Hot on the heels of the T S Eliot Prize announcement came the news that Jo Shapcott has won the Costa Prize for her collection Of Mutability.
Most of the papers followed the same line as The Guardian, here, by trumpeting it as a surprise victory for poetry. And so, I suppose, it is, given that it has rarely won in the past, but had done so (in the form of Christopher Reid) last year.
As with the TSE Prize, I'm not really in a position to make a very informed comment. I haven't read the book, and although I've read quite a lot of Shapcott's work over the years I can't claim to know her poetry that well. But whatever, it seems to be a thoroughly good thing that a poetry collection can scoop this major literary prize again - it can only help raise profiles all round.
No comments:
Post a Comment