John Haynes, Creative Writing tutor, shortlisted for the TS Eliot prize for poetry.

Judges have chosen 6 collections from the record 123 books submitted by publishers, which join the 4 Poetry Book Society choices to make up the 10 collections on the shortlist:

Seeing Stars Simon Armitage (Faber)
The Mirabelles Annie Freud (Picador)
You John Haynes (Seren)
Human Chain Seamus Heaney (Faber)
What the Water Gave Me Pascale Petit (Seren)
The Wrecking Light Robin Robertson (Picador)
Rough Music Fiona Sampson (Carcanet)
Phantom Noise Brian Turner (Bloodaxe)
White Egrets Derek Walcott (Faber)
New Light for the Old Dark Sam Willetts (Jonathan Cape)



The T S Eliot Prize was inaugurated in 1993 to celebrate the Poetry Book Society's 40th birthday, and to honour its founding poet. Now in its eighteenth year, the T S Eliot Prize is the 'world's top poetry award' (Louise Jury, The Irish Independent). The Prize is awarded annually to the writer of the best new poetry collection published in the UK or Ireland. It is unique as it is always judged by a panel of established poets and it has been described by Sir Andrew Motion as 'the Prize most poets want to win'.

Previous winners (in chronological order) are:

Ciaran Carson, Paul Muldoon, Mark Doty, Les Murray, Don Paterson, Ted Hughes, Hugo Williams, Michael Longley, Anne Carson, Alice Oswald, Don Paterson (for the second time), George Szirtes, Carol Ann Duffy, Seamus Heaney, Sean O'Brien, Jen Hadfield and Philip Gross.

To view John Haynes' website http://www.jhaynestab.co.uk/


For more information on the TS Eliot prize http://www.poetrybooks.co.uk/projects/4/