Top row, left to right: Oliver Cooney, Evelyn Byrne, Cal O’Reilly, Chloe Elliott, Natalie Perman. Bottom row, left to right: Urussa Malik, Daniel Clark, Gabrielle Tse, Godelieve de Bree, Leo Kang.
The T. S. Eliot Prize and The Poetry Society’s Young Poets Network are delighted to announce the names of the young reviewers who will take part in the Young Critics Scheme 2023.
They are: Oliver Cooney, Evelyn Byrne, Cal O’Reilly, Chloe Elliott, Natalie Perman, Urussa Malik, Daniel Clark, Gabrielle Tse, Godelieve de Bree and Leo Beevers – congratulations to all of them.
The young critics, who are offered both expert mentoring and workshops to help them develop their skills, will each review one of the ten books on the T.S. Eliot Prize 2023 shortlist announced on 3 October. Their video reviews will be posted to the T. S. Eliot Prize YouTube channel and on social media. The Young Critics receive copies of all the books on the shortlist and are invited to attend the T. S. Eliot Prize Shortlist Readings at the Royal Festival Hall, London, on 14 January 2024.
This is the second year the T. S. Eliot Prize and The Poetry Society’s Young Poets Network have run this partnership project. Michael Sims, Director, T. S. Eliot Prize, said:
I am delighted that the Young Critics Scheme is running for a second year. Last year’s cohort produced astonishingly lively and insightful video reviews of the T. S. Eliot Prize 2022 shortlist, which helped engage a wider audience with the poets and their work. I’m very excited to see and hear how this year’s Young Critics respond to our 2023 shortlist.
Natalie Perman is a writer and editor. A past Foyle Young Poet, her poems appear in The White Review, The London Magazine and bath magg. An alumna of Genesis Jewish Book Week’s Emerging Writers’ Programme, she is currently working on her debut collection while studying a Master’s in Modern Languages.
Originally from Manchester, Oliver Cooney is a 20-year-old Linguistics student and current president of the Cambridge University Poetry and Prose society. In 2022, his poem ‘Lovely’ was published in the St John’s poetry pamphlet, which he performed alongside other poems at the St John’s donor’s tea and May Ball.
Daniel Clark writes to explore and escape the climate crisis. Nominated for Best Small Fictions and Best Microfiction awards, he performed vegan poetry at COP26 and co-edits Briefly Zine. Originally from West Yorkshire, he now lives in Cambridge.
Chloe Elliott is a writer based in York. She is a winner of the 2022 New Poets Prize for her debut pamphlet Encyclopaedia. In 2020, she won the Gold Creative Future Writers’ Award. Her writing features in Poetry Birmingham Literary Journal, bath magg, Magma, The North and Strix amongst others.
Leo Kang lives in West Yorkshire. His poems have been published in Oxford Magazine, Rust and Moth, COUNTERCLOCK, and others. In 2022, he won the Tower Poetry Competition and was a Foyle Young Poet. He is currently studying English at the University of Cambridge.
Urussa Malik is an emerging writer for theatre, film and poetry, poetry critic and translator. She has written reviews for Wasafiri and Modern Poetry in Translation, as well as short plays which have been performed at Oldham Coliseum. She works freelance in the heritage sector and is a trustee for Bradford Producing Hub, an arts funding organisation.
Cal O’Reilly is studying English and Creative Writing at Queen’s University Belfast. They are a Foyle Young Poet and their work has been included in the Irish Times, Cypher’s Magazine, Impossible Archetype and on RTE’s Sunday Miscellany.
Godelieve de Bree is a Dutch-American writer living in London. She has had her work published by Tate and was a member of the 22/23 Roundhouse Collective. She can be found at @godelievedebree on Twitter.