Sharon Olds was born in San Francisco and educated at Stanford University and Columbia University. She is the author of thirteen books of poetry. Balladz (Cape Poetry, 2023), was a finalist for the National Book Award and was longlisted for the 2023 Griffin Poetry Prize. Her collection, Stag’s Leap (Cape Poetry), won both the T. S. Eliot Prize 2012 and the Pulitzer Prize. Olds holds the Erich Maria Remarque Chair at New York University’s Graduate Program in Creative Writing, where she helped to found workshop programmes for residents of Coler-Goldwater Hospital, and for veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Photo © Hilary Stone
Shortlisted Works
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We are thrilled to announce the T. S. Eliot Prize 2023 Shortlist, chosen by judges Paul Muldoon (Chair), Sasha Dugdale and Denise Saul from 186 poetry collections submitted by British and Irish publishers. The list comprises a former winner and two previously shortlisted poets, as well as two debuts and two...
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). Sharon Olds has a long history with the T. S. Eliot Prize, having been shortlisted for...
Times are dark, but the poets are singing. 2019 has been another strong year for poetry. Thematically, poetry is increasingly, necessarily political. Brecht asked in 1938: What kind of times are they, when A talk about trees is almost a crime Because it implies silence about so many horrors? We...
Judges John Burnside (Chair), Sarah Howe and Nick Makoha have chosen the T. S. Eliot Prize 2019 Shortlist from 158 poetry collections submitted by British and Irish publishers. Featuring new voices and veteran poets, and covering an extraordinary range of themes, the Shortlist comprises five men, four women and one...
This article on the T. S. Eliot Prize was first published on the Poetry Book Society website in 2013. The Poetry Book Society is delighted to announce that Sharon Olds has won the T. S. Eliot Prize for Poetry 2012 with Stag’s Leap, published by Cape Poetry. She is...
This article on the T. S. Eliot Prize was first published on the Poetry Book Society website in 2012. The Poetry Book Society is pleased to announce the Shortlist for the T. S. Eliot Prize for Poetry 2012. Judges Carol Ann Duffy (Chair), Michael Longley and David Morley have chosen...
This article on the T. S. Eliot Prize was first published on the Poetry Book Society website in 2009. The Poetry Book Society is delighted to announce the Shortlist for the T. S. Eliot Prize for Poetry 2009. Judges Simon Armitage (Chair), Colette Bryce and Penelope Shuttle have chosen the...
