Phoebe Stuckes wins Geoffrey Dearmer Prize 2019
Phoebe Stuckes has won the Poetry Society’s Geoffrey Dearmer Prize 2019 for her poem ‘Thus I became a heart-eater’ from her debut collection Platinum Blonde, published by Bloodaxe on 3 September 2020.
The announcement was made on 25 June 2020. The prize is awarded annually to a poem by a poet who had yet to publish a full collection at the time their work appeared in The Poetry Review. The 2019 award was judged by poet Fiona Benson, who writes:
“[‘Thus I became a heart-eater’] is a startling, iconic poem, and struck me to my core. The self held “like an open flame / at Candlemas” conjures a posture of contrition and vulnerability that is then completely upended by the avid evocation of the heart-shaped doughnut, its joyful, sickening stickiness, and its two-finger gesture towards the next event in the calendar, Valentine’s Day: “I ate it / in three bites”. I love the poem’s rebellion, its honesty, its self-disgust, its despair and its resilience. I have been that woman. I see that woman, and I will her on into her life.”
A film of Phoebe reading the winning poem is on the Poetry Society's website here.
A Poetry Society interview with Phoebe Stuckes is here.
Fellow Bloodaxe poet Wayne Holloway-Smith won the Geoffrey Dearmer Prize 2016 for his poem 'Short', the final poem in his debut collection Alarum.
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A film of Phoebe Stuckes reading 'Bleach', the first poem in her debut collection Platinum Blonde, has been posted on Corrupted Poetry's website.
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Interviews with Phoebe Stuckes
Phoebe Stuckes was one of three young poets interviewed about poetry and politics for i-D of 10 March 2020 - read the article here.
Phoebe was also interviewed together with her Bloodaxe editor Neil Astley for BBC Radio 4's The Poetry Editor on 2 December 2019.
Neil Astley, founding editor of Bloodaxe Books, speaks about how he came to publish four-time winner of the Foyle Young Poets Award Phoebe Stuckes, whose debut Platinum Blonde is forthcoming from Bloodaxe in September 2020. They discuss her work and the editorial process. Both Neil and Phoebe were interviewed for this Radio 4 feature on role of the Poetry Editor.
Click here to listen. Neil & Phoebe feature at 6:06.
[25 June 2020]
