Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Jen Hadfield & Mick Imlah

I'm rather pleased that Jen Hadfield won the T.S. Eliot - she's only 30 so it shows great foresight on the part of the judges. She's also a little bit non-mainstream - or she is to some. Myself, I don't think she is very; but she's got a lot more going for her than some of the old warhorses that were also up for it.

I also heard of the death of Mick Imlah - very tragic - of motor neurone disease. A horrible way to die. I don't really know his poetry, and it doesn't seem like my sort of thing. But it's still a sad loss to British poetry.

2 comments:

Rob said...

I thought that Nigh-No-Place was a step or two towards the mainstream. It's a terrific book and I'm glad it won. But have you seen her first collection, Almanacs? It's more than a 'little bit' non-mainstream!

Unknown said...

I've just posted an interview with Hadfield here and a blog post about her here.