Pascale Petit (born 20 December 1953), is a French-born British poet of French, Welsh and Indian heritage. She was born in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

and grew up in

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

and

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

. She trained as a sculptor at the

Royal College of Art The Royal College of Art (RCA) is a public university, public research university in London, United Kingdom, with campuses in South Kensington, Battersea and White City, London, White City. It is the only entirely postgraduate art and design uni ...

and was a visual artist for the first part of her life. She has travelled widely, particularly in the Peruvian and Venezuelan Amazon and India. Petit has published eight poetry collections, four of which were shortlisted for the T. S. Eliot Prize. Her seventh collection ''Mama Amazonica'' won the Ondaatje Prize in 2018 and the inaugural Laurel Prize for Poetry in 2020. In 2018, Petit was elected as a

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

Career

Petit has published eight poetry collections: ''Heart of a Deer'' (1998), ''The Zoo Father'' (2001), ''The Huntress'' (2005), ''The Treekeeper's Tale'' (2008), ''What the Water Gave Me: Poems After Frida Kahlo'' (2010), ''Fauverie'' (2014), ''Mama Amazonica'' (2017) and ''Tiger Girl'' (2020). She also published a pamphlet of poems ''The Wounded Deer: Fourteen Poems After Frida Kahlo'' (2005). For her work in poetry she has received many awards, including the Cholmondeley Award, four from Arts Council England and three from the Society of Authors. Petit was shortlisted for the Forward Best Single Poem Prize after publishing "The Strait-Jackets" (from ''The Zoo Father'') and in 2001 she was one of ten poets commissioned by

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to write a poem for National Poetry Day. ''The Zoo Father'' (2001) was a Poetry Book Society Recommendation. ''The Zoo Father'' (2001), ''The Huntress'' (2005), ''What the Water Gave Me: Poems After Frida Kahlo'' (2010), and ''Fauverie'' (2014) were all shortlisted for the T. S. Eliot Prize. Three books were books of the year 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'' ...

'', ''

The Times Literary Supplement ''The Times Literary Supplement'' (''TLS'') is a weekly literary review published in London by News UK, a subsidiary of News Corp. History The ''TLS'' first appeared in 1902 as a supplement to ''The Times'' but became a separate publication ...

'' and ''

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''. ''What the Water Gave Me'' was shortlisted for the Wales Book of the Year. Petit's 2017 collection, ''Mama Amazonica'', won the inaugural Laurel Prize for Poetry 2020, the 2018 Ondaatje Prize, was a Poetry Book Society Choice, and was shortlisted for the Roehampton Poetry Prize. Her 2020 collection ''Tiger Girl'' was shortlisted for the Forward Prize for Best Collection. ''The Zoo Father'' is published in a bilingual edition in Mexico and distributed in Spain and Latin America. Her books have been translated into Chinese, Serbian, Spanish (in Mexico) and French. She has also translated the poems of a number of contemporary Chinese poets including Yang Lian, Wang Xiaoni and

Zhai Yongming Zhai Yongming (born 1955) is a Chinese List of Chinese language poets, poet, essayist and screenwriter from Chengdu, in the southwest Sichuan Province. Born during the Maoist era, Zhai was forcibly sent away for two years to do manual labor in t ...

. She was Poetry Editor of '' Poetry London'' from 1990 to 2005, a Royal Literary Fund Fellow at

Middlesex University Middlesex University London (legally Middlesex University and abbreviated to MDX) is a public research university based in Hendon, northwest London, England. The university also has campuses in Dubai and Mauritius. The name of the university is ...

from 2007 to 2009 and a Royal Literary Fund Fellow at the

Courtauld Institute of Art 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 ...

in 2011–12. She tutored poetry courses for

Tate Modern Tate Modern is an art gallery in London, housing the United Kingdom's national collection of international Modern art, modern and contemporary art (created from or after 1900). It forms part of the Tate group together with Tate Britain, Tate Live ...

for nine years, and currently tutors for the Arvon Foundation, the Poetry School and Literature Wales. The Poetry Book Society selected her as one of the 2004 Next Generation Poets, a promotional listing for spotlighting notable young to middle aged British poets. Petit became a Fellow 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 ...

in 2018.

Reception

The Australian poet Les Murray has praised her work in ''The Times Literary Supplement'', where he wrote: "No other British poet I am aware of can match the powerful mythic imagination of Pascale Petit."

Jackie Kay Jacqueline Margaret Kay (born 9 November 1961) is a Scottish poet, playwright, and novelist, known for her works ''Other Lovers'' (1993), ''Trumpet'' (1998) and ''Red Dust Road'' (2011). Kay has won many awards, including the Somerset Maugham A ...

in ''The Observer'' wrote: "Pascale's poems are as fresh as paint, and make you look all over again at Frida and her brilliant and tragic life." Ruth Padel, reviewing ''What the Water Gave Me: Poems After Frida Kahlo'' 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 ...

'' wrote: "Petit's collection is not a verse biography, but a hard-hitting, palette-knife evocation of the effect that bus crash had on Kahlo's life and work. 'And this is how I started painting. / Time stretched out its spectrum / and screeched its brakes.' WH Auden, in his elegy for Yeats, tells the Irish poet: 'Mad Ireland hurt you into poetry.' Petit's collection, exploring the way trauma hurts an artist into creation, celebrates the rebarbative energy with which Kahlo redeemed pain and transformed it into paint."

Awards, prizes and fellowships

* 2000 – "The Strait-Jackets" (from ''The Zoo Father'') shortlisted for Forward Best Single Poem Prize * 2001 – New London Writers' Award * 2001 – Arts Council England Writers' Award * 2001 – ''The Zoo Father'' Poetry Book Society Recommendation * 2001 – ''The Zoo Father'' shortlisted for T. S. Eliot Prize * 2005 – ''The Huntress'' shortlisted for T. S. Eliot Prize * 2005 – Arts Council England Grants for the Arts Award * 2006 – Arts Council England Grants for the Arts Award * 2006 – Society of Author's Author's Foundation Award * 2007–09 – Royal Literary Fund Fellow at Middlesex University * 2010 – ''What the Water Gave Me'' shortlisted for T. S. Eliot Prize * 2011 – ''What the Water Gave Me'' shortlisted for Wales Book of the Year * 2011 – Royal Literary Fund Fellowship at Courtauld Institute of Art * 2013 – Manchester Poetry Prize for five poems from ''Fauverie'' * 2014 – ''Fauverie'' shortlisted for T. S. Eliot Prize * 2015 –

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 ...

* 2016 – Arts Council England Grants for the Arts Award * 2017 – ''Mama Amazonica'' was Poetry Book Society Choice * 2018 – ''Mama Amazonica'' won the Ondaatje Prize * 2018 – ''Mama Amazonica'' shortlisted for Roehampton Poetry Prize * 2018 – Literature Matters Award from the

* 2018 – Fellow of the

* 2020 – ''Indian Paradise Flycatcher'' won Keats-Shelley Prize for Poetry * 2020 – ''Mama Amazonica'' won the inaugural Laurel Prize for Poetry * 2020 – ''Tiger Girl'' shortlisted for Forward Prize for Best Collection * 2021 – ''Tiger Girl'' shortlisted for Wales Book of the Year (Poetry)

Bibliography

Poetry collections

* ''Icefall Climbing'' pamphlet (Smith Doorstop, 1994) * ''Heart of a Deer'' (Enitharmon, 1998) * ''The Zoo Father'' (Seren, 2001) * ''El Padre Zoológico/The Zoo Father'' (El Tucan, Mexico City, 2004) * ''The Huntress'' (Seren, 2005) * ''The Wounded Deer: Fourteen poems after Frida Kahlo'' pamphlet (Smith Doorstop, 2005) * ''The Treekeeper's Tale'' (Seren, 2008) * ''What the Water Gave Me: Poems after Frida Kahlo'' (Seren, UK, 2010, Black Lawrence Press, US, 2011) * ''Fauverie'' (Seren, 2014) * ''Mama Amazonica'' (Bloodaxe, 2017) * ''Tiger Girl'' (Bloodaxe, 2020)

Poems

Edited works (anthologies)

* ''Tying the Song'' Co-editor with Mimi Khalvati (Enitharmon, 2000) * ''Poetry from Art at Tate Modern'' editor, pamphlet (Tate Publications, 2010) ———————

Bibliography notes

Critical studies and reviews of Petit's work

''Mama Amazonica''

*
Financial Times, 25 May 2018, In Praise of Pascale Petit, a poet breaking into new territory by Nilanjana Roy

References

External links

* *
Profile
at

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 ...

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Seren Books Seren Books is the trading name of Poetry Wales Press, an independent publisher based in Bridgend, Wales, specialising in English-language writing from WalesFelicity Wood (23 August 2013). Rhyme and reason: The poetry market is a notoriously diffic ...

Recordings
at the Poetry Archive
Interview
with ''The Poetry Extension'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Petit, Pascale 1953 births Living people 20th-century French poets 20th-century French women writers 20th-century Welsh poets 20th-century Welsh women writers 21st-century French poets 21st-century French women writers 21st-century Welsh poets 21st-century Welsh women writers Alumni of the Royal College of Art Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature French women poets Poets from Paris Quadrant (magazine) people Welsh people of French descent Welsh women poets