Tim Liardet is a

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 wri ...

twice nominated for 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 ...

, a critic, and Professor of Poetry at

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 insti ...

. He was born in London in 1949, and has produced eleven collections of poetry to date.

Biography

''Clay Hill'', his first collection, appeared in 1988. ''Fellini Beach'', his second collection, appeared in 1994. His third collection, ''Competing with the Piano Tuner'', was a

Poetry Book Society The Poetry Book Society (PBS) was founded in 1953 by T. S. Eliot and friends, including Sir Basil Blackwell, "to propagate the art of poetry". Eric Walter White was secretary from December 1953 until 1971, and was subsequently the society's chai ...

Special Commendation and long-listed for the Whitbread Poetry Prize in 1998; his fourth, ''To the God of Rain'', a Poetry Book Society recommendation for Spring 2003. Liardet was awarded a Hawthornden Fellowship in 2002. He has reviewed poetry for such journals as ''

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 ...

'', ''

Poetry Review ''Poetry Review'' is the magazine of The Poetry Society, edited by the poet Emily Berry. Founded in 1912, shortly after the establishment of the Society, previous editors have included poets Muriel Spark, Adrian Henri, Andrew Motion and Maurice R ...

,'' and ''

PN Review Launched as ''Poetry Nation'', a twice-yearly hardback, in 1973, ''PN Review'' - now an A4 paperback - began quarterly publication in 1976 and has appeared six times a year since 1981 (PN Review 21). Two hundred and twenty-five issues of the magaz ...

'' and was poet-in-residence at ''The Guardian'' in 2006. ''The Blood Choir'', his fifth collection, won an Arts Council England Writer's Award as a collection-in-progress in 2003, was a Poetry Book Society Recommendation for summer 2006, and was shortlisted for the 2006

TS 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 the best collection of poetry for that year. "Priest Skear", a pamphlet that turns the drowning of the 23 Chinese cocklepickers in

Morecambe Bay Morecambe Bay is a large estuary in northwest England, just to the south of the Lake District National Park. It is the largest expanse of intertidal mudflats and sand in the United Kingdom, covering a total area of . In 1974, the second larges ...

in 2004 into a political allegory, appeared in 2010 and was the Poetry Book Society Pamphlet Choice for Winter 2010. ''The Storm House'', his eighth collection, a book-length

elegy An elegy is a poem of serious reflection, and in English literature usually a lament for the dead. However, according to ''The Oxford Handbook of the Elegy'', "for all of its pervasiveness ... the 'elegy' remains remarkably ill defined: sometime ...

for his brother who died young and in mysterious circumstances, appeared from Carcanet Press in June 2011. ''Madame Sasoo Goes Bathing'', a pamphlet, appeared in 2013. His ''The World Before Snow'', a study of a life-changing love affair between An American and an English poet who met during a record-breaking snowstorm in Boston, appeared from Carcanet Press in 2015 and was shortlisted for the

of the same year. ''Arcimboldo's Bulldog: New and Selected Poems'' appeared from the same publisher in 2018. Liardet has sat on various panels and delivered papers on contemporary poetry at the AWP Conference in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

in 2008, in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

in 2009, in

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

in 2011 and in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

in 2013. He has also performed his own work Widely: he has read at The Royal Festival Hall, on BBC Radio Three and

BBC Radio Four 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's ...

, at the Ars Interpres Festival, Stockholm, in 2007, as visiting poet at the Internationales Literaturfestival Berlin in 2008, and has read extensively in America, including such venues as

Cambridge Public Library The Cambridge Public Library in Cambridge, Massachusetts is part of the Minuteman Library Network. It consists of a main library and six branches, located throughout the city. Having developed from the Cambridge Athenaeum, the main library buildin ...

, the Lannan Centre for Poetics and Social Practice at

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private research university in the Georgetown (Washington, D.C.), Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789 as Georg ...

Washington DC ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

and the KGB Bar and Cornelia Street Cafe in

Bibliography

*''Clay Hill'', Seren, 1988, *''Fellini Beach'', Seren, 1994, *''Competing with the Piano Tuner'', Seren, 1998, *''The Uses of Pepper'', Smith/Doorstop, 2006, *''To the God of Rain'', Seren, 2003, *''The Blood Choir'', Seren, 2006, *''Priest Skear'', Shoestring Press, 2010, *''The Storm House'', Carcanet, 2011, *''Madame Sasoo Goes Bathing'', Shoestring Press, 2013, *''The World Before Snow'', Carcanet, 2015, *''Arcimboldo's Bulldog: New and Selected Poems'', Carcanet,

Prizes and awards

*Society of Authors Writer's Award, 1996-7 *Poetry Book Society Special Commendation, Spring 1998 (''Competing with the Piano Tuner'') *Whitbread Poetry Prize Longlist, 1999 *Royal Literary Fund Award, 2000 *Hawthornden Fellowship, 2002 *Poetry Book Society Recommendation, Spring 2003 (''To the God of Rain'') *Poetry Business Book and Pamphlet Competition winner, 2003 (''The Uses of Pepper'') *Arts Council Writer's Award, 2003 *Poetry Book Society Recommendation, Summer 2006 (''The Blood Choir'') *TS Eliot Prize (Shortlist), 2006, (''The Blood Choir'') *Pushcart Nomination, 2008, (''The Law of Primogeniture'') *Pushcart Nomination, 2009, (''The Storm House'') *Poetry Book Pamphlet Choice, 2010, (''Priest Skear'') *TS Eliot Prize (Shortlist), 2015 (''The World Before Snow'') *Pushcart Nomination, 2018 (''The World's First Photograph'')

References

Poets from London Alumni of the University of York Academics of Bath Spa University Living people English male poets 1949 births {{England-poet-stub