MS: The Long and Short of it

Caroline Bird

Happy Friday Ladies. In need of a new reading list? You can’t go far wrong with the third longlist for the now annual University of Wales Dylan Thomas Prize; announced earlier this week. Rachel Trezise and Nam Le have taken the gong previously. Standards are high.

This year the seven-strong panel of judges chaired by Hay Literature Festival founder Peter Florence has selected 16 literary works, which includes poetry, novels and a play. The £30,000 prize is open to any published writer in the English language under the age of 30 and the 2010 longlisted writers span four continents with five hailing from the UK.

I’m over the moon for English poet Caroline Bird, now aged 23, who was shortlisted for the 2008 University of Wales Dylan Thomas Prize, is once again in contention for the award with her third collection of poems, Watering Can (Carcanet). She has to be one of my favourite poets of the day — witty, acerbic and inventive. Multi-award winning New Zealander Eleanor Catton (The Rehearsal, Granta) and Desmond Elliott Prize winner Ali Shaw (The Girl With The Glass Feet, Atlantic Books) are also in the running.

The shortlist will be announced in September.

Forward? Me?

Another good week for Cinnamon Press. How to Pour Madness into a Teacup by Abegail Morley has been short listed for the Forward Prize for Best First Collection. The title has been a winner from the outset – first winning the Cinnamon Press Poetry Collection Award. The collection is described as ‘a compelling first collection from a poet whose exploration of mental illness is acutely observed, wry, poignant, dark and humane.’

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Wildlife

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