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Jo Shapcott (born 24 March 1953 in
London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
) is an English poet, editor and lecturer who has won the National Poetry Competition, the Commonwealth Poetry Prize, the Costa Book of the Year Award, a
Forward Prizes for Poetry 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 ...
and the
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 bee ...
.


Early life and education

Jo Shapcott was born 24 March 1953 in
London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
. She lived in
Hemel Hempstead Hemel Hempstead () is a town in the Dacorum district in Hertfordshire, England. It is located north-west of London; nearby towns and cities include Watford, St Albans and Berkhamsted. The population at the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 cens ...
and attended Cavendish School in the town prior to studying as an undergraduate at
Trinity College, Dublin Trinity College Dublin (), officially titled The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, and legally incorporated as Trinity College, the University of Dublin (TCD), is the sole constituent college of the Univ ...
. Later she studied at
St Hilda's College, Oxford St Hilda's College (full name = Principal and Council of St. Hilda's College, Oxford) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. The college is named after the Anglo-Saxon saint Hilda of Whitby and was founded in 1893 as a ...
and received a
Harkness Fellowship The Harkness Fellowship (previously known as the Commonwealth Fund Fellowship) is a program run by the Commonwealth Fund of New York City. This fellowship was established to reciprocate the Rhodes Scholarships and enable Fellows from several co ...
to
Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher lear ...
.Poetry Foundation Biog
/ref>


Career

Shapcott teaches on the MA in creative writing at
Royal Holloway, University of London Royal Holloway, University of London (RH), formally incorporated as Royal Holloway and Bedford New College, is a public university, public research university and a constituent college, member institution of the federal University of London. It ...
. She was a
visiting professor In academia, a visiting scholar, visiting scientist, visiting researcher, visiting fellow, visiting lecturer, or visiting professor is a scholar from an institution who visits a host university to teach, lecture, or perform research on a topic fo ...
at the School of English Literature, Language and Linguistics,
Newcastle University Newcastle University (legally the University of Newcastle upon Tyne) is a public research university based in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. It has overseas campuses in Singapore and Malaysia. The university is a red brick university and a mem ...
, was a visiting professor at the
London Institute The University of the Arts London is a public collegiate university in London, England, United Kingdom. It specialises in arts, design, fashion, and the performing arts. The university is a federation of six arts colleges: Camberwell College ...
and was
Royal Literary Fund The Royal Literary Fund (RLF) is a benevolent fund that gives assistance to published British writers in financial difficulties. Founded in 1790, and granted a royal charter in 1818, the Fund has helped an extensive roll of authors through its lon ...
Fellow at
Oxford Brookes University Oxford Brookes University (OBU; formerly known as Oxford Polytechnic) is a public university, public university in Oxford, England. It is a new university, having received university status through the Further and Higher Education Act 1992. Th ...
from 2003 to 2005. She is a longstanding tutor for the Arvon Foundation. and a former president of 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 ...
. Shapcott was appointed as
CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...
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.""Jo Shapcott: the book of life" 27 January 2011.
''Guardian'' Interview after Costa Prize win
In 2016, Shapcott was welcomed as a trustee to The Griffin Trust For Excellence In Poetry. In 2019 she was a contributor to ''A New Divan: A Lyrical Dialogue between East and West'' ( Gingko Library).


Writing

Shapcott has won the National 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), and ''My Life Asleep'' (1998), which won the Forward Poetry Prize (Best Collection). Together with Matthew Sweeney, she edited ''Emergency Kit: Poems for Strange Times'' (1996), an international anthology of contemporary poetry in English. Her 2002 book ''Tender Taxes'' is a collection of English versions (or translations) of
Rainer Maria Rilke René Karl Wilhelm Johann Josef Maria Rilke (4 December 1875 – 29 December 1926), known as Rainer Maria Rilke, was an Austrian poet and novelist. Acclaimed as an Idiosyncrasy, idiosyncratic and expressive poet, he is widely recognized as ...
's French poems. Her 2002 collection of essays ''Elizabeth Bishop: Poet of the Periphery'' was co-edited with Linda Anderson. In 2006, Fiona Samson in ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
'' 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." In 2010, Shapcott published ''Of Mutability'' with
Faber & Faber Faber and Faber Limited, commonly known as Faber & Faber or simply Faber, is an independent publishing house in London. Published authors and poets include T. S. Eliot (an early Faber editor and director), W. H. Auden, C. S. Lewis, Margaret S ...
, her first collection for 12 years. The 45 poems explore the nature of change, in the body, within the natural world and inside relationships. The book of poems was awarded the Costa Book of the Year for 2010, beating contenders in Fiction, Non-Fiction and other categories. 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 the ''Daily 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." ''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 as
Nigel Osborne Nigel Osborne (born 23 June 1948) is a British composer, teacher and aid worker. He served as Reid Professor of Music at the University of Edinburgh and has also taught at the Hochschule für Musik, Theater und Medien Hannover. Known for his e ...
, Errollyn Wallen and John Woolrich. The American composer Stephen Montague created the work ''The Creatures Indoors'', from her poetry. It was premiered by the
London Symphony Orchestra The London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) is a British symphony orchestra based in London. Founded in 1904, the LSO is the oldest of London's orchestras, symphony orchestras. The LSO was created by a group of players who left Henry Wood's Queen's ...
at the
Barbican Centre The Barbican Centre is a performing arts centre in the Barbican Estate of the City of London, England, and the largest of its kind in Europe. The centre hosts classical and contemporary music concerts, theatre performances, film screenings a ...
in London in 1997. She was a judge for the 2014
Griffin Poetry Prize The Griffin Poetry Prize is a Canadian poetry award. It was founded in 2000 by businessman and philanthropist Scott Griffin. Before 2022, two separate awards went to one Canadian and one international poet who writes in the English language. I ...
, as well as the 2013
Hippocrates Prize for Poetry and Medicine The Hippocrates Prize for Poetry and Medicine was founded in 2009 by Donald Singer and Michael Hulse. The founders "wished to draw together national and international perspectives on three major historical and contemporary themes uniting the dis ...
.


Prizes and awards


Literary Awards


Honours

*1978–80 – Harvard University Harkness Fellowship *2002 –
CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...
(Refused) *2011 – The Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry *2011- Honorary Fellowship,
University of Chichester The University of Chichester is a public university located in West Sussex, England, which became a university in 2005. Campuses are based in the city of Chichester and the nearby coastal resort of Bognor Regis and an associate campus for comm ...


Books


Poetry collections

* * * * * * * * * * Work with writers *


Collected prose


Editor

* * *


Further reading

*


References


External links


Profile, Contemporary Writers, The British CouncilProfile at the Poetry Foundation

Profile at The Poetry ArchiveProfile at Poetry Translation Centre, with article, audio and video links''Guardian'' Interview "Jo Shapcott: I'm not someone chasing her own ambulance"
by Sarah Crown, July 2010
"Jo Shapcott: the book of life" 27 January 2011.
''Guardian'' Interview after Costa Prize win

from ''Desperado Literature''.

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shapcott, Jo 1953 births Academics of Royal Holloway, University of London Alumni of St Hilda's College, Oxford Alumni of Trinity College Dublin English women poets Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature Living people Presidents of the Poetry Society Costa Book Award winners Harvard University alumni