'I've been a fan of Miriam Gamble's work for years - she's such a good poet. This new book just takes you in all kinds of directions... I'm really pleased that Miriam Gamble's What Planet is the winner of the Pigott Prize. Fantastic. Well done Miriam.' - Ian McMillan, Judge of the Pigott Poetry Prize 2020 (on a video for Listowel Writers' Week)
Miriam Gamble has won the Pigott Poetry Prize 2020, Ireland's richest poetry award, for her third collection What Planet. The announcement was made in a digital ceremony from Listowel on 27 May 2020. The Award is worth €10,000 to the winner and €1,000 to each runner-up.
For the second year running, two of the three titles shortlisted were published by UK publisher Bloodaxe Books. Also on the shortlist was When the Tree Falls by Jane Clarke. The third title on the shortlist was Pigeon Songs by Eoghan Walls.
Last year's three-strong shortlist included Leanne O'Sullivan's A Quarter of an Hour and Ailbhe Darcy's Insistence, the latter going on to be named winner.
What Planet is the third collection by Edinburgh-based Northern Irish poet Miriam Gamble. She reads and introduces six poems from What Planet in a film posted below. Her first book-length collection, The Squirrels Are Dead (Bloodaxe Books, 2010), won her a Somerset Maugham Award in 2011. This was followed by Pirate Music in 2014.
Adjudicator and poet Ian McMillan selected the shortlist of three on behalf of Listowel Writers’ Week. He writes:
“In terrible and turbulent times poetry can offer us a map out of lockdown and social distancing. Judging the competition reminded me of the power of language to enchant, to stimulate and to comfort. So many Irish poets are working at the height of their powers, wrestling with language to make it fit the world we live in, and it’s been marvellous to be part of that ongoing endeavour.”
Full details are on Listowel Writers' Week's website here.
Ian McMillan's videos about all three of the shortlisted titles can be found on Listowel Writers' Week's facebook page here.
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Milwaukee Irish Fest in association with Listowel Writers' Week invited Miriam Gamble to be interviewed by Victoria Kennefick for their online festival in August 2020. In this half-hour interview she read and introduced her poems 'The Landing Window Is Unspeakable' and 'The Canal at Fountainbridge' from What Planet and spoke about how the collection was formed.
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'Gamble possesses a confidently original poetic voice and each poem in this collection is skilfully crafted; it is no surprise that What Planet was recently named as the winner of the 2020 Pigott Poetry Prize at Listowel Writers’ Week.'
Read Tim Murphy's in-depth review of What Planet in Dublin Review of Bookshere.
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Miriam Gamble reads from What Planet
Miriam Gamble reads and introduces six poems from What Planet: ‘Betty Staff’s’, ‘Sometimes Nothing’, ‘The Oak That Was Not There’, ‘Feria de Málaga’, ‘Wonderland’ and ‘In the Annum’. Neil Astley filmed her reading selections from her three Bloodaxe collections at her home in Edinburgh in April 2019.
‘What Planet is the finest exhibition to date of Gamble’s range, thematically as well as formally… All of Gamble’s abundant and unique gifts are present: her deft accumulative arguments, her threading of the poetic line as if the way to the goal was through a series of Italian defenders, her precision-tipped empathy. All are on display as we follow Gamble through the increasingly blurred boundaries of her work, and of our lives on this planet.’ - Dane Holt, The Tangerine
