Caroline Bird
Caroline Bird in the 2020Forward Prize presentation
Born	1986 (age 38–39) England
Education	Steiner School, York;Lady Eleanor Holles School
Alma mater	Oxford University
Mother	Jude Kelly
Awards	Forward Prize for Best Collection

Caroline Bird (born 1986) is aBritishpoet,playwright, andauthor.

Caroline Bird was born in 1986.^[1][2] Daughter ofJude Kelly, she grew up inLeeds, England, and attended theSteiner School inYork and theLady Eleanor Holles School before moving toLondon in 2001. She studiedEnglish literature atOxford University and was president of the Oxford Poetry Society. She teaches regularly at theArvon Foundation.^[3]

Bird has published eight collections of poetry.^[2] Her first collection,Looking Through Letterboxes (published in 2002, when she was 15), is a collection of poems built on the traditions of fairy tales, fantasy and romance.^[4] Her second collection,Trouble Came to the Turnip, was published in September 2006 to critical acclaim.^[5][6] Her third collection,Watering Can, received aPoetry Book Society recommendation.^[7] Her fourth collection,The Hat-Stand Union, published in 2013, was described bySimon Armitage as "spring-loaded, funny, sad and deadly."^[8] HerRookie: Selected Poems was published in May 2022.^[9]

Bird's poems have been published in severalanthologies and magazines includingPoetry,^[1]P. N. Review,^[10]The Poetry Review^[11] andThe North.^[12] Her commissionedshort story "Sucking Eggs", was broadcast onBBC Radio 4, and she has read poetry on the station multiple times.^[13]

A member of theRoyal Court Young Writers Programme,^[14] Bird is also a playwright. She was part of theBush Theatre's 2011 projectSixty-Six Books, for which she wrote a piece based on a book of theKing James Bible.^[15] In February 2012, she presented herBeano-inspired showThe Trial of Dennis the Menace, with original music by Matt Rogers, which was performed in thePurcell Room atSouthbank Centre.^[16] In autumn 2012, her version ofThe Trojan Women had a seven-week run at theGate Theatre.^[17][18] Her playChamber Piece was performed at theLyric Hammersmith as part of their Secret Theatre season.^[19]

In December 2015, her retelling ofThe Wonderful Wizard of Oz premiered atNorthern Stage, and received a four-star review inThe Times.^[20] In spring 2022, her playRed Ellen about the life and work ofEllen Wilkinson, was produced byNorthern Stage,Nottingham Playhouse andRoyal Lyceum Theatre and received four-star reviews inThe Guardian,The Times,WhatsOnStage.com andThe Stage.^[21]

Bird was awarded theForward Prize for Best Collection in 2020 forThe Air Year.^[22] She was shortlisted for theCosta Book Award for Poetry and thePolari Prize in 2022.^[23] She was also shortlist for theT. S. Eliot Prize^[24] and theTed Hughes Award in 2017 forIn these Days of Prohibition.^[25]

She was third prize winner of thePoetry London Competition in 2007,^[26] the Peterloo Poetry Competition for three years running (2002, 2003 and 2004),^[1] anEric Gregory Award in 2002^[4] and the Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award in 1999 and 2000.^[27] She was shortlisted for theGeoffrey Dearmer Award in 2001.^[28] Bird was shortlisted for theDylan Thomas Prize in 2008, and was the youngest writer on the list at 21.^[29][30] She was shortlisted again for the Dylan Thomas Prize in 2010.^[31] She was named a "Young Champion" in 2010 at the inauguralYouth Olympic Games inSingapore.^{[32][dead link‍]}

She was on the shortlist for theShell Women Of The Future Awards in 2011.^[33]

She was one of the five official poets for theLondon 2012 Olympics.^[34] Her poem ‘"The Fun Palace", which celebrates the life and work ofJoan Littlewood, is now erected in theQueen Elizabeth Olympic Park outside theLondon Stadium.^[35]

Her playChamber Piece was shortlisted for theSusan Smith Blackburn Prize in 2014.^[36]

In 2023, she won aCholmondeley Award for her work.^[2][37]

• Looking Through Letterboxes,Carcanet Press (2002)
• Trouble Came to the Turnip, Carcanet Press (2006)
• Watering Can, Carcanet Press (2009)
• The Trojan Women,Oberon Books (2012)
• The Hat-Stand Union, Carcanet Press (2013)
• Chamber Piece, Oberon Books (2013)
• The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Oberon Books (2015)
• In These Days of Prohibition, Carcanet Press (2017)
• The Air Year, Carcanet Press (2020)
• Red Ellen,Nick Hern Books (2022)
• Rookie, Selected Poems, Carcanet Press (2022)
• Ambush at Still Lake, Carcanet Press (2024)

• Official website

• 1986 births
• 21st-century English dramatists and playwrights
• 21st-century English poets
• 21st-century English women writers
• English women dramatists and playwrights
• English women poets
• Living people
• People educated at Lady Eleanor Holles School

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