Forward Prizes for Poetry
1 appearances
-
Edition 24 (2015) Winner
Mona Arshi
モナ・アルシ
Mona Arshi
Profile
- Gender
- Female
- Born
- London, England
- Nationality
- British
- Languages
- English
- Religion
- Sikhism
- Residence History
- Hounslow → West London
Career
- Occupations
- Poet, Novelist, Lawyer
- Active Years
- 2008-2025
- Affiliations
- Liberty, JR Jones Solicitors
- Memberships
- Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, Fellow Commoner in Creative Arts, Trinity College, Cambridge
- Nominations
- Jhalak Prize 2022 shortlist (Somebody Loves You), Goldsmiths Prize 2022 shortlist (Somebody Loves You), Desmond Elliott Prize 2022 longlist (Somebody Loves You), Republic of Consciousness Prize 2022 longlist (Somebody Loves You)
Education
| Institution | Faculty | Department | Degree | Period | Country |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lampton Comprehensive School | — | — | — | — | United Kingdom |
| Guildford College of Law | — | Law | — | — | United Kingdom |
| University College London | — | Faculty of Laws | — | — | United Kingdom |
| London School of Economics | — | — | 人権法修士 | — | United Kingdom |
| University of East Anglia | — | Creative Writing (Poetry) | MA | — | United Kingdom |
Lampton Comprehensive School
Country:
United Kingdom
Guildford College of Law
Law
Country:
United Kingdom
University College London
Faculty of Laws
Country:
United Kingdom
London School of Economics
Degree:
人権法修士
Year of Graduation:
2002
Country:
United Kingdom
University of East Anglia
Creative Writing (Poetry)
Degree:
MA
Year of Graduation:
2010
Country:
United Kingdom
Distinction
Awards
| Year | Award | Work | Category | Organization | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | Manchester Poetry Prize | Portfolio of five poems | — | Manchester Metropolitan University | Joint Winner |
| 2015 | Forward Prize for Poetry, Best First Collection | Small Hands | — | Forward Arts Foundation | Winner |
Manchester Poetry Prize
2014
Work:
Portfolio of five poems
Organization:
Manchester Metropolitan University
Result:
Joint Winner
Forward Prize for Poetry, Best First Collection
2015
Work:
Small Hands
Organization:
Forward Arts Foundation
Result:
Winner
Awards & Nominations
Works
Major Works
Small Hands
2015 Poetry collectionDebut collection including elegy sequence for brother Deepak, poems inspired by small children and childhood in Hounslow.
brother's deathsmall childrenchildhoodloss
Dear Big Gods
2019 Poetry collectionContinues addressing brother's death, experiments with forms like prose poems, sestina, tanka; responses to Lorca, Dickinson, Odyssey, Mahabharata.
godslossform experimentationclassics
Somebody Loves You
2021 NovelSet in suburban London, about a British Indian family whose younger daughter Ruby develops selective mutism.
familyselective mutismimmigrationsilence
Mouth
2025 Poetry collectionBibliography
- Small Hands (2015)
- Dear Big Gods (2019)
- Somebody Loves You (2021)
- Mouth (2025)
Style & Themes
- Literary Style
- form experimentationprose poemssestinatanka
- Recurring Motifs
- brother's deathgodshuman rightsinterrogation of language
Legacy
British poet and novelist known for winning the Forward Prize for Best First Collection. From Punjabi Sikh family, incorporates human rights law background into poetry.
Academic Societies
- Royal Society of Literature
Quotes
-
A poem is not a human rights instrument or the pleadings in a court case, nor should it seek to be but one activity that the human rights lawyer and poet share is the restless interrogation of language....Poetry needs to continue to strive to make space for itself and think the unthinkable, the unimaginable on the page.
Source: POETRY magazine, 'On Gods, Human Rights and the Poet' (2019)
Trivia
- Grew up in an Indian Sikh family from Punjab in Hounslow
- Litigated high-profile cases at NGO Liberty including Diane Pretty's right-to-die case
- Selected for The Complete Works mentoring programme