2003
T. S. Eliot Prize
Winner
Don Paterson was born in Dundee, Scotland. He is the author of sixteen books of poetry, aphorism, criticism and poetic theory. His poetry has won many awards, including the Whitbread Poetry Prize, the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize, the Costa Poetry Award, and three Forward Prizes; he is the only poet to have won the T. S. Eliot Prize on two occasions – with his second collection God's Gift to Women (Faber & Faber, 1997) and Landing Light (Faber & Faber, 2003). He also been shortlisted for Nil Nil (1993) and 40 Sonnets (2015). His most recent collections are Zonal (2020) and The Arctic (2022). He is Professor Emeritus at the University of St Andrews and for twenty-five years was Poetry Editor at Picador Macmillan. He is a Fellow of the English Association, the Royal Society of Literature, and the Royal Society of Edinburgh. He received the OBE in 2008 and the Queen’s Gold Medal for Poetry in 2010.
This biography of Don Paterson is taken from the Faber & Faber website.
www.donpaterson.net
Faber & Faber
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
Billy Collins is the author of numerous poetry collections, including Taking Off Emily Dickinson’s Clothes, Whale Day, and...
Ian Duhig worked with homeless people for fifteen years before devoting himself to writing activities full-time. A Fellow...
Lavinia Greenlaw was born in London. She has published six collections of poetry with Faber & Faber, including:...
Jamie McKendrick was born in Liverpool in 1955. He is author of eight collections of poetry and has...
Bernard O’Donoghue was born in Cullen, Co Cork in 1945, later moving to Manchester. He is an Emeritus...
Jacob Polley was born in Carlisle in 1975. He is the author of five poetry collections: The Brink...
Christopher Reid was born in Hong Kong in 1949 and studied at Oxford. He then worked as a...
Jean Sprackland is a poet and writer who lives in London. Tattoos for Mother’s Day (Spike, 1997), was shortlisted for...
John F. Deane was born on Achill Island, Co Mayo, Ireland. He is the founder of Poetry Ireland,...
Judges
CHAIR
George Szirtes was born in Budapest in 1948 and came to England as a refugee in 1956. He...
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). Don Paterson is the only poet to have won the T. S. Eliot Prize twice: in...
This article on the T. S. Eliot Prize was first published on the Poetry Book Society website in 2004. Don Paterson was named the winner of the 11th T. S. Eliot Prize for Poetry at an award ceremony held at Lancaster House in London on Monday 19 January. He...
