Roscommon poet shortlisted for prestigious T.S. Eliot prize
Fuerty poet Jane Clarke’s third poetry collection has been shortlisted for the prestigious T.S. Eliot prize.
Fuerty poet Jane Clarke’s third poetry collection has been shortlisted for the prestigious T.S. Eliot prize, considered by many to be the top English language poetry award.
Her work ‘A Change in the Air’ is among the 10-strong books of poems that have been shortlisted for the prestigious award. The shortlist, narrowed down from 186 applications, was announced last week.
The TS Eliot Prize is awarded annually to the writer of the best new poetry collection published in the UK and Ireland. The winner, who will be announced next January, will receive £25,000, while each shortlisted poet will receive £1,500.
Jane Clarke grew up on a farm in Fuerty before studying and working in Dublin for 13 years. While she now lives Glenmalure, Wicklow, her writing often harks back to her childhood in rural Roscommon, and many of her poems are rooted in the landscape of Fuerty.
Jane only began to write after moving to Wicklow almost 30 years ago. Her highly acclaimed poetry reflects on how we are shaped by people, place and landscape and how our past informs our present.
She clearly loves keeping in touch with her Roscommon roots . A former guest editor of the Roscommon Broadsheet, Jane read from her poetry at the Strokestown Poetry Festival in 2020 and she judged that year’s Roscommon Poets’ Poetry Prize.
She is the author of three poetry collections and an illustrated poetry booklet. Her three collections were published by Bloodaxe Books, The River in 2015, When the Tree Falls in 2019 and A Change in the Air in 2023.
Jane Clarke’s collection A Change in the Air is also on the five-strong shortlist for the £10,000 Forward Prize for Best Collection, one of the most coveted and influential prizes for poetry in the UK and Ireland. The winners of this year's Forward Prize will be announced at a ceremony in Leeds Playhouse, taking place on October 16th. She was also longlisted for The Laurel Prize 2023.
Jane has won numerous other writing awards, including the Hennessy Literary Award for emerging poetry. Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin, another Irish poet whose collection The Map Of The World has made this year’s shortlist for the T.S. Eliot prize, read from her poetry at this year’s Strokestown Poetry Festival.
