Jonathan Edwards (born 16 October 1979) is a Welsh poet, who was born in Newport and grew up in

Crosskeys Crosskeys () is a village, community (Wales), community and an Wards and electoral divisions of the United Kingdom, electoral ward in Caerphilly county borough in Wales. Etymology The village was originally named Pont-y-cymer and this remains ...

. His debut poetry collection ''My Family and Other Superheroes'' won the

Costa Book Award for Poetry The Costa Book Award for Poetry, formerly known as the Whitbread Award (1971–2006), was an annual literary award for poetry collections, part of the Costa Book Awards The Costa Book Awards were a set of annual literary awards recognising Eng ...

in 2014.

Biography

Edwards first came to prominence as the winner of the Terry Hetherington Award in 2010, before picking up prizes at both the Cardiff International Poetry Competition and the Basil Bunting Poetry Competition in 2012. His first book, the poetry collection ''My Family and Other Superheroes'', won a £1,000 first-place prize at the Ledbury Poetry Festival's International Competition in 2014, and the Costa Book Award for Poetry in 2014. Edwards described the collection as reflecting a sense of Welsh

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and its relation to broader Western culture, history, family, and the lives of ordinary people. According to coverage of the Costa Award by ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...

'', ''My Family and Other Superheroes'' saw "celebrities and fictional characters such as

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and

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collide with reflections on the social architecture of working class Welsh valleys." Edwards holds a BA in English and American Literature and an MA in writing from the

University of Warwick The University of Warwick ( ; abbreviated as ''Warw.'' in post-nominal letters) is a public research university on the outskirts of Coventry between the West Midlands and Warwickshire, England. The university was founded in 1965 as part of ...

. After winning the Terry Hetherington Award in 2010, he later went on to judge the award, and also edited the award's ''Cheval'' anthology between 2013 and 2017. He currently teaches English at a

secondary school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., b ...

in Monmouth.

Publications

Poetry

* 2014: ''My Family and Other Superheroes'', Seren *2018: ''Gen'', Seren

As editor

* 2013: ''Cheval 6: The Terry Hetherington Award Anthology 2013'' (ed. with Alan Perry), Parthian * 2014: ''Cheval 7: The Terry Hetherington Award Anthology 2014'' (ed. with Alan Perry), Parthian * 2015: ''Cheval 8: The Terry Hetherington Award Anthology 2015'' (ed. with Alan Perry), Parthian * 2016: ''Cheval 9: The Terry Hetherington Award Anthology 2016'' (ed. with Rose Widlake), Parthian * 2017: ''Cheval 10: The Terry Hetherington Award Anthology 2017'' (ed. with Glyn Edwards and Rose Widlake), Parthian

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Edwards, Jonathan 1979 births Welsh male poets People from Caerphilly County Borough Alumni of the University of Warwick Welsh schoolteachers 21st-century British male writers 21st-century Welsh poets Living people