Tishani Doshi Shortlisted for Ted Hughes Award
Tishani Doshi performing the dance version of her poem 'Girls Are Coming Out of the Woods'. Photo Vifick Bolang
'The poet revels in a love of language; its capacity for ambiguity, for awe, to express emotional fragility. Sometimes playful and ambivalent, this is an invariably profound and excavating experience in its search for meaning.' - Linton Kwesi Johnson, Canon Mark Oakley and Clare Shaw, Judges of the Ted Hughes Award 2018
Poet and dancer Tishani Doshi's third collection Girls Are Coming Out of the Woods and accompanying dance performance were shortlisted for the Ted Hughes Hughes Award for New Work in Poetry, it was announced on 27 February. The winner was announced on 27 March 2019.
Tishani launched the UK edition of Girls Are Coming Out of the Woods with a three-month tour in summer 2018, and performed the powerful dance piece she created to accompany the title poem at many venues across the UK and Ireland. Tishani danced for many years with the renowned choreographer Chandralekha, with whom she performed internationally.
The Ted Hughes Award for New Work in Poetry seeks to recognise excellence in poetry, highlighting outstanding contributions made by poets to our cultural life. The £5,000 prize is donated by Carol Ann Duffy, funded from the annual honorarium the Poet Laureate traditionally receives from HM The Queen.
Full details of the Ted Hughes Award and the shortlist of five titles can be seen here. The winner was Raymond Antrobus.
Tishani Doshi will be giving more dance performancs from Girls Are Coming Out of the Woods in summer 2019.
Tishani Doshi dances Girls Are Coming Out of the Woods at the Dylan Thomas Birthplace
In the video above, Tishani Doshi performs her dance version of ‘Girls Are Coming Out of the Woods’ in the Dylan Thomas Birthplace, Swansea, in July 2018. Filmed by Gareth M Davies (www.seebehindthemoon.com). Poem read by her with music composed by Luca Nardon (www.lucanardon.it).
Below: Tishani Doshi performing the dance at a book launch in India.
For Books of the Year Choices, links to radio, podcast and online inteviews with Tishani Doshi, and reviews of Girls Are Coming Out of the Woods, click here.
[27 February 2019]
