Rebecca Tamás (born 1988) is a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

poet, writer, critic, and editor. She is the daughter of Hungarian philosopher and public intellectual

Gáspár Miklós Tamás Gáspár Miklós Tamás (; 28 November 1948 – 15 January 2023), often referred to as TGM, was a Romanian-born Hungarian political philosopher and public intellectual, influenced by Marxism and libertarian socialism. He was a contributor to on ...

. Tamás studied

creative writing Creative writing is any writing that goes beyond the boundaries of normal professional, journalistic, academic, or technical forms of literature, typically identified by an emphasis on craft and technique, such as narrative structure, character ...

at the

University of Warwick The University of Warwick ( ; abbreviated as ''Warw.'' in post-nominal letters) is a public research university on the outskirts of Coventry between the West Midlands and Warwickshire, England. The university was founded in 1965 as part of ...

and at the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...

, where she won the Grierson Verse Prize, before completing a PhD at the

University of East Anglia The University of East Anglia (UEA) is a Public university, public research university in Norwich, England. Established in 1963 on a campus university, campus west of the city centre, the university has four faculties and twenty-six schools of ...

. She is a lecturer in creative writing at

York St John University York St John University (originally established as York Diocesan College), often abbreviated to YSJ, is a public university located on a large urban campus in York, England. Established in 1841, it achieved university status in 2006 and in 2015 ...

, where she co-convenes The York Centre for Writing Poetry Series.

Work

Tamás is the editor, with Sarah Shin, of the anthology ''Spells: 21st-century Occult Poetry'' (Ignota Press, 2018). She has published three pamphlets of poetry: ''The Ophelia Letters (''Salt, 2013), ''Savage'' (Clinic, 2017) and ''Tiger'' (Bad Betty Press, 2018), and the full-length poetry collection ''Witch'' (Penned in the Margins, 2019). The poet and journalist Ben Wilkinson, writing in ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'', said that ''Witch'' "has caused a stir, and it's not hard to see why". Tamás has been described in ''this is tomorrow'' magazine as "crafting a world of linguistic ritual and transformation around her". In 2020, she published the prose collection ''Strangers: Essays on the Human and Nonhuman.'' ''MAP Magazine'' commissioned three responses from artists to the book. The composer

Freya Waley-Cohen Freya Waley-Cohen (born 20 February 1989) is a British-American composer based in London. Biography Waley-Cohen grew up in an arts-oriented family. Her mother is the American sculptor Josie Spencer and her father is English theatre manager and pr ...

has set eight poems from ''WITCH'' to music: the first complete performance of ''Spell Book'' took place at Milton Court in London on 1 February 2024. Waley-Cohen's opera ''WITCH'', with libretto by Ruth Mariner, was inspired by the Rebecca Tamás collection of the same name. It was staged at the

Royal Academy of Music The Royal Academy of Music (RAM) in London, England, is one of the oldest music schools in the UK, founded in 1822 by John Fane and Nicolas-Charles Bochsa. It received its royal charter in 1830 from King George IV with the support of the firs ...

in 2022, and at

Longborough Festival Opera Longborough Festival Opera is an opera festival which presents a season of high quality opera each June and July in the English Cotswolds village of Longborough in north Gloucestershire. It began in 1991 as Banks Fee Opera by presenting concert ...

the same year. Waley-Cohen has said that she was attracted to the way Tamás's "language flips between shocking and beautiful, catching your attention and making you see something shocking in a new light". Tamás's writing has appeared in publications including ''

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

'',

Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and also published digitally that focuses on business and economic Current affairs (news format), current affairs. Based in London, the paper is owned by a Jap ...

'',

The Poetry Review ''The Poetry Review'' is the magazine of The Poetry Society, edited by the poet Wayne Holloway-Smith. Founded in 1912, shortly after the establishment of the Society, previous editors have included poets Muriel Spark, Adrian Henri, Andrew Motio ...

The White Review ''The White Review'' is a London-based magazine on literature and the visual arts. It is published in print and online. History Founding ''The White Review'' was founded by editors Benjamin Eastham and Jacques Testard, and released its firs ...

'',

ArtReview ''ArtReview'' is an international contemporary art magazine based in London, founded in 1948. Its sister publication, ''ArtReview Asia'', was established in 2013. History Launched as a fortnightly broadsheet in February 1949 by a retired country ...

'', and ''

Frieze In classical architecture, the frieze is the wide central section of an entablature and may be plain in the Ionic order, Ionic or Corinthian order, Corinthian orders, or decorated with bas-reliefs. Patera (architecture), Paterae are also ...

''. Tamás was the joint winner of the 2016

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 annua ...

Awards

* 2016: Joint winner,

* 2017: Fenton Arts Trust Emerging Writer Award * 2017: Joint winner, ''

'' Bookshop Pamphlet of the Year

Works

Poetry

* ''The Ophelia Letters'' (

Salt Publishing Salt Publishing is an independent publisher whose origins date back to 1990 when poet John Kinsella launched ''Salt Magazine'' in Western Australia. The journal rapidly developed an international reputation as a leading publisher of new poetry ...

, 2013) * ''Savage'' (Clinic, 2017) * ''Tiger'' (Bad Betty Press, 2018) * ''WITCH'' (Penned in the Margins, 2019)

Essays

* ''Strangers: Essays on the Human and Nonhuman'' (Makina Books, 2020)

References

External links

Interview
''The Suburban Review'', 2016
Interview
with Alice Hillier, 2019
Interview

Poetry Book Society The Poetry Book Society (PBS) is a British subscription-based book club dedicated to selecting, recommending and publicising new poetry books. Every quarter, it selects two Poetry Book Society Choices and four Poetry Book Society Recommendations. ...

, 2019
Interview
"Rebecca Tamás ponders the anthropocene in Strangers", '' The Skinny'', Anahit Behrooz, 2020 {{DEFAULTSORT:Tamas, Rebecca Living people 1988 births 20th-century British poets 20th-century British women writers 21st-century British poets 21st-century British women writers Alumni of the University of East Anglia Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Alumni of the University of Warwick British women essayists English people of Hungarian descent People associated with York St John University Writers from London