Today’s roundup brings you the winner of this years Edwin Morgan Poetry Award. We have an article about a poetry reading with Billy Collins and the latest news in the Ko Un sexual harassment case.
Roseanne Watt Wins Prestigious Poetry Award
The third annual Edwin Morgan Poetry Award has been won by the Isles songwriter, musician and poet Roseanne Watt.
The prestigious award which has a £20,000 prize was set up by the late Edwin Morgan, a revered Scottish Poet. Watt was announced as the winner yesterday evening at the Edinburgh International Book Festival.
Watt is the poetry editor of “The Island Review” an online literary magazine. Her poems take their inspiration from both the language and the landscape of her birth. This is not the first poetry award that she has received, in 2015 she was the winner of the Outspoken Poetry Prize and in 2018 runner-up of the Aestetica Creative Writing Award.
The Edwin Morgan Poetry Award is awarded for unpublished manuscripts that are full length, and it is open to poets who are aged 30 or under.
Billy Collins Tickets on Sale
Poetry lovers may be interested to know that tickets for “An Evening with Billy Collins” have gone on sale. The event which is presented by Verse Like Water a visiting poet programme at the Central Lakes College will take place on 7thSeptember in Brainerd at the Washington Education Centre.
Collins will be available after the event to sign copies of his book and great the public.
This event is the first of the year for the Verse Like Water programme which is now in its seventh year. Other events planned for this year include readings by the poets Mary Szybist in October and Peter Balakian in November.
Poet Fights Back Over Damages Suit
We have previously written about the story of the Korean poet Choi Young-Mi and her allegations of sexual harassment against revered poet Ko Un.
Last month Ko Un retaliated against the claims of the young female poet and filed a suit for damages again Choi Young-Mi, Park Jin-sung another fellow poet and several media outlets.
It has now emerged that Choi has pledged to fight back against the suit – Ko is demanding a settlement of almost $1million US dollars for the damage to his character and the issues he has faced since the accusations first surfaced in February.
Ko’s name has often been mentioned as a possible candidate for a Nobel prize for literature.
Choi is determined to fight back stating
Following the original accusations works by Ko were removed from all middle and high school course books, exhibitions dedicated to the poet were closed and it was questioned as to whether his home, which is paid for by the state, should be removed. A book of the poet’s verses which was due to be published to celebrate the 60thanniversary of his debut was also cancelled.
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