Sometimes writing the OUP blog is like waiting for the proverbial bus. Nothing arrives when you expect it to, and then news arrives in threes. October has been the kindest month for three of our poets.

Jenny Hamlett found herself the winner in the short poem category of the Second Light Poetry Competition 2023 with her poem on the subject of deafness, When it is Over. The competition was judged by distinguished poet, Myra Schneider, and the winning poem will be published in ARTEMISpoetry. Jenny Hamlett is a long-standing member of the OUP and is widely published. This year her poems have appeared in Artemis, Orbis, The Dawntreader and Reach. Click this link for more details.

This month also saw the publication of Nigel Kent’s latest collection, Fall by Hedgehog Poetry Press. It is a narrative sequence of poems that eavesdrops on an affair that has devastating consequences and forensically dissects the complex nature of love. Reviewing the collection, Ellie Rees, poet, writes: “The poem has such a powerful emotional pull that I found myself with tears in my eyes when reading the final line. Nigel Kent’s innovative and memorable account of an old, old story, will make you want to read it again, straight away.” Click this link for more details.

Finally, Mariana Gardner, another longstanding member of OUP will shortly be found on the T.S. Eliot Foundation website reading the poem Frenzied by Sarah Howe from her collection Loop of Jade, winner of the T.S. Eliot Prize 2015. Click this link for more details.