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Winners of the Forward Prizes for Poetry 2020
Left to right: Caroline Bird, Will Harris, Malika Booker
Forward Prize for Best Collection (£10,000)
Caroline Bird The Air Year (Carcanet)
Felix Dennis Prize for Best First Collection (£5,000)
Will Harris RENDANG (Granta Poetry)
Forward Prize for Best Single Poem (£1,000)
Malika Booker ‘The Little Miracles’ (Magma)
Winners were announced in an online event, hosted by the British Library, on Sunday 25th October. A recording of the event is available to watch on our website.
The Forward Prizes for Poetry honour excellence in contemporary poetry published in UK and Ireland.
Forward Prize for Best Collection 2020 (£10,000)
The Air Year
(Carcanet)
Postcolonial Love Poem
(Faber & Faber)
I Want! I Want!
(Cape Poetry)
FURY
(Carcanet)
Tiger Girl
(Bloodaxe Books)
Felix Dennis Prize for Best First Collection 2020 (£5,000)
Shine, Darling
(Offord Road Books)
RENDANG
(Granta Poetry)
My Darling from the Lions
(Picador)
Magnolia 木蘭
(Nine Arches Press)
Citadel
(Pavilion Poetry)
Forward Prize for Best Single Poem 2020 (£1,000)
‘Mama Cockroach, I Love You’
(Poetry London)
‘The Little Miracles’
(Magma)
‘(Un)certainties’
(Mslexia & PBS Women’s Poetry Competition)
‘Nocturne for a Moving Train’
(The Poetry Review)
‘Dick pics’
(The Moth)
The Forward Book of Poetry 2021
The Forward Book of Poetry 2021 brings together the best poetry from 2020, including the great work shortlisted and Highly Commended in the 2020 Forward Prizes.
In showcasing the range and ambition of today’s fresh voices alongside work by familiar names, this book is essential reading for seasoned poetry enthusiasts and new readers alike.
Forward Meet The Poet
Forward Meet The Poet was an online series featuring readings from the shortlisted books and the chance to ask the poets about their work.
Judging Panel
Leaf Arbuthnot, Kim Moore, Alexandra Harris (chair), Roger Robinson, David Wheatley | Image credits: Alex Harris – Vikki Beddoes
Writer, critic and social historian Alexandra Harris chaired the Forward Prizes for Poetry 2020 judging panel. She was joined by poets Kim Moore, Roger Robinson and David Wheatley, and journalist Leaf Arbuthnot. Read more about the judges.
Sponsors
Since its inception in 1992, the Forward Prizes for Poetry have been supported by Bookmark, the global content marketing and communications agency. It is with their unstinting support that we have been able to shortlist 295 poets over the past 29 years, championed excellence in poetry and reached thousands of school students with Forward Prize Books and activities.
The Forward Prizes are also grateful to the literary estate of the late Felix Dennis, the Esmée Fairburn Foundation, the John Ellerman Foundation and Arts Council England.
