2006
T. S. Eliot Prize
Winner
Seamus Heaney was born on 13 April 1939 in County Derry, Northern Ireland. His first collection, Death of a Naturalist (Faber & Faber), was published in 1965, and was followed by nearly 100 books, including District and Circle (Faber & Faber), which won the T. S. Eliot Prize 2006; he was shortlisted for the Eliot Prize in 1996 for The Spirit Level, in 2001 for Electric Light and in 2010 for Human Chain. Human Chain won the 2010 Forward Prize for Best Collection. Heaney was Oxford University Professor of Poetry from 1989 to 1994, and in 1995 he received the Nobel Prize for Literature. Widely recognized as one of the most significant poets of the twentieth century, Seamus Heaney died, aged 74, on 30 August 2013. His translation of Virgil’s Aeneid Book VI was published posthumously in 2016 to critical acclaim, followed in 2018 by 100 Poems, a selection of poems from his entire career, chosen by his family. Author photo © John Minihan
www.seamusheaney.com
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
Simon Armitage was born in West Yorkshire and is Professor of Poetry at the University of Leeds. His collections...
Paul Farley was born in Liverpool and studied at the Chelsea School of Art. He has published six...
W. N. Herbert is a highly versatile poet who writes in both English and Scots. Born in Dundee,...
Jane Hirshfield is the author of numerous books of poetry, essays and books collecting the work of women...
Twice shortlisted for the T.S. Eliot Prize for The World Before Snow (Carcanet) in 2015 and The Blood...
Paul Muldoon was born in County Armagh in 1951. He now lives in New York. A former radio...
Robin Robertson has published numerous poetry collections with Picador Poetry. They include: A Painted Field (1997), winner of...
Penelope Shuttle was born in Middlesex in 1947, and has lived in Cornwall since 1970. She received an...
Hugo Williams was born in 1942 and grew up in Sussex. He worked on the London Magazine from 1961...
Judges
CHAIR
Sean O’Brien is a poet, critic, novelist and short-fiction writer. Born in London in 1952, he grew up...
Related News Stories
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 2007. The Poetry Book Society is pleased to announce that the winner of the T. S. Eliot Prize for the best single-author collection of poetry published in 2006 is: Seamus Heaney, for...
This article on the T. S. Eliot Prize was first published on the Poetry Book Society website in 2006. The Poetry Book Society is pleased to announce the Shortlist for the T. S. Eliot Prize 2006, to be awarded to the writer of the best new collection of poetry published...
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