Dame Carol Ann Duffy (born 23 December 1955) is a Scottish poet and playwright. She is a professor of contemporary poetry at

Manchester Metropolitan University Manchester Metropolitan University is located in the centre of Manchester, England. The university has over 40,000 students and over 4,000 members of staff. It is home to four faculties (Arts and Humanities, Business and Law, Health and Educat ...

, and was appointed

Poet Laureate A poet laureate (plural: poets laureate) is a poet officially appointed by a government or conferring institution, typically expected to compose poems for special events and occasions. Albertino Mussato of Padua and Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch ...

in May 2009, resigning in 2019. She was the first female poet, the first Scottish-born poet and the first openly gay poet to hold the Poet Laureate position. Her collections include ''Standing Female Nude'' (1985), winner of a Scottish Arts Council Award; ''Selling Manhattan'' (1987), which won a

Somerset Maugham Award The Somerset Maugham Award is a British literary prize given each year by the Society of Authors. Set up by William Somerset Maugham in 1947 the awards enable young writers to enrich their work by gaining experience in foreign countries. The awa ...

; ''Mean Time'' (1993), which won the Whitbread Poetry Award; and '' Rapture'' (2005), which won the T. S. Eliot Prize. Her poems address issues such as

oppression Oppression is malicious or unjust treatment or exercise of power, often under the guise of governmental authority or cultural opprobrium. Oppression may be overt or covert, depending on how it is practiced. Oppression refers to discrimination ...

, gender, and violence in accessible language.

Early life

Carol Ann Duffy was born to a Roman Catholic family in the

Gorbals The Gorbals is an area in the city of Glasgow, Scotland, on the south bank of the River Clyde. By the late 19th century, it had become densely populated; rural migrants and immigrants were attracted by the new industries and employment opportun ...

, considered a poor part of

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

. She was the daughter of Mary (née Black) and Frank Duffy, an electrical fitter. Her mother's parents were Irish, and her father had Irish grandparents. The eldest of five siblings, she has four brothers: Frank, Adrian, Eugene and Tim. The family moved to Stafford, England, when Duffy was six years old. Her father worked for English Electric. A trade unionist, he stood unsuccessfully as a parliamentary candidate for the Labour Party in 1983 in addition to managing Stafford F.C. football club. Duffy was educated in Stafford at Saint Austin's RC Primary School (1962–1967), St. Joseph's Convent School (1967–1970), and Stafford Girls' High School (1970–1974), her literary talent encouraged by two English teachers, June Scriven at St Joseph's, and Jim Walker at Stafford Girls' High. She was a passionate reader from an early age, and always wanted to be a writer, producing poems from the age of 11. When one of her English teachers died, she wrote:

Career

When Duffy was 15, June Scriven sent her poems to ''Outposts'', a publisher of pamphlets, where it was read by the bookseller Bernard Stone, who published some of them. When she was 16, she met

Adrian Henri Adrian Henri (10 April 1932 – 20 December 2000) was a British poet and painter best remembered as the founder of poetry-rock group the Liverpool Scene and as one of three poets in the best-selling anthology '' The Mersey Sound'', along with ...

, one of the

Liverpool poets The Liverpool poets are a number of influential 1960s poets from Liverpool, England, influenced by 1950s Beat poetry. They were involved in the 1960s Liverpool scene that gave rise to The Beatles. Their work is characterised by its directness of e ...

, and decided she wanted to be with him; she then lived with him for 10 years until they split in 1982. "He gave me confidence," she said, "he was great. It was all poetry, very heady, and he was never faithful. He thought poets had a duty to be unfaithful." Winterson, Jeanette
"Carol Ann Duffy"
, Jeanettewinterson.com. Retrieved 18 December 2009. She applied to the

University of Liverpool , mottoeng = These days of peace foster learning , established = 1881 – University College Liverpool1884 – affiliated to the federal Victoria Universityhttp://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukla/2004/4 University of Manchester Act 200 ...

to be near him, and began a philosophy degree there in 1974. She had two plays performed at the

Liverpool Playhouse The Liverpool Playhouse is a theatre in Williamson Square in the city of Liverpool, England. It originated in 1866 as a music hall, and in 1911 developed into a repertory theatre. As such it nurtured the early careers of many actors and actres ...

, wrote a pamphlet, ''Fifth Last Song'', and received an honours degree in philosophy in 1977. She won the

National Poetry Competition The National Poetry Competition is an annual poetry prize established in 1978 in the United Kingdom. It is run by the UK-based Poetry Society and accepts entries from all over the world, with over 10,000 poems being submitted to the competition ...

in 1983. She worked as poetry critic for ''The Guardian'' from 1988 to 1989, and was editor of the poetry magazine, ''Ambit''. In 1996, she was appointed as a lecturer in poetry at

, and later became creative director of its Writing School. Duffy was almost appointed

Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom The British Poet Laureate is an honorary position appointed by the monarch of the United Kingdom, currently on the advice of the prime minister. The role does not entail any specific duties, but there is an expectation that the holder will writ ...

in 1999 after the death of

Ted Hughes Edward James "Ted" Hughes (17 August 1930 – 28 October 1998) was an English poet, translator, and children's writer. Critics frequently rank him as one of the best poets of his generation and one of the twentieth century's greatest wri ...

, but lost out on the position to Andrew Motion. Duffy said she would not have accepted the position at that time anyway, because she was in a relationship with Scottish poet Jackie Kay, had a young daughter, and would not have welcomed the public attention. In the same year, she was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. She was appointed as Poet Laureate on 1 May 2009, when Motion's 10-year term was over. Duffy was featured on the

South Bank Show ''The South Bank Show'' is a British television arts magazine series originally produced by London Weekend Television and broadcast on ITV between 1978 and 2010. A new version of the series began 27 May 2012 on Sky Arts. Conceived, written, ...

with Melvyn Bragg in December 2009 and on 7 December she presented the

Turner Prize The Turner Prize, named after the English painter J. M. W. Turner, is an annual prize presented to a British visual artist. Between 1991 and 2016, only artists under the age of 50 were eligible (this restriction was removed for the 2017 award) ...

to artist Richard Wright. Duffy received an Honorary Doctorate from Heriot-Watt University in 2009. In 2015, Duffy was elected as an

Honorary Fellow Honorary titles (professor, reader, lecturer) in academia may be conferred on persons in recognition of contributions by a non-employee or by an employee beyond regular duties. This practice primarily exists in the UK and Germany, as well as in m ...

of the

British Academy The British Academy is the United Kingdom's national academy for the humanities and the social sciences. It was established in 1902 and received its royal charter in the same year. It is now a fellowship of more than 1,000 leading scholars spa ...

Poet laureate

In her first poem as poet laureate, Duffy tackled the scandal over British MPs' expenses in the format of a sonnet. Her second, "

Last Post The "Last Post" is either an A or a B♭ bugle call, primarily within British infantry and Australian infantry regiments, or a D or an E♭ cavalry trumpet call in British cavalry and Royal Regiment of Artillery (Royal Horse Artillery and Ro ...

", was commissioned by the BBC to mark the deaths of

Henry Allingham Henry William Allingham (6 June 1896 – 18 July 2009) was an English supercentenarian. He is the longest-lived man ever recorded from the United Kingdom, a First World War veteran, and, for one month, the verified oldest living man in the wo ...

and

Harry Patch Henry John Patch (17 June 1898 – 25 July 2009), dubbed in his later years "the Last Fighting Tommy", was an English supercentenarian, briefly the oldest man in Europe, and the last surviving trench combat soldier of the First World War from ...

, the last remaining British soldiers to fight in World War I. Her third, "The Twelve Days of Christmas 2009", addresses current events such as

species extinction Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and ...

, the climate change conference in Copenhagen, the

banking crisis A bank run or run on the bank occurs when many clients withdraw their money from a bank, because they believe the bank may cease to function in the near future. In other words, it is when, in a fractional-reserve banking system (where banks no ...

, and the

war in Afghanistan War in Afghanistan, Afghan war, or Afghan civil war may refer to: *Conquest of Afghanistan by Alexander the Great (330 BC – 327 BC) * Muslim conquests of Afghanistan (637–709) *Conquest of Afghanistan by the Mongol Empire (13th century), see al ...

. In March 2010, she wrote "Achilles (for David Beckham)" about the

Achilles tendon The Achilles tendon or heel cord, also known as the calcaneal tendon, is a tendon at the back of the lower leg, and is the thickest in the human body. It serves to attach the plantaris, gastrocnemius (calf) and soleus muscles to the calcaneus ( ...

injury that left David Beckham out of the English football team at the

2010 FIFA World Cup , image = 2010 FIFA World Cup.svg , size = 200px , caption = ''Ke Nako. (Tswana and Sotho for "It's time") Celebrate Africa's Humanity'It's time. Celebrate Africa's Humanity'' (English)''Dis tyd. Vier Afrika se mensd ...

; the poem was published in ''

The Daily Mirror ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...

'' and treats modern celebrity culture as a kind of mythicisation. "Silver Lining," written in April 2010, acknowledges the grounding of flights caused by the ash of the Icelandic volcano

Eyjafjallajökull Eyjafjallajökull (; ), sometimes referred to by the numeronym E15, is one of the smaller ice caps of Iceland, north of Skógar and west of Mýrdalsjökull. The ice cap covers the caldera of a volcano with a summit elevation of . The volcan ...

. On 30 August 2010 she premièred her poem "Vigil" for the

Manchester Pride Manchester Pride is a leading charity that campaigns for LGBTQ+ equality across the United Kingdom, predominantly in Greater Manchester. The Charity offers dialogue, training, research and policy analysis, advocacy and outreach activities focus ...

Candlelight Vigil in memory of

LGBTQ ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term is ...

people who have lost their lives to

HIV/AIDS Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual ...

. Duffy wrote a 46-line poem, "Rings," for the 2011

wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton The wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton took place on Friday, 29 April 2011 at Westminster Abbey in London, England. The groom was second in the line of succession to the British throne. The couple had been in a relationship si ...

. The poem celebrates the rings found in nature and does not specifically mention the couple's names. It begins ''for both to say'' and continues: "I might have raised your hand to the sky / to give you the ring surrounding the moon / or looked to twin the rings of your eyes / with mine / or added a ring to the rings of a tree / by forming a handheld circle with you, thee, / ...". She wrote the verse with Stephen Raw, a textual artist, and a signed print of the work was sent to the couple as a wedding gift. Duffy also wrote the poem "The Throne," which she composed for the 60th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II's coronation. In '' Stylist'' magazine, Duffy said of becoming poet laureate: "There's no requirement. I do get asked to do things and so far I've been happy to do them." She also spoke about being appointed to the role by Queen Elizabeth II, saying: "She's lovely! I met her before I became poet laureate but when I was appointed I had an 'audience' with her which meant we were alone, at the palace, for the first time. We chatted about poetry. Her mother was friends with

whose poetry I admire a lot. We spoke about his influence on me." Duffy stood down as laureate in May 2019.

Poetry

Style

Duffy's work explores both everyday experience and the rich fantasy life of herself and others. In dramatizing scenes from childhood, adolescence, and adult life, she discovers moments of consolation through love, memory, and language. Charlotte Mendelson writes in ''The Observer'':

Part of Duffy's talent – besides her ear for ordinary eloquence, her gorgeous, powerful, throwaway lines, her subtlety – is her ventriloquism. Like the best of her novelist peers ... she slides in and out of her characters' lives on a stream of possessions, aspirations, idioms and turns of phrase. However, she is also a time-traveller and a shape-shifter, gliding from
Troy Troy ( el, Τροία and Latin: Troia, Hittite: 𒋫𒊒𒄿𒊭 ''Truwiša'') or Ilion ( el, Ίλιον and Latin: Ilium, Hittite: 𒃾𒇻𒊭 ''Wiluša'') was an ancient city located at Hisarlik in present-day Turkey, south-west of Ç ...
to Hollywood, galaxies to intestines, sloughed-off skin to department stores while other poets make heavy weather of one kiss, one kick, one letter ... from verbal nuances to mind-expanding imaginative leaps, her words seem freshly plucked from the minds of non-poets – that is, she makes it look easy.

Of her own writing, Duffy has said: "I'm not interested, as a poet, in words like 'plash'—

Seamus Heaney Seamus Justin Heaney (; 13 April 1939 – 30 August 2013) was an Irish poet, playwright and translator. He received the 1995 Nobel Prize in Literature.

words, interesting words. I like to use simple words, but in a complicated way."Forbes, Peter
"Winning Lines"
, ''The Guardian'', 31 August 2002. She told ''The Observer'': "Like the sand and the oyster, it's a creative irritant. In each poem, I'm trying to reveal a truth, so it can't have a fictional beginning." Duffy rose to greater prominence in UK poetry circles after her poem "Whoever She Was" won the

Poetry Society The Poetry Society is a membership organisation, open to all, whose stated aim is "to promote the study, use and enjoyment of poetry". The society was founded in London in February 1909 as the Poetry Recital Society, becoming the Poetry Society ...

National Poetry Competition in 1983. In her first collection, ''Standing Female Nude'' (1985), she uses the voices of outsiders, for example in the poems " Education for Leisure" and "Dear Norman." Her next collection, ''Feminine Gospels'' (2002), continues this vein, showing an increased interest in long narrative poems, accessible in style and often surreal in their imagery. Her 2005 publication, '' Rapture'' (2005), is a series of intimate poems charting the course of a love affair, for which she won the £10,000

T.S. Eliot Prize The T. S. Eliot Prize for Poetry is a prize that was, for many years, awarded by the Poetry Book Society (UK) to "the best collection of new verse in English first published in the UK or the Republic of Ireland" in any particular year. The Priz ...

. In 2007, she published ''The Hat'', a collection of poems for children. Online copies of her poems are rare, but her poem dedicated to U A Fanthorpe, "Premonitions," is available through ''The Guardian'', and several others via ''The Daily Mirror''.

In schools

Duffy's poems are studied in British schools at ISC, GCSE, National 5, A-level, and higher levels. In August 2008, her "Education for Leisure," a poem about violence, was removed from the GCSE AQA Anthology, following a complaint about its references to knife crime and a goldfish being flushed down a toilet. The poem begins: "Today I am going to kill something. Anything./I have had enough of being ignored and today/I am going to play God." The protagonist kills a fly, then a goldfish. The budgie panics and the cat hides. It ends with him, or her, or them, leaving the house with a knife. "The pavements glitter suddenly. I touch your arm." According to ''The Guardian'', schools were urged to destroy copies of the unedited anthology,Curtis, Polly
"Top exam board asks schools to destroy book containing knife poem"
, ''The Guardian'', 4 September 2008. though this was later denied by AQA.Addley, Esther
"Poet's rhyming riposte leaves Mrs Schofield 'gobsmacked'"
, ''The Guardian'', 6 September 2008. Duffy called the decision ridiculous. "It's an anti-violence poem," she said. "It is a plea for education rather than violence." She responded with "Mrs Schofield's GCSE", a poem about violence in other fiction, and the point of it. "Explain how poetry/pursues the human like the smitten moon/above the weeping, laughing earth ..." The Mrs. Schofield of the title refers to Pat Schofield, an external examiner at Lutterworth College, Leicestershire, who complained about "Education for Leisure," calling it "absolutely horrendous." For the new National Qualifications Higher English Course in Scotland, Duffy's agents, RCW Literacy Agency, refused permission for her poem, "Originally," to be reproduced in the publicly accessible version of the paper.

''Anthologise'' annual competition for schools

In 2011 Duffy, spearheaded a new poetry competition for schools, named ''Anthologise''. The competition is administered by the

Poetry Book Society The Poetry Book Society (PBS) was founded in 1953 by T. S. Eliot and friends, including Sir Basil Blackwell, "to propagate the art of poetry". Eric Walter White was secretary from December 1953 until 1971, and was subsequently the society's chai ...

and was launched by the

Duchess of Cornwall Duchess of Cornwall is a courtesy title held by the wife of the eldest son and heir of the British monarch. The current title-holder is Catherine, wife of William, Prince of Wales and Duke of Cornwall. Duchesses of Cornwall Until her husband' ...

in September 2011. School students aged 11–18 from around the UK were invited to create and submit their own anthologies of published poetry. The 2011 ''Anthologise'' judges were Duffy;

Gillian Clarke Gillian Clarke (born 8 June 1937) is a Welsh poet and playwright, who also edits, broadcasts, lectures and translates from Welsh into English. She co-founded Tŷ Newydd, a writers' centre in North Wales. Life Gillian Clarke was born on 8 J ...

(National Poet for Wales);

John Agard John Agard FRSL (born 21 June 1949 in British Guiana) is an Afro-Guyanese playwright, poet and children's writer, now living in Britain. In 2012, he was selected for the Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry.

; Grace Nichols and Cambridge Professor of Children's Poetry,

Morag Styles Morag may refer to: Fiction * Morag Bellingham, a character on ''Home and Away'' * Mòrag Ladair, a character from the video game ''Xenoblade Chronicles 2'' * Morag the Tulgah Witch, a character on the animated series '' Ewoks'' * Morag, a characte ...

. The first ever winners of ''Anthologise'' were the sixth form pupils of Monkton Combe School, Bath, with their anthology titled ''The Poetry of Earth is Never Dead'', which was described by Duffy as "assured and accomplished as any anthology currently on the bookshelves."

Plays and songs

Duffy is also a playwright, and has had plays performed at the

and the

Almeida Theatre The Almeida Theatre, opened in 1980, is a 325-seat producing house with an international reputation, which takes its name from the street on which it is located, off Upper Street, in the London Borough of Islington. The theatre produces a diver ...

in London. Her plays include ''Take My Husband'' (1982), ''Cavern of Dreams'' (1984), ''Little Women, Big Boys'' (1986) ''Loss'' (1986), ''Casanova'' (2007). Her radio credits include an adaptation of ''Rapture''. Her children's collections include ''Meeting Midnight'' (1999) and ''The Oldest Girl in the World'' (2000). She also collaborated with the Manchester composer,

Sasha Johnson Manning Sasha Johnson Manning (born 1963) is an English composer specialising in vocal pieces. She graduated in voice and cello from the Royal Academy of Music in 1985. She has worked as a full-time soprano and composer ever since. Her singing career ...

, on ''The Manchester Carols'', a series of Christmas songs that premiered in Manchester Cathedral in 2007. She also participated in the Bush Theatre's 2011 project '' Sixty Six Books'', for which she wrote a piece based on a book of the King James Bible. A modernised adaptation of ''

Everyman The everyman is a stock character of fiction. An ordinary and humble character, the everyman is generally a protagonist whose benign conduct fosters the audience's identification with them. Origin The term ''everyman'' was used as early as ...

'' by Duffy, with

Chiwetel Ejiofor Chiwetel Umeadi Ejiofor ( ; born 10 July 1977) is a British actor. He is the recipient of various accolades, including a BAFTA Award, a Laurence Olivier Award, an NAACP Image Award, and nominations for an Academy Award, two Primetime Emmy Awa ...

in the title role, was performed at the National Theatre from April to July 2015.

Personal life

At the age of 16, Duffy began a relationship with poet

, living with him until 1982. Duffy later met poet Jackie Kay, with whom she had a 15-year relationship. During her relationship with Kay, Duffy gave birth to a daughter, Ella (born 1995), whose biological father is fellow poet Peter Benson. Raised in her parents' Roman Catholic faith, Duffy became an atheist when she was 15. However, she has spoken of the influence her religious upbringing has had on her poetry, stating: "Poetry and prayer are very similar." She is lesbian.

Honours and awards

Duffy holds honorary doctorates from the

University of Dundee , mottoeng = "My soul doth magnify the Lord" , established = 1967 – gained independent university status by Royal Charter1897 – Constituent college of the University of St Andrews1881 – University College , ...

, the

University of Hull , mottoeng = Bearing the Torch f learning, established = 1927 – University College Hull1954 – university status , type = Public , endowment = £18.8 million (2016) , budget = £190 million ...

, the

University of St Andrews (Aien aristeuein) , motto_lang = grc , mottoeng = Ever to ExcelorEver to be the Best , established = , type = Public research university Ancient university , endowment ...

, and the

University of Warwick , mottoeng = Mind moves matter , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £7.0 million (2021) , budget = £698.2 million (2020� ...

, as well as an Honorary Fellowship at

Homerton College, Cambridge Homerton College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Its first premises were acquired in Homerton, London in 1768, by an informal gathering of Protestant dissenters with origins in the seventeenth century. In 1894, the col ...

. * 1983:

1st prize (for ''Whoever She Was'') * 1983 Greenwich Poetry Competition ("for Words of Absolution") * 1984: Eric Gregory Award * 1986:

Scottish Arts Council The Scottish Arts Council ( gd, Comhairle Ealain na h-Alba, sco, Scots Airts Cooncil) was a Scottish public body responsible for the funding, development and promotion of the arts in Scotland. The Council primarily distributed funding from the ...

Book Award (for ''Standing Female Nude'') * 1988:

(for ''Selling Manhattan'') * 1989:

Dylan Thomas Prize The Dylan Thomas Prize is a leading prize for young writers presented annually. The prize, named in honour of the Welsh writer and poet Dylan Thomas, brings international prestige and a remuneration of £30,000 (~$46,000). It is open to published ...

* 1990:

Book Award (for ''The Other Country'' * 1992:

Cholmondeley Award The Cholmondeley Awards () are annual awards for poetry given by the Society of Authors in the United Kingdom. Awards honour distinguished poets, from a fund endowed by the Dowager Marchioness of Cholmondeley in 1966. Since 1991 the award has be ...

* 1993: Whitbread Awards (for ''Mean Time'') * 1993:

Book Award (for ''Mean Time'') * 1993:

Forward Prize The Forward Prizes for Poetry are major British awards for poetry, presented annually at a public ceremony in London. They were founded in 1992 by William Sieghart with the aim of celebrating excellence in poetry and increasing its audience. The ...

(for ''Mean Time'') * 1995: Lannan Award * 1999: Signal Children's Poetry Prize * 1999: Elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature * 2001: National Endowment for Science Technology and the Arts Award * 2005:

T S Eliot Prize The T. S. Eliot Prize for Poetry is a prize that was, for many years, awarded by the Poetry Book Society (UK) to "the best collection of new verse in English first published in the UK or the Republic of Ireland" in any particular year. The Priz ...

(for ''Rapture'') * 2011:

Costa Book Awards The Costa Book Awards were a set of annual literary awards recognising English-language books by writers based in UK and Ireland. Originally named the Whitbread Book Awards from 1971 to 2005 after its first sponsor, the Whitbread company, the ...

(Poetry), winner, ''The Bees'' *2012 PEN/Pinter Prize *2013: Assessed as one of the 100 most powerful women in the United Kingdom by ''

Woman's Hour ''Woman's Hour'' is a radio magazine programme broadcast in the United Kingdom on the BBC Light Programme, BBC Radio 2, and later BBC Radio 4. It has been on the air since 1946. History Created by Norman Collins and originally presented by ...

'' on

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...

. *2015: Elected as an

of the

. *2015: Elected a Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh *2021:

Struga Poetry Evenings Struga Poetry Evenings (SPE) ( mk, Струшки вечери на поезијата, СВП; tr. ''Struški večeri na poezijata'', ''SVP'') is an international poetry festival held annually in Struga, North Macedonia. During the several de ...

Golden Wreath Laureate She was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1995,

Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...

(CBE) in 2002, and Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in the 2015 New Year Honours for services to poetry.

Works

* 1974: ''Fleshweathercock and Other Poems'', Outposts Ltd. * 1977: (with

) ''Beauty and the Beast'' (poetry). * 1982: ''Fifth Last Song'', Headland (poetry). * 1982: ''Take My Husband'' (play)O'Reilly, Elizabeth
"Carol Ann Duffy"
, Contemporary Poets website. Retrieved 4 May 2009. * 1984: ''Cavern of Dreams'' (play). * 1985: ''Standing Female Nude'',

Anvil Press Poetry Anvil Press Poetry is an independent poetry publisher based in Greenwich, south-east London. It was founded in 1968 by Peter Jay and specialises in contemporary English poets,Stevenson, Randall''The Last of England?'' Oxford University Press, 2004, ...

(poetry). * 1986: ''Little Women, Big Boys'' (play). * 1986: ''Loss'' (radio play). * 1986: ''Thrown Voices'',

Turret Books Turret may refer to: * Turret (architecture), a small tower that projects above the wall of a building * Gun turret, a mechanism of a projectile-firing weapon * Objective turret, an indexable holder of multiple lenses in an optical microscope * Mi ...

, pamphlet (poetry).Micelis, Angelica and Rowland, Anthony
''The Poetry of Carol Ann Duffy: Choosing Tough Roads''
. * 1987: ''Selling Manhattan'', Anvil Press Poetry (poetry). * 1990: ''The Other Country'', Anvil Press Poetry (poetry). * 1992: ''I Wouldn't Thank You for a Valentine'' (editor), Viking (poetry anthology).Griffin, Gabriele
"Duffy, Carol Ann"
, ''Who's Who in Lesbian and Gay Writing'', Routledge, 2002, . * 1992: ''William and the Ex-Prime Minister'', Anvil Press Poetry, pamphlet, (poetry). * 1993: ''Mean Time'' Anvil Press Poetry (poetry). * 1994: ''Anvil New Poets Volume 2'' (editor),

Penguin Books Penguin Books is a British publishing house. It was co-founded in 1935 by Allen Lane with his brothers Richard and John, as a line of the publishers The Bodley Head, only becoming a separate company the following year.Vicki Feaver Vicki Feaver (born 1943) is an English poet. She has published three poetry collections. Feaver's poem "Judith", from her book, ''Handless Maiden'', was awarded the Forward Prize for Best Single Poem. The book was also the recipient of a Heinem ...

and

Eavan Boland Eavan Aisling Boland (24 September 1944 – 27 April 2020) was an Irish poet, author, and professor. She was a professor at Stanford University, where she had taught from 1996. Her work deals with the Irish national identity, and the role of w ...

, Penguin (poetry). * 1996: ''Grimm Tales'', Faber and Faber (play). * 1996: ''Salmon – Carol Ann Duffy: Selected Poems'', Salmon Poetry (poetry). * 1996: ''Stopping for Death'', Viking (poetry anthology). * 1997: ''More Grimm Tales'', Faber and Faber (children's play). * 1998: ''The Pamphlet'', Anvil Press Poetry (poetry). * 1999: ''Meeting Midnight'', Faber and Faber (children's poetry). * 1999: ''

The World's Wife ''The World's Wife'' is a collection of poetry by Carol Ann Duffy, originally published in the UK in 1999 by both Picador (imprint), Picador and Anvil Press Poetry and later published in the United States by Faber and Faber in 2000. Duffy's poem ...

'', Anvil Press Poetry (poetry). * 1999: ''Time's Tidings: Greeting the 21st Century'' (editor), Anvil Press Poetry (poetry anthology). * 2000: ''The Oldest Girl in the World'', Faber and Faber (children's poetry). * 2001: ''Hand in Hand: An Anthology of Love Poems'' (editor), Picador (poetry anthology). * 2002: ''Feminine Gospels'', Picador. * 2002: ''Queen Munch and Queen Nibble'', Macmillan Children's Books. * 2002: ''Underwater Farmyard'', Macmillan Children's Books (children's book). * 2003: ''The Good Child's Guide to Rock N Roll'', Faber and Faber (children's poetry). * 2003: ''Collected Grimm Tales'' (with Tim Supple), Faber and Faber (children's book). * 2004: ''Doris the Giant'' (children's literature, picture book). * 2004: ''New Selected Poems'', Picador. * 2004: ''Out of Fashion: An Anthology of Poems'' (editor), Faber and Faber (poetry anthology). * 2004: ''Overheard on a Saltmarsh: Poets' Favourite Poems'' (editor), Macmillan. * 2005: ''Another Night Before Christmas'', with John Murray (children's poetry). * 2005: ''Moon Zoo'', Macmillan (children's literature, picture book). * 2005: '' Rapture'', Picador (poetry). * 2006: ''The Lost Happy Endings'' (illustrated by Jane Ray), Penguin (children's book). * 2007: ''Answering Back'' (editor), Picador (poetry anthology). * 2007: ''The Hat''. Faber and Faber (children's poetry). * 2007: ''The Tear Thief''. Barefoot Books (children's book). * 2009: ''Mrs Scrooge: A Christmas Poem'' (illustrated by Beth Adams), Simon & Schuster. * 2009: ''New & Collected Poetry for Children'' Faber and Faber (poetry). * 2009: ''The Princess's Blankets'' (illustrated by Catherine Hyde). Templar (children's book). * 2009: ''The Twelve Poems of Christmas'' (editor), Candlestick Press (poetry). * 2009: ''To The Moon: An Anthology of Lunar Poetry'' (editor), Picador (poetry). * 2009: ''Love Poems'', Picador (poetry, selected). * 2010: ''The Gift'' Barefoot Books (children's book). * 2011: '' The Bees'' Picador (poetry, selected). * 2011: ''The Christmas Truce'' (illustrated by David Roberts) Picador. * 2012: ''Wenceslas: A Christmas Poem'' (illustrated by Stuart Kolakovic), Picador. * 2014: ''Dorothy Wordsworth's Christmas Birthday'' (illustrated by Tom Duxbury), Picador. * 2015: ''The Wren-Boys'' (illustrated by Dermot Flynn), Picador. * 2018: ''Sincerity'' (Picador), . * 2018: ''Eight World's Wives'' Published by Andrew J Moorhouse (Fine Press Poetry).

References

External links

Manchester Writing School at Manchester Metropolitan UniversityCarol Ann Duffy at BBC Poetry Season
*
Duffy at the Poetry Archive, Biography and audio files

The 5-Minute InterviewJeanette Winterson Interview
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Duffy, Carol Ann 1955 births Living people Alumni of the University of Liverpool British Poets Laureate Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature Former Roman Catholics People from Stafford British atheists Scottish people of Irish descent British women poets Academics of Manchester Metropolitan University Dames Commander of the Order of the British Empire Fellows of Homerton College, Cambridge 20th-century British poets 21st-century British poets 20th-century British women writers 21st-century British women writers British dramatists and playwrights 20th-century British dramatists and playwrights 21st-century British dramatists and playwrights British women dramatists and playwrights Honorary Fellows of the British Academy T. S. Eliot Prize winners LGBT writers from England British lesbian writers Lesbian academics 21st-century LGBT people