arts

Leeds-Based Writers Shortlisted For Prestigious Forward Prizes For Poetry

Safiya Kamaria Kinshasa

Two Leeds-based writers have been shortlisted in different categories of the UK’s most prestigious awards for poetry. Malika Booker and Safiya Kamaria Kinshasa, who have been selected, respectively, in the ‘Best Poem – Written’, and ‘The Felix Dennis Prize for Best First Collection’ categories, hail from opposite ends of an inclusive spectrum that aims to celebrate the work of both newcomers and established poets.

British-born, Barbadian-raised dancer and choreographer Safiya Kamaria Kinshasa is a relative newcomer to the poetry scene. Her first book, Cave, Corn & Gully is a genealogical and autobiographical collection which unites dance and poetry to observe and question what it means to adopt, perform and pass down the notion of black Caribbean femininity. Utilising labanotation and rhythm to analyse movement from Caribbean dances to movements undertaken in everyday rituals, Kinshasa establishes a form of cartography for the poems.

Malika Booker FRSL, a British-born poet of Guyanese and Grenadian parentage, lectures in Creative Writing at MMU, curates and hosts Peepal Tree’s literary podcast, New Caribbean Voices and is co-founder of the writers’ collective, Malika’s Poetry Kitchen. A renowned and well-established voice in the wider poetry world, Booker is a prizewinning author, and has received the Cholmondeley Award in 2019, and the Forward Prize for Best Single Poem in 2020.

Malika Booker

Over three decades, the Forwards have celebrated some of the most recognised names in poetry, including Carol Ann Duffy, Jackie Kay, Claudia Rankine, Simon Armitage, Thom Gunn, Seamus Heaney, Ted Hughes and Caleb Femi. This year’s prize awards will include, among extensive shortlists, Jane Clarke, Mary Jean Chan, Kit Fan, Bohdan Piasecki and Eric Yip. With prizes ranging from £1000 and £10,000, this year’s winners will be announced at a ceremony in Leeds Playhouse, as part of Leeds 23, on 16th October 2023.

Speaking on this year’s shortlists, Chair for the Best
Collection and Best First Collection categories, Bernardine Evaristo, said:

“It was such a pleasure to read so many wonderful poetry collections for this prize from established poets, and to discover new poets at the start of their publishing careers. I think it’s safe to say that poetry in the twenty-first century is flourishing like never before with such a broad range of poets writing from different backgrounds. As a jury we found ourselves drawn to poets who were moving poetry forwards in theme or form or both, who offered us emotional depth, imaginative fertility, re-readability and intellectual complexity, and, most importantly, who were writing fresh perspectives. The ten poets who made the cut, did so in a field of over 230 poets and while it was sometimes heartbreaking to say goodbye to collections we loved, we are incredibly excited to be presenting such an exceptional body of work.”

2023 Best Single Poem Panels Judge, Caroline Bird, said:

“This year felt momentous both for the Forward Prize and for poetry as a whole; to be judging best single poem in two distinct yet symbiotic areas—the stage of the page with its haunted white space and line-break breaths, and also the physical stage; to witness how a poem exists in the air between poet and audience, and within the body of the poet themselves. We had many electric and complex conversations, and we hope this is just the beginning of a fuller appreciation for all forms of contemporary poetry.”

https://www.forwardartsfoundation.org/forward-prizes-for-poetry/

Tickets for the winners' ceremony available here:
//leedsplayhouse.org.uk/event/forward-poetry-prize/)

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