Previous Book & Pamphlet Competition winners shortlisted for 2008 Forward Prize. See here for details.  

Winners of the 2007 Competition, with comments by judge Alison Brackenbury

The following four people have their winning collections published by Smith/Doorstop Books. Available in May 2008:

Julia Deakin (The Half-Mile High Club)
'Sharp and knowing, these poems dance before the reader in their exuberance and sudden dark. They are bold, irreverent and wickedly funny.'

Yvonne Green (Boukhara)
'These enthralling and lovely poems begin with rich recollections of another country (“so we ate so we loved”), but darken into the shock of domestic violence. This collection is absolutely straightforward to read, but quite unforgettable.'

Padraig O’Morain (You've Been Great)
'This is a quiet poetry, strong with the humours and occasional horrors of country life, affectionate but never sentimental, its music grave and necessary as time.'

Ann Pilling (Growing Pains)
'Through childhood, loss and living, these poems carry the reader with them, through pain, through the warmth and wisdom of their final lines. They bring bravado, biscuit tins and balloons. They bring hope.'

Highly Commended:
River Wolton (All-Night Drive)
'Many of the poems in this collection were full of life and promise.'

Shortlisted:

Anna Adams, Credentials
John Arnold, A Valley Thick with Corn
Jane Aspinall, The Mechanism of Failure
Judy Brown, The Cheese Room
John Clarke, Boat Shadows
Christy Ducker, Footing
Charles Evans, Sweet and Sour
Michael Hulse, To My Father
James Midgley, Inviting the Tiger to Tea
Anna Woodford, Birdhouse

Notes on the experience of judging the competition:
You have not seen the sky grown dark. You have not realised that you are hungry. You have forgotten to feed the cat. You are engrossed in the work of the finalists for the Poetry Business Pamphlet Competition

Be warned! Good poetry can seriously disrupt your life.

RESULTS OF THE 2006 COMPETITION

The main winner is Allison McVety, The Night Trotsky Came to Stay - currently shortlisted for the 2008 Forward Prize

First stage winners
Andrea Holland Borrowed
Judith Lal Flageolets at the Bazaar
Patrick McGuiness Nineteenth-century Blues

These pamphlets will be published in May.

Book & Pamphlet Competition 2005

Overall winner:
Padraig Rooney The Escape Artist

First stage winners:

Paul Batchelor To Photograph A Snow Crystal
Ed Reiss Now Then
Pam Thompson Show Date and Time


2005 Shortlist
The following writers were shortlisted: John Arnold, Phillip Crymble, Michael Cunningham, Joanna Cutts, Liz Fincham, Elizabeth Foy, Dominic McLoughlin, Sophie Nicholls, Ann Pilling, Michael di Placido, David Swann

Book & Pamphlet Competition 2004

Overall winner:
Patricia Debney

First stage winners:
Carole Bromley, Hugh McMillan, Hilary Menos and Pascale Petit.