Forward prize winning poet Liz Berry will be guest judge of the Dudley-based Black Country Living Museum’s poetry competition. The theme is earth and air, and the deadline is 29 July. More details
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Dominic James
Sun 24th Jan 2016 15:15
I was reading up on the WOL piece on the TS Eliot prize, all interesting, and of course Sarah Howe's poetry is certainly worth the read. On the other hand, a comment by barbkay on Katy Evans-Bush's article (see WOL link) seemed pretty balanced, to paraphrase, to the judges: don't tell me how good she looked, give me the work!
Thinking the whole competition thing should probably be avoided, I came across the judge's report from last year's The Interpreter's House prize, the judge, Liz Berry, in judging anonymous entries, declared that she immediately recognised an admired poet's work, so had to be very careful to mark it fairly, along with the two others he submitted, I suppose. This raises questions. Perhaps the organisers felt the wind knocked out of their sails, a bit. Maybe not.
Anyway, it strikes me something's not right with the poetry bake-off. I am beginning to think competitions should generally be avoided. At least, add a pinch of salt when the laurels get shared around.
By the way, I am not including the 2015 Interpreter's House Judge's Report 2015 here. Feedback is the only thing that can be asked of a judge's report, and Liz Berry clearly conducts herself entirely properly in that.