Lavinia Elaine Greenlaw (born 30 July 1962) is an English poet, novelist and non-fiction writer. She won the

Prix du Premier Roman The Prix du Premier Roman (''First Novel Prize'') is a French literary prize awarded to an unpublished novelist between the ages of 18 and 30. The monetary reward is 3,000 Euros. The prize was first awarded in 1977. Starting with 1998 a separat ...

with her first novel and her poetry has been shortlisted for awards that include the

T. S. Eliot Prize The T. S. Eliot Prize for Poetry is a prize for poetry awarded by the T. S. Eliot Foundation. For many years it was awarded by the Eliots' Poetry Book Society (UK) for "the best collection of new verse in English first published in the UK or t ...

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 ...

and Whitbread Poetry Prize. She was shortlisted for the 2014 Costa Poetry Award for ''A Double Sorrow: A Version of Troilus and Criseyde''. Greenlaw currently holds the post of Professor of Creative Writing (Poetry) 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 ...

."Lavinia Greenlaw appointed Chair of Creative Writing"
Royal Holloway, University of London, 31 May 2017.

Biography

Lavinia Greenlaw was born in London into a medical and scientific family, and has a sister and two brothers. When she was aged 11, the family moved from London to an

Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...

village, where they lived for seven years. This period Greenlaw has described as "an interim time", with "memories of time being arrested, nothing much happening." Greenlaw went on to read modern arts at

Kingston Polytechnic Kingston University London is a public research university located within the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, in South West London, England. Its roots go back to the Kingston Technical Institute, founded in 1899. It received university ...

. She then studied at the

London College of Printing The London College of Communication is a constituent college of the University of the Arts London. Its origins are in education for the printing and retail industries; it now specialises in media-related subjects including advertising, animation ...

and gained an MA in art history from the

Courtauld Institute The Courtauld Institute of Art (), commonly referred to as The Courtauld, is a self-governing college of the University of London specialising in the study of the history of art and conservation. The art collection is known particularly for ...

. She was employed as an editor at

Imperial College of Science and Technology Imperial College London, also known as Imperial, is a public research university in London, England. Its history began with Prince Albert, husband of Queen Victoria, who envisioned a cultural district in South Kensington that included museums, ...

(1985–1986) and subsequently worked with the publishers

Allison & Busby Allison & Busby (A & B) is a publishing house based in London established by Clive Allison and Margaret Busby in 1967. The company has built up a reputation as a leading independent publisher. Background Launching as a publishing company in Ma ...

(1986–1987),Bio , Lavinia Greenlaw
at ''The International Literary Quarterly''. and then with

Earthscan Earthscan is an English-language publisher of books and journals on climate change, sustainable development and environmental technology for academic, professional and general readers. History The Earthscan Publications imprint was founded by t ...

(1988–1990), again alongside

Margaret Busby Margaret Yvonne Busby, , Hon. FRSL (born 1944), also known as Nana Akua Ackon, is a Ghanaian-born publisher, editor, writer and broadcaster, resident in the UK. She was Britain's then youngest publisher as well as the first black female book p ...

.Philip Hobsbaum
"Greenlaw, Lavinia (Elaine)"
Encyclopedia.com. Greenlaw also worked as an arts administrator for

Southbank Centre Southbank Centre is an arts centre in London, England. It is adjacent to the separately owned National Theatre and BFI Southbank. It comprises the three main performance spaces – the Royal Festival Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall, and Purcell R ...

(1990–1991) and the

London Arts Board The regional arts boards (formerly regional arts associations) were English regional subdivisions of the Arts Council of Great Britain History As the Arts Council began to move away from organising art activities in the 1950s, regional offices i ...

(1991–1994). Greenlaw's career as a freelance artist, critic and broadcaster began in 1994. She became the first artist-in-residence at the

Science Museum A science museum is a museum devoted primarily to science. Older science museums tended to concentrate on static displays of objects related to natural history, paleontology, geology, Industry (manufacturing), industry and Outline of industrial ...

(1994–1995),"Lavinia Greenlaw"

British Council The British Council is a British organisation specialising in international cultural and educational opportunities. It works in over 100 countries: promoting a wider knowledge of the United Kingdom and the English language (and the Welsh lang ...

, Literature. and has since held residences at the

Royal Festival Hall The Royal Festival Hall is a 2,700-seat concert, dance and talks venue within Southbank Centre in London, England. It is situated on the South Bank of the River Thames, not far from Hungerford Bridge, in the London Borough of Lambeth. It is a G ...

, at a London solicitors' firm (1997–1998), and at the

Royal Society of Medicine The Royal Society of Medicine (RSM) is a medical society based at 1 Wimpole Street, London, UK. It is a registered charity, with admission through membership. Its Chief Executive is Michele Acton. History The Royal Society of Medicine (R ...

(2004). In 2013, she won an Engagement Fellowship from the

Wellcome Trust The Wellcome Trust is a charitable foundation focused on health research based in London, United Kingdom. It was established in 1936 with legacies from the pharmaceutical magnate Henry Wellcome (founder of Burroughs Wellcome, one of the predec ...

. Her sound work ''Audio Obscura'' was commissioned in 2011 by

Artangel Artangel is a London-based arts organisation founded in 1985 by Roger Took. Directed since 1991 by James Lingwood and Michael Morris, it has commissioned and produced a string of notable site-specific works, plus several projects for TV, film, r ...

and

Manchester International Festival The Manchester International Festival is a biennial international arts festival, with a specific focus on original new work, held in the English city of Manchester and run by Factory International. The festival is a biennial event, first takin ...

,"Biography"
Lavinia Greenlaw website. and heard at

Manchester Piccadilly station Manchester Piccadilly is the main railway station of the city of Manchester, in the metropolitan county of Greater Manchester, England. Opened originally as Store Street in 1842, it was renamed Manchester London Road in 1847 and became Manchest ...

in July 2011 and London St Pancras station in September and October 2011. It won the 2011

Ted Hughes Award The Ted Hughes Award was an annual literary prize given to a living UK poet for new work in poetry. It was awarded each spring in recognition of a work from the previous year. It was a project which ran alongside Carol Ann Duffy's tenure as Poet ...

for New Work in Poetry, the judges calling it "groundbreaking".Kaite O'Reilly
"Ted Hughes Award for New Work in Poetry 2011: Lavinia Greenlaw"
31 March 2012. Greenlaw taught at

Goldsmiths College, University of London Goldsmiths, University of London, formerly Goldsmiths College, University of London, is a constituent research university of the University of London. It was originally founded in 1891 as The Goldsmiths' Technical and Recreative Institute by ...

. She served as professor of creative writing at the

University of East Anglia The University of East Anglia (UEA) is a Public university, public research university in Norwich, England. Established in 1963 on a campus university, campus west of the city centre, the university has four faculties and twenty-six schools of ...

from 2007 to 2013, and as a visiting professor at

King's College London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public university, public research university in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of George IV of the United Kingdom, King George IV ...

(2015–2016) and

Freie Universität Berlin The Free University of Berlin (, often abbreviated as FU Berlin or simply FU) is a public university, public research university in Berlin, Germany. It was founded in West Berlin in 1948 with American support during the early Cold War period a ...

(2017). She currently holds the post of Professor of Creative Writing (Poetry) at

Royal Holloway 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 ...

, University of London. After judging the 2010

Manchester Poetry Prize The Manchester Poetry Prize is a literary award celebrating excellence in creative writing. It was launched by Carol Ann Duffy and The Manchester Writing School at Manchester Metropolitan University in 2008, and was the first phase of the annua ...

, Greenlaw chaired in 2014 the judging panel for the inaugural

Folio Prize The Writers' Prize, previously known as the Rathbones Folio Prize, the Folio Prize and The Literature Prize, is a literary award that was sponsored by the London-based publisher The Folio Society for its first two years, 2014–2015. Starting ...

. She is a Council member of the

Royal Society of Literature The Royal Society of Literature (RSL) is a learned society founded in 1820 by King George IV to "reward literary merit and excite literary talent". A charity that represents the voice of literature in the UK, the RSL has about 800 Fellows, elect ...

and a former Chair 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 ...

. In October 2023, Greenlaw was announced as Poetry Editor of

Faber and 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 ...

, in succession to

Matthew Hollis Matthew Hollis (born 1971) is an English author, editor, professor, and poet, currently living in London, England. Career and background He was born in Norwich, England, the son of politician Patricia Hollis and academic Martin Hollis. He ...

Writing

Primarily a poet, Greenlaw was the author of two pamphlets, ''The Cost of Getting Lost in Space'' (1991) and ''Love from a Foreign City'' (1992), before her first full-length collection, ''Night Photograph'', was published in 1993 by Faber. Her work was included in the 1997

Bloodaxe Books Bloodaxe Books is a British publishing house specializing in poetry. History Bloodaxe Books was founded in 1978 in Newcastle upon Tyne by Neil Astley, who is still editor and managing director. Bloodaxe moved its editorial office to Northumbe ...

anthology ''Making for Planet Alice: New Women Poets'', edited by

Maura Dooley Maura Dooley (born 18 May 1957) is a British poet and writer. She has published five collections of poetry and edited several anthologies. She is the winner of the Eric Gregory Award in 1987 and the Cholmondeley Award in 2016, and was shortli ...

, and the same year Greenlaw's second collection, ''A World Where News Travelled Slowly'', was published. She went on to write novels, short stories, plays and non-fiction. She has also made radio documentaries. Her work for music includes the libretto for the opera ''Peter Pan'' composed by

Richard Ayres Richard Ayres (born 29 October 1965) is a British composer and music teacher. Biography Born in Cornwall, England, Richard Ayres followed Morton Feldman's classes at the Darmstadt and Dartington summer schools. He studied Musical composition, c ...

(

Staatsoper Stuttgart The Staatsoper Stuttgart (Stuttgart State Opera) is a German opera company based in Stuttgart, the capital of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. The Staatsorchester Stuttgart serves as its resident orchestra. History Performances of operas, ballet an ...

Komische Oper Berlin The Komische Oper Berlin is a German opera company based in Berlin. The company produces operas, operettas and musicals. The opera house is located on Behrenstraße, near Unter den Linden. Since 2004, the Komische Oper Berlin, along with the Be ...

Welsh National Opera Welsh National Opera (WNO) () is an opera company based in Cardiff, Wales. WNO gave its first performances in 1946. The company began as a mainly amateur body and transformed into an all-professional ensemble by 1973. In its early days, the ...

and

Royal Opera House The Royal Opera House (ROH) is a theatre in Covent Garden, central London. The building is often referred to as simply Covent Garden, after a previous use of the site. The ROH is the main home of The Royal Opera, The Royal Ballet, and the Orch ...

, 2015). Publications for which she has written include the ''

London Review of Books The ''London Review of Books'' (''LRB'') is a British literary magazine published bimonthly that features articles and essays on fiction and non-fiction subjects, which are usually structured as book reviews. History The ''London Review of Book ...

'', ''

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 ...

'' and ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...

'', and in 2019 she was a contributor to ''A New Divan: A Lyrical Dialogue Between East and West'' (Gingko Library). Her work draws on her interest in science and scientific enquiry (there were physicists in her family) and covers themes of displacement, loss and belonging. Critics have seen her poetry as remarkable for its precision; her best contain a complexity and elusiveness that lead them to "appreciate with each re-reading". Her biography notes: "She has written and adapted several dramas for radio, including

Virginia Woolf Adeline Virginia Woolf (; ; 25 January 1882 28 March 1941) was an English writer and one of the most influential 20th-century modernist authors. She helped to pioneer the use of stream of consciousness narration as a literary device. Vir ...

's '' Night and Day'',

Hermann Hesse Hermann Karl Hesse (; 2 July 1877 – 9 August 1962) was a Germans, German-Swiss people, Swiss poet and novelist, and the 1946 Nobel Prize in Literature laureate. His interest in Eastern philosophy, Eastern religious, spiritual, and philosophic ...

's ''

The Glass Bead Game ''The Glass Bead Game'' (, ) is the last full-length novel by the German author Hermann Hesse. It was begun in 1931 in Switzerland, where it was published in 1943 after being rejected for publication in Germany due to Hesse's anti-Fascist views. ...

'', and a series on malaria called ''Five Fever Tales''. She has made documentaries about

Emily Dickinson Emily Elizabeth Dickinson (December 10, 1830 – May 15, 1886) was an American poet. Little-known during her life, she has since been regarded as one of the most important figures in American poetry. Dickinson was born in Amherst, Massac ...

and

Elizabeth Bishop Elizabeth Bishop (February 8, 1911 – October 6, 1979) was an American poet and short-story writer. She was Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 1949 to 1950, the Pulitzer Prize winner for Poetry in 1956, the National Book Awar ...

and several programmes about light, including trips to the Arctic midsummer and midwinter, the Baltic, the darkest place in England, light in London, and the solstices and equinoxes." Greenlaw is also a memoirist. ''

Kirkus Reviews ''Kirkus Reviews'' is an American book review magazine founded in 1933 by Virginia Kirkus. The magazine's publisher, Kirkus Media, is headquartered in New York City. ''Kirkus Reviews'' confers the annual Kirkus Prize to authors of fiction, no ...

'' summed up her 2007 coming-of-age book, ''The Importance of Music to Girls'', by saying: "The taut, lyric thrum of Greenlaw's prose reflects her poet's skill....Well-written, bewitching and subtly dazzling." ''Some Answers Without Questions'' (2021), part memoir, part manifesto, was described by Hephzibah Anderson in ''

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. First published in 1791, it is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper. In 1993 it was acquired by Guardian Media Group Limited, and operated as a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' ...

'' as "a delight: approachable, rigorous and omnivorous in its frame of reference".

Personal life

Greenlaw has lived in London for most of her life. She has a daughter.

Awards and recognition

Lavinia Greenlaw received an

Eric Gregory Award The Eric Gregory Award is a literary award given annually by the Society of Authors for a collection by United Kingdom poets under the age of 30. The award was founded in 1960 by Dr. Eric Gregory to support and encourage young poets. Past winne ...

in 1990, an

Arts Council An arts council is a government or private non-profit organization dedicated to promoting the arts; mainly by funding local artists, awarding prizes, and organizing arts events. They often operate at arms-length from the government to prevent pol ...

Writers' Award in 1995, a

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 ...

, and a

Society of Authors The Society of Authors (SoA) is a United Kingdom trade union for professional writers, illustrators and literary translators, founded in 1884 to protect the rights and further the interests of authors. Membership of the society is open to "anyon ...

Travelling Scholarship. In 1994 she was chosen as one of 20

New Generation Poets The New Generation Poets is a group of 1994 British poets whose work was featured in a month-long nationwide festival, many of the writers going on to considerable popular success. The 20 poets were chosen by a panel of judges comprising Melvyn Brag ...

, by a jury composed of

Melvyn Bragg Melvyn Bragg, Baron Bragg (born 6 October 1939) is an English broadcaster, author and parliamentarian. He is the editor and presenter of ''The South Bank Show'' (1978–2010, 2012–2023), and the presenter of the BBC Radio 4 documentary series ...

, Vicki Feather,

Michael Longley Michael George Longley (27 July 1939 – 22 January 2025) was a Northern Irish poet. In his later years Longley observed: "It's a mystery where poems come from. If I knew where poems came from I would go there ... When I write a poem I am movi ...

, John Osborne and James Wood. In 1997, Greenlaw won the

for Best Single Poem for "A World Where News Travelled Slowly", the title poem from her second main collection. For her 2001 first novel, ''Mary George of Allnorthover'', Greenlaw won the French

. She has been shortlisted for a number of literary awards, including the Whitbread Book Award (now the

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

) and the

for Poetry. Her sound work ''Audio Obscura'' won the 2011

for New Work in Poetry. Her short story "We Are Watching Something Terrible Happening" was shortlisted for the

BBC National Short Story Award The BBC National Short Story Award (known as the National Short Story Award in 2006 and 2007) has been described as "one of the most prestigious wardsfor a single short story" and the richest prize in the world for a single short story. It is an ...

2013.

Selected works

*''The Cost of Getting Lost in Space'' (poetry), Turret Books, 1991, *''Love from a Foreign City'' (poetry), Slow Dancer Press, 1992, *''Night Photograph'' (poetry; shortlisted for Whitbread and Forward Poetry Prizes),

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 ...

, 1993, *''A World Where News Travelled Slowly'' (poetry), Faber, 1997, *''Mary George of Allnorthover'' (novel; Prix du Premier Roman Etranger),

Flamingo Flamingos or flamingoes () are a type of wading bird in the family Phoenicopteridae, which is the only extant family in the order Phoenicopteriformes. There are four flamingo species distributed throughout the Americas (including the Caribbe ...

, 9 July 2001, *''Minsk'' (poetry; shortlisted for T. S. Eliot, Forward and Whitbread Poetry Prizes), Faber, 2003, *''Thoughts of a Night Sea'' (photographs by

Garry Fabian Miller Garry Fabian Miller HonFRPS (born 1957) is a British photographic artist. Since the 1986, he has specialised in camera-less photography. His work was exhibited at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London in 2005, at the Rencontres d'Arles in t ...

), Merrell, 2003, *''An Irresponsible Age'' (novel), Fourth Estate, 2006, *''The Importance of Music to Girls'
(memoir)
Faber, 2007, *''The Casual Perfect'' (poetry), Faber, 2011, *''Questions of Travel: William Morris in Iceland'' (non-fiction), Notting Hill Editions, 2011, . *''A Double Sorrow: Troilus and Criseyde'' (poetry), Faber, 2014, *''In the City of Love's Sleep'' (novel), Faber, 2018, *''The Built Moment'' (poetry), Faber, 2019, *''Some Answers Without Questions'' (memoir/manifesto), Faber, 2021, *''The Vast Extent: On Seeing and Not Seeing Further'' (essays), Faber, 2024, *''Selected Poems'', Faber, 2024,

Translations

* *

Television

Greenlaw appeared as a "talking head" on the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

documentaries ''Top of the Pops: The Story of 1976'' (2011) and ''The Joy of the Single''''The Joy of the Single''
BBC Four, 26 November 2012. (2012).

References

External links

*
Lavinia Greenlaw at FSGLavinia Greenlaw at the Poetry Archive
Retrieved 26 October 2011. *Charlotte Runcie

''The Telegraph'', 23 February 2014.

Royal Holloway, University of London * Hannah Peel
Memory Playlist by Lavinia Greenlaw
{{DEFAULTSORT:Greenlaw, Lavinia 1962 births Living people 20th-century English poets 20th-century English women writers 21st-century English novelists 21st-century English poets 21st-century English women writers Academics of Goldsmiths, University of London Academics of Royal Holloway, University of London Academics of the University of East Anglia Alumni of Kingston University Alumni of the London College of Printing Alumni of the Courtauld Institute of Art English women memoirists English women novelists English women poets Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature Writers from London