The winner of the Fenton Aldeburgh First Collection Prize 2012 – one of the most important and long-established poetry awards in the UK – was announced at the 24th Aldeburgh Poetry Festival on Friday 2 November at 8pm. The recipient of this best first collection prize is Olivia McCannon for Exactly My Own Length published by Carcanet as part of their TheOxfordPoets imprint.

Olivia McCannon responded to news of her win with:

“I am grateful to the judges for their close reading and comments – a reward in itself. It will be a great privilege and pleasure to read to such a poetry-loving audience next year and to be part of the festival and the community it creates.”

On behalf of his fellow judges Esther Morgan and Alicia Stubbersfield, Chair Robert Seatter writes:

“In a very very close field, what we valued in Olivia McCannon’s book was the judged authenticity of her voice. Her collection has a subtle craftsmanship, and her clean and precise language rewards several re-readings revealing new layers of connection and meaning. Exactly My Own Length is surprising without ever being showy, feelingful without overplaying its sentiment, and universal without being predictable.”

Exactly My Own Length contains work spanning ten years. Roughly half of it was written in Paris, where Olivia lived full-time for eight years. French was her language of everyday communication, and as English became more foreign, she found that she was able to write with greater displacement. The second half came into existence during the last year of her mother’s life – “poems to hold onto when everything was slipping away” says Olivia.

Eleanor Crawforth, Editor of Carcanet said:

“The prize, and its accompanying support from the Aldeburgh Poetry Festival, is a major landmark in the development of a young poet’s career, and Olivia’s win reflects the continuing success of Carcanet’s Oxford Poets imprint.”

David Constantine, former Editor of Oxford Poets adds:

“By choosing this book, the judges affirm a wider faith in the good of poetry that is rigorous, heartfelt, and rooted in common realities.”

In addition to the cash award (£2,000), the Aldeburgh prize carries two incalculable benefits for the winner. Olivia McCannon will receive a paid invitation to read at next year’s 25th Aldeburgh Poetry Festival, plus a unique week’s paid protected writing time on the inspirational East Suffolk coast. No other poetry prize makes such an investment in new talent.
For further information, contact Tina Neill, 01986 835950 or email

Poem from Exactly My Own Length

At the Door

At the door of this house
We need a box in which
To post our troubles as we arrive.

Troubles must not enter this house
Only lightness and smooth cheer
Bunches of gerberas and jokes.

If we’re to keep up the walls of this house
Small things must not be made big
Big things must be made small.

The ticking bomb of this house
Is guarded by a sentry who may shout
To cover his deafness.

We who open the door of this house
Must enter stripped of clocks or watches –
Although you know what time it is.

At the door of this house
We need a box in which
To post our troubles as we leave.

YUI
At Yui, travellers had a choice: risk drowning at sea or death by bandits
     on Satta Pass. In the garden this morning kill-fish lap
     their bowl indifferent to crows balancing on the rim.
     Ack-ack-ack-ack, crows laugh as they watch fish loop-the-loop.

Kikuyo shivers thinking of travellers peaky as an August moon,
     too close to the edge, torn between safety and danger.
     Trees fall away from the blue-green waters of Suruga,
     four junks head for the point of vanishing.

A grey thought clings to the ledge. He has forgotten. I am not jealous,
     though I know he’s not alone, Kikuyo thinks. She paints
     her bottom lip and chooses the high road. Leaves
     at once as clouds unravel the day.

Nancy Gaffield
Tokaido Road
(CB Editions 2011)

2012 Olivia McCannon – Exactly My Own Length (Carcanet)
2011 Nancy Gaffield – Tokaido Road (CB editions)
2010 Christian Campbell – Running the Dusk (Peepal Tree)
2009 J.O. Morgan – Natural Mechanical (CB editions)
2008 Ciaran Berry – The Sphere of Birds (The Gallery Press)
2007 Tiffany Atkinson – Kink and Particle (Seren)
2006 Roger Moulson – Waiting for the Night Rowers (Enitharmon)
2005 Nick Laird – To A Fault (Faber)
2004 Julia Casterton – The Doves of Finisterre (The Rialto)
2003 Martha Kapos – My Night in Cupid’s Palace (Enitharmon)
2003 Helena Nelson – Starlight on Water (The Rialto)
2003 Matthew Welton – The Book of Matthew (Carcanet)
2002 Henry Shukman – In Doctor No’s Garden (Cape)
2001 Esther Morgan – Beyond Calling Distance (Bloodaxe)
2000 Colette Bryce – The Heel of Bernadette (Picador)
1999 Cliff Yates – Henry’s Clock (Smith/Doorstop)
1998 Tamar Yoseloff – Sweetheart (Slow Dancer Press)
1997 Robin Robertson – A Painted Field (Picador)
1996 Glyn Wright – Could Have Been Funny (Spike)
1995 Gwyneth Lewis – Parables & Faxes (Bloodaxe)
1994 Sue Stewart – Inventing the Fishes (Anvil)
1993 no prize awarded
1992 Susan Wicks – Singing Underwater (Faber)
1991 Mark Roper – The Hen Ark (Peterloo)
1990 Donald Atkinson – A Sleep of Drowned Fathers (Peterloo)
1989 John Lucas – Studying Grosz on the Bus (Peterloo)

2013 Judges

The judges of this year’s Fenton Aldeburgh First Collection Prize are Peter Blegvad, Maura Dooley and Robert Seatter (Chair).

The Shortlist

The shortlist of up to five titles will be released mid-September 2013.

The Winner & The Prize

The winner will be announced on Friday 8 November at the opening main reading of the 25th Aldeburgh Poetry Festival, 8-10 November 2013. S/he will receive a cheque for £2,000, a week of paid ‘protected’ writing time on the East Suffolk coast, and a fee-paying invitation to read at the following Aldeburgh Poetry Festival - a unique opportunity to reach Britain’s largest and most appreciative poetry audience.

History

The Aldeburgh First Collection Prize was launched in 1989 to coincide with the first Aldeburgh Poetry Festival and is the oldest prize of its kind in the UK. The winner has always received both a cash prize and an invitation to read at the subsequent Festival.

Between 2003 and 2008, the award was renamed the Jerwood Aldeburgh First Collection Prize and its profile and value substantially increased, thanks to six-year investment from the Jerwood Charitable Foundation. Instead of an anonymous panel, three established poets are appointed each year as judges including a Chair - latterly Michael Laskey; most recently Robert Seatter. Recent judges have included Gillian Allnutt, Helen Dunmore, Vicki Feaver, Jamie McKendrick, Penelope Shuttle and Christopher Reid.

Between 2012 and 2015, thanks to new three-year support from the Fenton Arts Trust, the prize will be re-titled The Fenton Aldeburgh First Collection Prize.

Any first collection of at least 40 pages with primary publication in the UK and Republic of Ireland between 1 August 2012 and 31 July 2013 is eligible. Submissions can be from publishers or individual poets.

The deadline for receiving three bound or proof copies with a note of the date of publication will be Friday 26th July 2013.

Click here to download a pdf file will full entry details

The Aldeburgh First Collection Prize was launched in 1989 to coincide with the first Aldeburgh Poetry Festival and remains the oldest prize of its kind in the UK. The winner receives both a cash prize and an invitation to read at the subsequent Festival in addition to a paid weeks writing time on the Suffolk coast. The prize is awarded - in the opinion of the judges - to the best first collection of poetry published in printed book form in the UK and Republic of Ireland in the preceding year.

In 2010 the Prize was awarded to young Caribbean poet Christian Campbell for Running the Dusk (Peepal Tree Press).

Judge Jo Shapcott praised the collection as a “bravura performance” describing Campbell’s poems as “energetic, fluid and musical and full of loss, hope and imagination. “The book, which was also shortlisted for the Forward Prize for Best First Collection, was described by fellow judge Neil Rollinson as “the clear stand out among all the volumes I read.”

Campbell responded to news of his win with:
Let’s just say that I’m ‘feeling good’ in the Nina Simone way! I’m honoured to be a part of a moment of great energy and transformation in contemporary poetry in the UK. It’s very, very difficult for any young poet, and for any Caribbean poet, to get this level of recognition.

Previous winners of the prize include Tiffany Atkinson, Colette Bryce, Nick Laird, Esther Morgan, Robin Robertson, Henry Shukman and Susan Wicks.