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 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 Best Single Poem. The book was also the recipient of a Heinemann Prize and shortlisted for the

. Feaver was also a recipient of 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 ...

Biography

Feaver was born in 1943 in

Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located south-east of Sheffield and nor ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. She studied music at

Durham University Durham University (legally the University of Durham) is a collegiate university, collegiate public university, public research university in Durham, England, founded by an Act of Parliament (UK), Act of Parliament in 1832 and incorporated by r ...

and English at

University College, London University College London (Trade name, branded as UCL) is a Public university, public research university in London, England. It is a Member institutions of the University of London, member institution of the Federal university, federal Uni ...

, and later worked as a lecturer and tutor in English and Creative Writing at University College, Chichester, where she is an emeritus professor. On 14 January 2014, Feaver participated in the

BBC Radio 3 BBC Radio 3 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It replaced the BBC Third Programme in 1967 and broadcasts classical music and opera, with jazz, world music, Radio drama, drama, High culture, culture and the arts ...

series "The Essay - Letters to a Young Poet". Taking

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 classic text ''

Letters to a Young Poet ''Letters to a Young Poet'' (original title, in German: ''Briefe an einen jungen Dichter'') is a collection of ten letters written by the Bohemian-Austrian poet Rainer Maria Rilke (1875–1926) to Franz Xaver Kappus (1883–1966), a 19-year- ...

'' as inspiration, leading poets wrote a letter to a protégé. Feaver lives in

South Lanarkshire South Lanarkshire (; ) is one of 32 unitary authorities of Scotland. It borders the south-east of the Glasgow City council area and contains some of Greater Glasgow's suburban towns, as well as many rural towns and villages. It also shares bor ...

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

Collections of poetry

* 1978: ''Monograph'' (Pamela Robertson-Pearce) * 1981: ''Close Relatives'' (Secker & Warburg) * 1986: ''Clean Sheets'' (Cathcart Press) * 1991: ''Penguin Modern Poets Vol. 2'' (with

Carol Ann Duffy 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, and was appointed Poet Laureate in May 2009, and her term expired in 2019. She wa ...

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 o ...

) * 1992: ''Crab Apple Jelly'' (Somers Press) * 1994: ''The Handless Maiden'' (Jonathan Cape, shortlisted for

) * 2003: ''Girl in Red and Other Poems'' (Scottish Book Trust) * 2006: ''The Book of Blood'' (Jonathan Cape, shortlisted for

and Costa Award) * 2015: ''Second Wind'' (Saltire Society, with Douglas Dunn and Diana Henry) * 2019: ''I Want! I Want!'' (Jonathan Cape, forthcoming autumn 2019)

Other works

* 2005: ''Machinery of Grace: A Tribute to Michael Donaghy (1954–2004)'' (contributor) * 2011: ''This Moment Will Never Come Again: A Selection of Daily Photographs from the Attic Salt Exhibition'' (co-author)

Prizes

* 1992: Arvon Competition Prize for the poem "Lily Pond" * 1993:

Forward Poetry 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 ...

, Best Single Poem, for the poem "Judith" * 1994: W. H. Heinemann Award for ''The Handless Maiden'' * 1998:

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

for the poem "Bats" * 1999:

References

External links

British Council entry

Poetry Archive entry

recording and text of the Forward Prize-winning 'Judith'
* No More "Mrs Nice": an interview in Poetry Magazine

1943 births Living people Academics of the University of Chichester Alumni of St Aidan's College, Durham Alumni of University College London English women poets Writers from Nottingham {{England-poet-stub