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Commonwealth Poetry Prize


The Commonwealth Poetry Prize was an annual poetry prize established in 1972, for a first published book of English poetry from a country other than the United Kingdom. It was initially administered jointly by the Commonwealth Institute and the National Book League.

In 1985 the prize received sponsorship from British Airways. £11,000 prize money was provided for the prize, which was advertised as "the world's most comprehensive award for poetry".

Poems by 35 winners of the prize, each introduced with a brief biographical note, were collected in a 1987 anthology, Under another Sky.

The prize was discontinued in 1987, and a Commonwealth Writers Prize established in its place.

Commonwealth prize winners

YearWinners
1972Chinua Achebe, Beware Soul Brother (1971)
George McWhirter, Catalan Poems (1971)
Commended: Richard Ntiru, David Mitchell
1973Wayne Brown, On the Coast (1972)
1974Dennis Scott, Uncle Time (1973)
1975
1976Michael Jackson, Latitudes of Exile: Poems 1965–1975 (1976)
Runners-up: Peter Kocan, The Other Side of the Fence co-runner-up (1976) Robin Thurston 'Believed Dangerous - 58 Poems' 1976 published by Queensland University Press.
1977Arun Kolatkar, Jejuri (1976)
Runner-up: R. Parthasarathy, Rough Passage (1977)
1978Timoshenko Aslanides
1979Brian Turner, Ladders of Rain (1978)
Gabriel Okra
1980Shirley Geok-lin Lim, Crossing the Peninsula (1980)
Audrey Longbottom, Relatives and Reliques (1979)
1981Philip Salom, The Silent Piano (1980)
1982Peter Goldsworthy, Readings from Ecclesiastes: Poems (1982)
1983Grace Nichols, I is a Long-Memoried Woman (1983)
1984David Dabydeen, Slave Song (1984)
Runner-up: Syd Harrex, Atlantis and other Islands.
1985Lauris Edmond, Selected Poems (1984)
Regional Prizes: Vikram Seth (Asia), Timothy Holmes, Michael Longley, Kobena Eyi Acquah, Gary Geddes
1986Lorna Goodison, I am Becoming My Mother (1986)
Regional Prizes: Anne Michaels (Americas), Iain Chrichton Smith
1987Philip Salom, Sky Poems (1986)
Regional Prizes: Tanure Ojaide (Africa)

References

References

  1. [[Alastair Niven]], 'The Commonwealth poetry prize', in Richard Maltby and Peter Quartermaine, eds., ''The Commonwealth: a common culture'', pp.53-62.
  2. (1985). "The Oxford Companion to Australian Literature". Oxford University Press.
  3. [https://www.pnreview.co.uk/cgi-bin/scribe?item_id=5833 News & Notes], ''[[PN Review]]'' 44, July–August 1985. Accessed 1 September 2020.
  4. [[Alastair Niven]], ed., ''Under another sky: an anthology of Commonwealth Poetry Prize winners''. Manchester, England: Carcanet, 1987.
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