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 collections from the 104 books submitted by publishers, which join the four Poetry Book Society Choices to make up the eight collections on the Shortlist:

John Burnside – Black Cat Bone (Cape Poetry)

Carol Ann Duffy – The Bees (Picador Poetry)

Leontia Flynn – Profit and Loss (Cape Poetry)

David Harsent – Night (Faber & Faber)

Esther Morgan – Grace (Bloodaxe Books)

Daljit Nagra – Tippoo Sultan’s Incredible White-Man-Eating Tiger Toy-Machine!!! (Faber & Faber)

Sean O’Brien – November (Picador Poetry)

Bernard O’Donoghue – Farmers Cross (Faber & Faber)

The Poetry Book Society regrets that Alice Oswald and John Kinsella have withdrawn their collections Memorial (Faber & Faber) and Armour (Picador Poetry) from the Shortlist.

Chair Gillian Clarke said:

This most demanding of all poetry prizes bears the name of a great twentieth century poet. A great book must win. The Shortlist emerged with some pain but no dispute. Despite sorrow at losing other favourites, we’re proud of these books, a library of the best, from which just one must be chosen.

The T. S. Eliot Prize Readings

On the eve of the judges’ decision all the shortlisted poets will be invited to take part in the year’s most thrilling poetry reading. On Sunday 15 January 2012 the T. S. Eliot Prize Readings will once more be staged at the Southbank’s Royal Festival Hall, after doubling its audience in January 2011 and attracting one of the biggest audiences for a single poetry event in recent times. Anticipate an electric atmosphere as the poets read from their shortlisted collections, making the Readings a unique opportunity to hear the best contemporary poets reading their own work.

The T. S. Eliot Award Ceremony

The winner will be announced on the evening of Monday 16 January 2012 at the T. S. Eliot Prize Award Ceremony, which will be held in the Haberdashers’ Hall. Mrs Valerie Eliot, who has generously donated the prize money since the inception of the Prize, will present the winner with a cheque for £15,000 and each of the shortlisted poets will receive a cheque for £1,000 in recognition of their achievement.

T. S. Eliot Reading Group Scheme

This scheme provides reading group discounts and specially commissioned reading group notes, together with three poems from each shortlisted collection.

T. S. Eliot Shadowing Scheme

Starting on 1 November, this offers A level students the opportunity to ‘shadow’ the judges and also to take part in a competition for the best student rationale for their choice of winner. Find out more here.

The T. S. Eliot Prize is supported by the T. S. Eliot Estate. As well as the Prize named in T. S. Eliot’s honour, the Estate also supports the T. S. Eliot International Summer School, the London Library and the programme to publish all T. S. Eliot’s work in new scholarly editions.

This article has been republished to provide a fuller picture of the T. S. Eliot Prize history. The Poetry Book Society ran the T. S. Eliot Prize until 2016, when the T. S. Eliot Foundation took over the Prize, the estate having supported it since its inception.