', ''

'' and ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...

'', and in 2019 she was a contributor to ''A New Divan: A Lyrical Dialogue Between East and West'' (Gingko Library). Her work draws on her interest in science and scientific enquiry and covers themes of displacement, loss and belonging. Critics have seen her poetry as remarkable for its precision; her best contain a complexity and elusiveness that lead them to "appreciate with each re-reading". Her biography notes: "She has written and adapted several dramas for radio, including

Virginia Woolf Adeline Virginia Woolf (; ; 25 January 1882 28 March 1941) was an English writer, considered one of the most important modernist 20th-century authors and a pioneer in the use of stream of consciousness as a narrative device. Woolf was born i ...

's '' Night and Day'',

Hermann Hesse Hermann Karl Hesse (; 2 July 1877 – 9 August 1962) was a German-Swiss poet, novelist, and painter. His best-known works include ''Demian'', ''Steppenwolf (novel), Steppenwolf'', ''Siddhartha (novel), Siddhartha'', and ''The Glass Bead Game'', ...

's ''

The Glass Bead Game ''The Glass Bead Game'' (german: link=no, Das Glasperlenspiel, ) is the last full-length novel by the German author Hermann Hesse. It was begun in 1931 in Switzerland, where it was published in 1943 after being rejected for publication in Germa ...

'', and a series on malaria called ''Five Fever Tales''. She has made documentaries about

Emily Dickinson Emily Elizabeth Dickinson (December 10, 1830 – May 15, 1886) was an American poet. Little-known during her life, she has since been regarded as one of the most important figures in American poetry. Dickinson was born in Amherst, Massach ...

and

Elizabeth Bishop Elizabeth Bishop (February 8, 1911 – October 6, 1979) was an American people, American poet and short-story writer. She was Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 1949 to 1950, the Pulitzer Prize winner for Poetry in 1956, the N ...

and several programmes about light, including trips to the Arctic midsummer and midwinter, the Baltic, the darkest place in England, light in London, and the solstices and equinoxes." Greenlaw is also a memoirist. ''

Kirkus Reviews ''Kirkus Reviews'' (or ''Kirkus Media'') is an American book review magazine founded in 1933 by Virginia Kirkus (1893–1980). The magazine is headquartered in New York City. ''Kirkus Reviews'' confers the annual Kirkus Prize to authors of fic ...

'' summed up her 2007 coming-of-age book, ''The Importance of Music to Girls'', by saying: "The taut, lyric thrum of Greenlaw's prose reflects her poet's skill....Well-written, bewitching and subtly dazzling." ''Some Answers Without Questions'' (2021), part memoir, part manifesto, was described by Hephzibah Anderson in ''

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the w ...

'' as "a delight: approachable, rigorous and omnivorous in its frame of reference".

Awards and recognition

Lavinia Greenlaw received 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 ...

in 1990, an Arts Council Writers' Award in 1995, 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 ...

, and a

Society of Authors The Society of Authors (SoA) is a United Kingdom trade union for professional writers, illustrators and literary translators, founded in 1884 to protect the rights and further the interests of authors. , it represents over 12,000 members and as ...

Travelling Scholarship. In 1994 she was chosen as one of 20

New Generation Poets The New Generation Poets is a group of 1994 British poets whose work was featured in a month-long nationwide festival, many of the writers going on to considerable popular success. The 20 poets were chosen by a panel of judges comprising Melvyn Bra ...

, by a jury composed of

Melvyn Bragg Melvyn Bragg, Baron Bragg, (born 6 October 1939), is an English broadcaster, author and parliamentarian. He is best known for his work with ITV as editor and presenter of ''The South Bank Show'' (1978–2010), and for the BBC Radio 4 documenta ...

Margaret Busby Margaret Yvonne Busby, , Hon. FRSL (born 1944), also known as Nana Akua Ackon, is a Ghanaian-born publisher, editor, writer and broadcaster, resident in the UK. She was Britain's youngest and first black female book publisherJazzmine Breary"Let' ...

, Vicki Feather,

Michael Longley Michael Longley, (born 27 July 1939, Belfast, Northern Ireland), is an Anglo-Irish poet. Life and career One of twin boys, Michael Longley was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, to English parents, Longley was educated at the Royal Belfast A ...

, John Osborne and James Wood. In 1997, Greenlaw won the

for Best Single Poem for "A World Where News Travelled Slowly", the title poem from her second main collection. For her 2001 first novel, ''Mary George of Allnorthover'', Greenlaw won the French

. She has been shortlisted for a number of literary awards, including the Whitbread Book Award (now the

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, then ...

) and the

for Poetry. Her sound work ''Audio Obscura'' won the 2011

for New Work in Poetry. Her short story "We Are Watching Something Terrible Happening" was shortlisted for the

BBC National Short Story Award BBC National Short Story Award is a British literary award for short stories. It was founded in 2005 by the NESTA (the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts) with support from BBC Radio 4 and ''Prospect'' magazine. The winner re ...

2013.

Selected works

*''The Cost of Getting Lost in Space'' (poetry), Turret Books, 1991, *''Love from a Foreign City'' (poetry), Slow Dancer Press, 1992, *''Night Photograph'' (poetry; shortlisted for Whitbread and Forward Poetry Prizes),

Faber & 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 ...

, 1993, *''A World Where News Travelled Slowly'' (poetry), Faber, 1997, *''Mary George of Allnorthover'' (novel; Prix du Premier Roman Etranger),

Flamingo Flamingos or flamingoes are a type of Wader, wading bird in the Family (biology), family Phoenicopteridae, which is the only extant family in the order Phoenicopteriformes. There are four flamingo species distributed throughout the Americas ...

, 9 July 2001, *''Minsk'' (poetry; shortlisted for T. S. Eliot, Forward and Whitbread Poetry Prizes), Faber, 2003, *''Thoughts of a Night Sea'' (photographs by

Garry Fabian Miller Garry Fabian Miller HonFRPS (born 1957) is a British photographic artist. Since the 1986, he has specialised in camera-less photography. His work was exhibited at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London in 2005, at the Rencontres d'Arles in th ...

), Merrell, 2003, *''An Irresponsible Age'' (novel), Fourth Estate, 2006, *''The Importance of Music to Girls'
(memoir)
Faber, 2007, *''The Casual Perfect'' (poetry), Faber, 2011, *''Questions of Travel: William Morris in Iceland'' (non-fiction), Notting Hill Editions, 2011, . *''A Double Sorrow: Troilus and Criseyde'' (poetry), Faber, 2014, *''In the City of Love's Sleep'' (novel), Faber, 2018, *''The Built Moment'' (poetry), Faber, 2019, *''Some Answers Without Questions'' (memoir/manifesto), Faber, 2021,

Translations

* *

Television

Greenlaw appeared as a "talking head" on the

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...

...