2011
T. S. Eliot Prize
Winner
John Burnside was an internationally celebrated poet, novelist, memoirist, writer of short stories and academic works, and the recipient of many major awards, including the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize, the Whitbread Poetry Award, the Encore Award and the Saltire Scottish Book of the Year. In 2011, Black Cat Bone won both the T. S. Eliot and the Forward prizes. The Myth of the Twin (1994), The Asylum Dance (2000), All One Breath (2014) and The Light Trap (2002) – all Cape Poetry – were also shortlisted for the Eliot Prize. John was a distinguished Chair of judges for the T. S. Eliot Prize 2019, having previously judged the competition in 2001. He was a professor in the School of English at Saint Andrews University. His pamphlet Apostasy (Dare-Gale Press) was shortlisted for the Michael Marks Awards 2022. In 2023 he won the David Cohen Prize for a lifetime’s achievement in literature. His most recent collection, Ruin, Blossom (Cape Poetry), was published just a month before his death on 29 May 2024, aged 69, following a short illness. You can read a tribute to him here.
Author photo © Helmut Fricke
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
Carol Ann Duffy (born 23 December 1955) is a Scottish poet and playwright. She is a professor of...
Leontia Flynn was born in County Down in 1974, and completed a PhD at Queen’s University, Belfast. In...
David Harsent has published numerous collections of poetry, including Legion (Faber & Faber, 2005), which won the Forward...
Esther Morgan was born in Kidderminster. Her poetry collections, all published by Bloodaxe Books, include: Beyond Calling Distance...
Daljit Nagra grew up in London and Sheffield, and now lives in Harrow. In 2004 his poem ‘Look...
Sean O’Brien is a poet, critic, novelist and short-fiction writer. Born in London in 1952, he grew up...
Bernard O’Donoghue was born in Cullen, Co Cork in 1945, later moving to Manchester. He is an Emeritus...
Judges
CHAIR
Born in Cardiff, Gillian Clarke is a poet, playwright, editor, broadcaster, lecturer and translator (from Welsh). She edited the Anglo-Welsh...
Related News Stories
In 2023 the T. S. Eliot Prize celebrated its 30th anniversary. We marked the occasion by looking back at the collections which have won ‘the Prize poets most want to win’ (Sir Andrew Motion). John Burnside won the T. S. Eliot Prize 2011 for Black Cat Bone (Cape Poetry), a...
Between 2006 and 2015, the Poetry Book Society ran the T. S. Eliot School Shadowing Scheme (later renamed the Writing Competition) in collaboration with the English and Media Centre, offering GCSE and A Level students the chance to get involved with the judging of the T. S. Eliot Prize. Two...
This article on the T. S. Eliot Prize was first published on the Poetry Book Society website in 2012. The Poetry Book Society is delighted to announce that John Burnside has won the T. S. Eliot Prize for Poetry 2011 with Black Cat Bone, published by Cape Poetry. The...
This article on the T. S. Eliot Prize was first published on the Poetry Book Society website in 2011. The Poetry Book Society is pleased to announce the Shortlist for the T. S. Eliot Prize for Poetry 2011. Judges Gillian Clarke (Chair), Stephen Knight and Dennis O’Driscoll have chosen six...
