Mixed Emotions

On the one hand I have to admit I'm disappointed with the results of the Forward Prizes. This post isn't meant to knock Don Paterson and Emma Jones, both of whom are excellent poets, but I don't feel either of them are particularly accessible (and by this I don't mean facile) to general readers of serious prose who might decide to buy a poetry collection on the back of reading this news. In other words, it's my belief that these Forward Prizes have missed their opportunity to widen the U.K. readership for contemporary poetry.

On the other hand I'm pleased that both Sian Hughes and Andrew Philip have been shortlisted for the Aldeburgh First Collection Award. This must be especially gratifying for the latter, after having missed out on the Forward Shortlist.

The Forward Shortlist - just one more question

Back from a fortnight with my in-laws in Ubeda, I've seen the Forward Shortlist has come out. Others have already written excellently about it and very much along the lines of my own thoughts - Rob Mackenzie and Matt Merritt among them - but I'd like to ask just one more question.

How many print runs have there been of each of the shortlisted first collections?

Most of them probably haven't got beyond their first printing, unlike Andrew Philip's sadly ignored "The Ambulance Box", which is currently on its third run and still counting. This prize seems more and more disconnected from the pulse of U.K. poetry, just like the big publishers whose miniscule lists it tends to champion.