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Caroline Bird

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
For other people named Caroline Bird, see Caroline Bird (disambiguation).

Caroline Bird
Caroline Bird in the 2020 Forward Prize presentation
Born1986 (age 37–38)
England
EducationSteiner School, York; Lady Eleanor Holles School
Alma materOxford University
MotherJude Kelly
AwardsForward Prize for Best Collection

Caroline Bird (born 1986) is a British poet, playwright, and author.

Life

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Caroline Bird was born in 1986.[1][2] Daughter of Jude Kelly, she grew up in Leeds, England, and attended the Steiner School in York and the Lady Eleanor Holles School before moving to London in 2001. She studied English literature at Oxford University and was president of the Oxford Poetry Society. She teaches regularly at the Arvon Foundation.[3]

Published works

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Bird has published eight collections of poetry.[2] Her first collection, Looking Through Letterboxes (published in 2002, when she was 15), is a collection of poems built on the traditions of fairy tales, fantasy and romance.[4] Her second collection, Trouble Came to the Turnip, was published in September 2006 to critical acclaim.[5][6] Her third collection, Watering Can, received a Poetry Book Society recommendation.[7] Her fourth collection, The Hat-Stand Union, published in 2013, was described by Simon Armitage as "spring-loaded, funny, sad and deadly."[8] Her Rookie: Selected Poems was published in May 2022.[9]

Bird's poems have been published in several anthologies and magazines including Poetry,[1] P. N. Review,[10] The Poetry Review[11] and The North.[12] Her commissioned short story "Sucking Eggs", was broadcast on BBC Radio 4, and she has read poetry on the station multiple times.[13]

A member of the Royal Court Young Writers Programme,[14] Bird is also a playwright. She was part of the Bush Theatre's 2011 project Sixty-Six Books, for which she wrote a piece based on a book of the King James Bible.[15] In February 2012, she presented her Beano-inspired show The Trial of Dennis the Menace, with original music by Matt Rogers, which was performed in the Purcell Room at Southbank Centre.[16] In autumn 2012, her version of The Trojan Women had a seven-week run at the Gate Theatre.[17][18] Her play Chamber Piece was performed at the Lyric Hammersmith as part of their Secret Theatre season.[19]

In December 2015, her retelling of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz premiered at Northern Stage, and received a four-star review in The Times.[20] In spring 2022, her play Red Ellen about the life and work of Ellen Wilkinson, was produced by Northern Stage, Nottingham Playhouse and Royal Lyceum Theatre and received four-star reviews in The Guardian, The Times, WhatsOnStage.com and The Stage.[21]

Prizes and recognition

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Bird was awarded the Forward Prize for Best Collection in 2020 for The Air Year.[22] She was shortlisted for the Costa Book Award for Poetry and the Polari Prize in 2022.[23] She was also shortlist for the T. S. Eliot Prize[24] and the Ted Hughes Award in 2017 for In these Days of Prohibition.[25]

She was third prize winner of the Poetry London Competition in 2007,[26] the Peterloo Poetry Competition for three years running (2002, 2003 and 2004),[1] an Eric Gregory Award in 2002[4] and the Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award in 1999 and 2000.[27] She was shortlisted for the Geoffrey Dearmer Award in 2001.[28] Bird was shortlisted for the Dylan Thomas Prize in 2008, and was the youngest writer on the list at 21.[29][30] She was shortlisted again for the Dylan Thomas Prize in 2010.[31] She was named a "Young Champion" in 2010 at the inaugural Youth Olympic Games in Singapore.[32][dead link]

She was on the shortlist for the Shell Women Of The Future Awards in 2011.[33]

She was one of the five official poets for the London 2012 Olympics.[34] Her poem ‘"The Fun Palace", which celebrates the life and work of Joan Littlewood, is now erected in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park outside the London Stadium.[35]

Her play Chamber Piece was shortlisted for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize in 2014.[36]

In 2023, she won a Cholmondeley Award for her work.[2][37]

Bibliography

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  • Looking Through Letterboxes, Carcanet Press (2002)
  • Trouble Came to the Turnip, Carcanet Press (2006)
  • Watering Can, Carcanet Press (2009)
  • The Trojan Women, Oberon Books (2012)
  • The Hat-Stand Union, Carcanet Press (2013)
  • Chamber Piece, Oberon Books (2013)
  • The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Oberon Books (2015)
  • In These Days of Prohibition, Carcanet Press (2017)
  • The Air Year, Carcanet Press (2020)
  • Red Ellen, Nick Hern Books (2022)
  • Rookie, Selected Poems, Carcanet Press (2022)
  • Ambush at Still Lake, Carcanet Press (2024)

References

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  1. ^ a b c "Caroline Bird". Poetry Foundation. Archived from the original on 3 October 2018. Retrieved 11 September 2024.
  2. ^ a b c "Caroline Bird". Carcanet Press. Retrieved 11 September 2024.
  3. ^ "Caroline Bird". The Adrian Brinkerhoff Poetry Foundation. Retrieved 11 September 2024.
  4. ^ a b "Caroline Bird". The Poetry Society: Poems. Retrieved 11 September 2024.
  5. ^ Mason, David (2007). Strand, Mark; Dunn, Stephen; Muldoon, Paul; Bird, Caroline; Menaghan, John; Hix, H. L.; Coyle, Bill (eds.). "The Poetry Circus". The Hudson Review. 60 (1): 159–168. ISSN 0018-702X.
  6. ^ "Stride Magazine reviews 'Trouble Came to the Turnip' by Caroline Bird". Carcanet Press. Retrieved 11 September 2024.
  7. ^ "Caroline Bird". Poetry International. Retrieved 11 September 2024.
  8. ^ "The Hat-Stand Union". Goodreads. Retrieved 12 September 2024.
  9. ^ Bird, Caroline (26 May 2022). Rookie: Selected Poems. Carcanet Poetry. ISBN 978-1-80017-187-9.
  10. ^ "Caroline Bird". PN Review. Retrieved 12 September 2024.
  11. ^ "Caroline Bird's Now That's What I Call Thursday Mixtape". The Poetry Society. Retrieved 12 September 2024.
  12. ^ "The North - 31". The Poetry Business. Retrieved 12 September 2024.
  13. ^ "El hada está aburrida en su jardín (Caroline Bird, Reino Unido)". Festival Internacional de Poesía de Medellín (in Spanish). Retrieved 12 September 2024.
  14. ^ "Young Playwrights' Season Rehearsed Readings". Royal Court. Retrieved 12 September 2024.
  15. ^ "Sixty-Six Books". Bush Theatre. Retrieved 11 September 2024.
  16. ^ "The Trial of Dennis the Menace". Southbank Centre. Archived from the original on 16 January 2012.
  17. ^ Silverman, Laura (13 November 2012). "The Trojan Women, Gate Theatre". The Arts Desk. Retrieved 12 September 2024.
  18. ^ "The Trojan Women, Gate Theatre". Everything Theatre. 12 November 2012. Retrieved 12 September 2024.
  19. ^ Trueman, Matt (17 February 2014). "Playwright Caroline Bird reveals her Secret Theatre play, Chamber Piece". TheatreVoice. Retrieved 12 September 2024.
  20. ^ Radcliffe, Allan (7 December 2015). "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz at Northern Stage, Newcastle". The Times. Retrieved 12 September 2024.
  21. ^ "Red Ellen, By Caroline Bird". Nick Hern Books. Retrieved 11 September 2024.
  22. ^ "Previous Years". Forward Arts Foundation. Retrieved 11 September 2024.
  23. ^ "The Air Year". Carcanet Press. Retrieved 12 September 2024.
  24. ^ Thompson, Jessie (5 January 2018). "TS Eliot Prize 2017: Read extracts from the 10 shortlisted poets". Evening Standard. Archived from the original on 21 December 2023. Retrieved 21 December 2023.
  25. ^ "RSVP". The Poetry Society. Retrieved 12 September 2024.
  26. ^ "Autumn 2007 • Issue 58 – Shop". Poetry London. Retrieved 12 September 2024.
  27. ^ Stanton, Marcis. "Celebrating 20 years of the Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award". Books For Keeps. Retrieved 12 September 2024.
  28. ^ "Issue Thirty-One: Caroline Bird". The Adroit Journal. 19 January 2020. Retrieved 12 September 2024.
  29. ^ Flood, Alison (16 September 2008). "Young literary stars contend for £60,000 award". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 11 September 2024.
  30. ^ "Six up for £60,000 writing prize". BBC News. 16 September 2008. Retrieved 11 September 2024.
  31. ^ "2010 University of Wales Dylan Thomas Prize Shortlist Announced". The Dylan Thomas Prize. Archived from the original on 30 December 2010.
  32. ^ "2011 Shortlist", Women of the Future Awards. Archived 2 January 2014 at the Wayback Machine
  33. ^ "2011 Shortlist". Women of the future. Archived from the original on 31 October 2011. Retrieved 16 October 2011.
  34. ^ Masters, Tim (13 November 2012). "Trojan Women: Ancient tragedy goes modern". BBC News. Retrieved 12 September 2024.
  35. ^ "Fun Palace". Art UK. Retrieved 12 September 2024.
  36. ^ "2014 Finalists". The Susan Smith Blackburn Prize. Retrieved 12 September 2024.
  37. ^ "Cholmondeley Awards". The Society of Authors. 8 May 2020. Retrieved 11 September 2024.
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