1995
T. S. Eliot Prize
Winner
Mary Doty is the author of more than ten volumes of poetry, including School of the Arts, Source and My Alexandria, which won the T. S. Eliot Prize 1995, making him the first American poet to be awarded the Prize. He was also shortlisted for the T. S. Eliot Prize with his collections Theory of Apparitions (2008) and Deep Lane (2015), published by Cape Poetry. He has published several acclaimed volumes of non-fiction prose including the memoir Dog Years (2022). His many honours include the National Book Award, National Book Critics Circle Award, the PEN/Martha Albrand Award for First Nonfiction, the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, a Whiting Writers’ Award and a Lila Wallace–Reader’s Digest Writers’ Award. He is Professor/Writer in Residence at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey, USA. Photo © Rachel Eliza Griffiths
Cape Poetry
Announcements
Introduction
The T. S. Eliot Prize is awarded annually to the writer of the best new poetry collection published in the UK and Ireland. Described by Sir Andrew Motion as ‘the prize poets most want to win’ and by The Independent as the ‘world’s top poetry award’, it is the most prestigious poetry prize in the world, and the only major poetry prize judged purely by established poets.
Announcements
Introduction
The T. S. Eliot Prize is awarded annually to the writer of the best new poetry collection published in the UK and Ireland. Described by Sir Andrew Motion as ‘the prize poets most want to win’ and by The Independent as the ‘world’s top poetry award’, it is the most prestigious poetry prize in the world, and the only major poetry prize judged purely by established poets.
Announcements
Shortlisted Works
Shortlisted Poets
Simon Armitage was born in West Yorkshire and is Professor of Poetry at the University of Leeds. His collections...
Ian Duhig worked with homeless people for fifteen years before devoting himself to writing activities full-time. A Fellow...
Michael Longley, born in Belfast on 27 July 1939, was educated at the Royal Belfast Academical Institution and...
Glyn Maxwell was born in England to Welsh parents and now lives in London. He has won several...
Bernard O’Donoghue was born in Cullen, Co Cork in 1945, later moving to Manchester. He is an Emeritus...
Katherine Pierpoint’s collection, Truffle Beds (Faber & Faber, 1995), a Poetry Book Society Recommendation, was shortlisted for the...
Maurie Riordan was born in 1953 in Lisgoold, Co. Cork. His first collection, A Word from the Loki (Faber...
Jackie Wills has worked for newspapers, magazines and several universities. A former journalist, she’s been a writer in...
Glyn Wright’s debut collection, Could Have Been Funny (Spike, 1995), won the Aldeburgh Poetry Festival Prize, was a...
Judges
CHAIR
James Fenton was born in Lincoln in 1949 and educated at Magdalen College, Oxford, where he won the...
Related News Stories
This article on the early years of the T. S. Eliot Prize was written and added to the website in 2025. The winner of T. S. Eliot Prize 1995 was Mark Doty for his collection My Alexandria (Cape Poetry), his first collection to be published in the UK; he...
