New Poets Prizes

Lizzi Hawkins and Sarah Fletcher have won the Poetry Business New Poets Award and will receive a year’s mentoring with Ann and Peter Sansom, as well as having their collections edited and published as part of The New Poets List.

Commenting on Sarah’s writing, the competition judge Andrew McMillan said, “These are arresting, often uncomfortable poems which explore the intersections of sex, violence and disgust. These poems never allow the reader to rest easy, they ask us to interrogate our most shameful thoughts, and through witty surrealism ask us to look afresh at everyday encounters.”

For Lizzi, Andrew noted, “These are incredibly well-constructed, tight poems which are infused with a tender sense of longing; “this is the brittle language that we speak in” declares one poem, there is a fragility here, but a real strength as well.”

Highly commended were Squad writers Alex Shaw and Gregory Kearns: “All highly commended poets submitted dynamic and engaging manuscripts that were using the form of poetry to wrestle with language and push at the boundaries of what it can do.”