World Literary Awards

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Forward Prizes for Poetry ふぉわーどししょう

Edition 18 (2009)

PoetryPoetry collectionFirst collectionSingle poem (written)Single poem (performed)

Winners

3 people
Don Paterson Excellence Award

A compact poetry collection in which Paterson writes with directness and formal control, moving between rain, sea, family, and moments of elegy. The poems balance intimacy with a larger sense of uncertainty and weathered beauty.

Poems that move between weather, family, and elegy.

80 pages
Emma Jones Excellence Award

Jones’s debut collection moves between shipwrecks, underwater zoos, settlers, indigenous peoples, and shifting landscapes to explore belonging and displacement. The poems are vivid, restless, and sharply observed.

A debut collection about belonging, displacement, and the sea.

64 pages
Robin Robertson Excellence Award

A narrative poem shaped by coastal folklore and family violence, turning grief into a stark meditation on survival and revenge.

A narrative poem about grief, violence, and survival.

poetryfolkloregriefviolencesurvival