Jo Shapcott | |
|---|---|
 at Lannan Poetry Series 2014 | |
| Born | (1953-03-24)24 March 1953 (age 72) London, United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Alma mater | St Hilda's College, Oxford Harvard University |
| Genre | Poetry |
| Notable works | Of Mutability (2010) |
| Notable awards | National Poetry Competition Commonwealth Poetry Prize Costa Book of the Year Award Forward Prize–Collection Cholmondeley Award. |
Jo ShapcottFRSL[1] (born 24 March 1953 inLondon) is an English poet, editor and lecturer who has won theNational Poetry Competition, theCommonwealth Poetry Prize, theCosta Book of the Year Award, aForward Prizes for Poetry and theCholmondeley Award.
Jo Shapcott was born 24 March 1953 inLondon. She lived inHemel Hempstead and attendedCavendish School in the town prior to studying as an undergraduate atTrinity College, Dublin. Later she studied atSt Hilda's College, Oxford and received aHarkness Fellowship toHarvard.[2]
Shapcott teaches on the MA in creative writing atRoyal Holloway, University of London. She was avisiting professor at the School of English Literature, Language and Linguistics,Newcastle University,[3] was a visiting professor at theLondon Institute and wasRoyal Literary Fund Fellow atOxford Brookes University from 2003 to 2005.[4][5] She is a longstanding tutor for theArvon Foundation.[6] and a former president of thePoetry Society.[7]
Shapcott was appointed asCBE in 2002. She initially accepted the honour but decided to refuse during the period when the British government made preparations to invade Iraq. She wrote to the Cabinet Office saying " I can't possibly accept this." She commented, "I was being diagnosed and treated for cancer, so great public statements weren't on the cards really. I was just too ill."[8][9][10]
In 2016, Shapcott was welcomed as a trustee toThe Griffin Trust For Excellence In Poetry.[11] In 2019 she was a contributor toA New Divan: A Lyrical Dialogue between East and West (Gingko Library).
Shapcott has won theNational Poetry Competition twice, in 1985 and 1991.Her Book: Poems 1988-1998 (2000; reprinted 2006) consists of poetry from her three earlier collections:Electroplating the Baby (1988), which won the Commonwealth Poetry Prize for Best First Collection,Phrase Book (1992), andMy Life Asleep (1998), which won the Forward Poetry Prize (Best Collection). Together withMatthew Sweeney, she editedEmergency Kit: Poems for Strange Times (1996), an international anthology of contemporary poetry in English. Her 2002 bookTender Taxes is a collection of English versions (or translations) ofRainer Maria Rilke's French poems. Her 2002 collection of essaysElizabeth Bishop: Poet of the Periphery was co-edited with Linda Anderson. In 2006, Fiona Samson inThe Guardian summarised her work: "Shapcott remains overwhelmingly a poet of presence, renegotiating the concrete world with as much brio as her own dancing cow. The consummate openness of this brilliantly intelligent selection extends the possibilities for poetry written in English. It reminds us that she remains a pioneer among contemporary British writers. We should be grateful for her."[12]
In 2010, Shapcott publishedOf Mutability withFaber & Faber, her first collection for 12 years. The 45 poems explore the nature of change, in the body, within the natural world and inside relationships.[13] The book of poems was awarded theCosta Book of the Year for 2010, beating contenders in Fiction, Non-Fiction and other categories.[14] The judges commented that the book was accessible, "very special and unusual and uplifting... The subject matter was so relevant that if any poetry book could capture the spirit of life in 2011, this would be it". Sinclair Mackay in theDaily Telegraph wrote: "Of Mutability, is so especially rich and resonant that it deserves the widest possible readership, even among those who never usually think of reading poems...And there is a dazzling variety of tone and colour and subject throughout - Shapcott's language dances lightly, and often with wit."[15]
The Transformers is an unpublished collection of public lectures given by Shapcott in 2001 as part of her Professorship at Newcastle.
She has written lyrics or had her poems set to music by composers such asNigel Osborne,Errollyn Wallen andJohn Woolrich. The American composerStephen Montague created the workThe Creatures Indoors, from her poetry. It was premiered by theLondon Symphony Orchestra at theBarbican Centre in London in 1997.[16]
She was a judge for the 2014Griffin Poetry Prize, as well as the 2013Hippocrates Prize for Poetry and Medicine.
| Year | Work | Award | Category | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1982 | ? | South West Arts Literature Award | — | Won | |
| 1985 | "The Surrealists' Summer Convention Came to Our City" | National Poetry Competition | — | Won | |
| 1989 | Electroplating the Baby | Commonwealth Poetry Prize | — | Won | |
| ? | New Statesman Prudence Farmer Award | — | Won | ||
| 1991 | "Phrase Book" | National Poetry Competition | — | Won | |
| 1999 | My Life Asleep | Forward Prizes for Poetry | Poetry Collection of the Year | Won | |
| 2006 | — | Cholmondeley Award | — | Won | |
| 2010 | Of Mutability | Costa Book Award | Overall | Won | [14] |
| Poetry | Won |
Work with writers
—— (2011).The Transformers: The Newcastle/Bloodaxe Poetry Lectures. Bloodaxe.ISBN 9781852245795.
| External videos | |
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 "Jo Shapcott reading I Go Inside the Tree" onYouTube,The Guardian | |
| Jo Shapcott, Lannan Readings and Talks Series, 14 October 2014 |
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