Gillian Allnutt at book signing in 2014 01

Gillian Allnutt (born 15 January 1949 in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

) is an English

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 ...

, author of 9 collections and recipient of several prizes including the 2016

Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry The Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry is awarded for a book of verse published by someone in any of the Commonwealth realms. Originally the award was open only to British subjects living in the United Kingdom, but in 1985 the scope was extended to in ...

Life

Allnutt was born in London, but was educated at

La Sagesse School La Sagesse School was a 3–18, Roman Catholic, private school for girls in Jesmond, Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, England. It was established in 1906 and closed in 2008. It occupied Jesmond Towers, a Grade II* listed building and was loca ...

Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne ( RP: , ), or simply Newcastle, is a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. The city is located on the River Tyne's northern bank and forms the largest part of the Tyneside built-up area. Newcastle is ...

. She attended the University of Sussex and

Newnham College Newnham College is a women's constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1871 by a group organising Lectures for Ladies, members of which included philosopher Henry Sidgwick and suffragist campaigner Millice ...

in Cambridge.Alumna Gillian Allnutt awarded Queen’s Gold Medal for Poetry
21 December 2016. Newnham College, Retrieved 7 March 2017 She returned to the North East in 1988, and now lives in

Esh Winning Esh Winning is a village, and location of a former colliery, in County Durham, England. It is situated in the Deerness Valley to the west of Durham. The village was founded by the Pease family in the 1850s to service a new mine on the Esh Estate ...

, County Durham. Her books ''Nantucket and the Angel'' and ''Lintel'' were both shortlisted for the T. S. Eliot Prize. She read Philosophy and English at Cambridge, and from 1983 to 1988 she was poetry editor of ''City Limits'' magazine. Her collections ''Nantucket and the Angel'' and ''Lintel'' were both shortlisted 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 ...

. Poems from these collections are included in her Bloodaxe retrospective ''How the Bicycle Shone: New & Selected Poems'' (2007), which draws on six published books plus a new collection, ''Wolf Light'', and was a Poetry Book Society Special Commendation. Her latest collection is ''indwelling''. She has also published ''Berthing: A Poetry Workbook'' (NEC/Virago, 1991), and was co-editor of ''The New British Poetry'' (Paladin, 1988). From 2001 to 2003 she held a Royal Literary Fund Fellowship at Newcastle and Leeds Universities. She won the Northern Rock Foundation Writer's Award in 2005 and received 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 be ...

in 2010. Since 1983 she has taught creative writing in a variety of contexts, mainly in adult education and as a writer in schools. In 2009/10 she held a writing residency with The Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture (now Freedom From Torture) in the North East, working with asylum seekers in Newcastle and Stockton. In 2013/14 she taught creative writing to undergraduates on the Poetry and Poetics course in the English Department of Durham University. Gillian Allnutt has been named as the recipient of The

2016. The Medal is awarded for excellence in poetry, and was presented to Gillian Allnutt by The Queen in February 2017. A photo of Gillian is on display in Room 37a at the National Portrait Gallery.

Bibliography

Poetry

*''Spitting the Pips Out'' (Sheba, 1981) *''Beginning the Avocado'' (Virago, 1987) *''Blackthorn'' ( Bloodaxe Books, 1994) *''Nantucket and the Angel'' ( Bloodaxe Books, 1997) *''Lintel'' ( Bloodaxe Books, 2001) *''Sojourner'' ( Bloodaxe Books, 2004) *''How the Bicycle Shone: New & Selected Poems'' ( Bloodaxe Books, 2007) *''indwelling'' ( Bloodaxe Books, 2013) *''wake'' ( Bloodaxe Books, 2018)

Anthologies

*''The New British Poetry'' (Paladin, 1988) (co-editor)

Workbook

*''Berthing: A Poetry Workbook'' (NEC/Virago, 1991)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Allnutt, Gillian 1949 births Living people English women poets Alumni of Newnham College, Cambridge People from Esh Winning