Poet Paterson wins �10,000 prize

Don Paterson was honoured with an OBE for his literary work

Scottish poet Don Paterson has scooped the £10,000 Forward Poetry Prize for his anthology entitled Rain.

Paterson, who won best first collection in 1993, is only the second poet in the prize's history to take both awards.

Emma Jones has become the first Australian to win the debut prize for her work, The Striped World.

The award's announcement coincides with National Poetry Day, which has seen TS Eliot named the nation's favourite poet in a BBC online vote.

The US-born writer beat John Donne, Benjamin Zephaniah, World War I poet Wilfred Owen and Philip Larkin to take the honour.

Some 18,000 votes were cast in the poll, which is part of the BBC's Poetry Season.

Eliot, whose works include The Waste Land and the Four Quartets, made England his home and was buried in the churchyard of the village from where his ancestors had emigrated to America.

TS Eliot gained fame for his Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats

Forward Poetry Prize winner Paterson, who was honoured with an OBE for services to literature last year, has been hailed as a "must-read poet".

Robin Robertson was also named the winner of the best single poem for At Roane Head.

The 53-year-old previously picked up both the best collection and best debut prizes and is renowned as a key figure in the contemporary poetry scene.

Emma Jones's award-winning work is inspired by the landscape of her native Australia, praised by Germaine Greer as "like a pattern in Aboriginal painting".

E-mail this to a friend

Printable version