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Alone in BabelApril 4, 2013

The Poetry Championship

Introducing our third attempt to find the ‘best’ poets in Britain, or at least the ones who’ve been winning awards and getting published in the major magazines…

(I’ve attempted to answer frequent, and less frequent, questions in an earlier post.)

THE CHAMPIONSHIP

What on earth is ‘The Championship’? (Brief introduction for readers who’d rather pluck out their own eyeballs with a coffee-drenched teaspoon than watch a game of football): The Championship is the league directly below the Premier League; hence, the Poetry Championship is directly below the Poetry Premier League, and contains the poets who just missed out on the top 20. Since the Championship has 24 teams, there should be 24 poets here. Any readers interested in the dark art of counting will observe that there are actually 25, due to the tense and action-packed race for the final spot ending in an inseparable tie.

POSITION* POET   POINTS TOTAL
21. Wendy COPE  130
22. Selima HILL 125
23. John KINSELLA 125
24. Ian PINDAR 125
25. Esther MORGAN 120
26. Ahren WARNER 120
27. Philip GROSS 115
28. Ruth PADEL 115
29. Rachael BOAST 115
30. Penelope SHUTTLE 110
31. Bernard O’DONOGHUE 110
32. Leontia FLYNN 105
33. Tom PAULIN 100
34. James FENTON 95
35. Jamie MCKENDRICK 95
36. Tim LIARDET 95
37. Helen DUNMORE 90
= Andrew MOTION 90
39. Mark FORD 90
40. Liz LOCHHEAD 85
= Paul MULDOON 85
42. Judy BROWN 85
43. Ruth FAINLIGHT 85
44. Ian DUHIG 85
= Jackie KAY 85

 (Click on the poet’s name to find out more. Most links lead either to the poet’s website or to the Poetry Archive, where you can hear each poet read their own work.)

—

The Ascent of Woman?

The balance between female and male poets here is almost exactly equal (12 women to 13 men, with sincere apologies if I’ve miscounted!), and two female poets — Wendy Cope and Selima Hill —head the list. Without giving away too many details about the top 20, there are a number of female poets ranked still higher, including major award winners Jorie Graham and Sharon Olds. Meanwhile, the National Poetry Competition was won by a female poet in both 2011 and 2012; since 2000, 8 of the 12 winners have been women.

While magazine editors and awards shortlists are frequently criticised for not featuring enough women (and it’s an undeniable fact that there was an all-male shortlist for the 2011 Forward Prize, although it should be noted that women outnumbered men on the judging panel), this survey doesn’t support the idea that there’s some sort of literary glass ceiling.

Minority report

On the other hand, non-white poets are conspicuous by their near-total absence. In last year’s survey, only four non-white poets made the top 50. Of those four poets, Fred D’Aguiar (now outside the top 150) and Derek Walcott (outside the top 200) have both plummeted down this year’s rankings, while the Iranian-born Mimi Khalvati just missed out on making the Championship list. Jackie Kay made the top 50 this time, but the presence of only two non-white poets in this survey should perhaps be a matter of concern.

That said, projects such as Ten (Bloodaxe Books) have been set up specifically to promote black and Asian writers, and Bernardine Evaristo recently guest-edited Poetry Review. Walcott’s absence from the list can be easily explained by his lack of recent publications (he hasn’t been in contention for the major awards since the TS Eliot Prize-winning White Egrets, in 2010).

YBP watch

Ahren Warner is close to the top twenty for the second year running, and is clearly making the transition from promising new voice to a position in whatever passes for the poetry establishment. Earlier this year, he succeeded Colette Bryce as editor of Poetry London. Of the poets on Todd Swift’s YBP list, Rachael Boast has also been widely-published over the last couple of years, while Jacob Polley (54th), Jon Stone (60th) and Liz Berry (68th) were unlucky not to make the top 50 this time.

Bubbling under

Among the major players from last year’s list to miss out this time were Robin Robertson (70th), Don Paterson (95th) and Seamus Heaney (=98th). Expect Robertson to climb the rankings next year following the recent publication of Hill of Doors. Sam Willetts, in the top twenty last time, dropped off the list completely, and it will be interesting to see how he follows his high-impact first collection, New Light for the Old Dark.

 —

*Note on the table: where poets are level on points, the score for 2012 has been used as a tie-breaker.

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jacob silkstonePoetry Premier LeaguePPL Season 3

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Previous articleThe Poetry Premier League: Season Three (FAQ)
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One last love letter...

April 24, 2021

It has taken us some time and patience to come to this decision. TMS would not have seen the success that it did without our readers and the tireless team that ran the magazine for the better part of eight years.

But… all good things must come to an end, especially when we look at the ever-expanding art and literary landscape in Pakistan, the country of the magazine’s birth.

We are amazed and proud of what the next generation of creators are working with, the themes they are featuring, and their inclusivity in the diversity of voices they are publishing. When TMS began, this was the world we envisioned…

Though the magazine has closed and our submissions shuttered, this website will remain open for the foreseeable future as an archive of the great work we published and the astounding collection of diverse voices we were privileged to feature.

If, however, someone is interested in picking up the baton, please email Maryam Piracha, the editor, at maryamp@themissingslate.com.

Farewell, fam! It’s been quite a ride.

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The Poetry Premier League: Season Three (FAQ)

Jacob Silkstone's guide to British Poetry

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