Today on My Poetic Side we look at the shortlist for the Sarah Maguire Prize for Poetry, the exhibition of art for Benjamin Zephaniah and the winner of the Pushcart Prize 2024.
Shortlist for Sarah Maguire Prize for Poetry 2024 Announced
The shortlist for this year’s Sarah Maguire poetry prize has been announced, and includes the poets Sin Yong-Mok, Coral Bracho and Hasan Alizadeh.
This is a biennial prize that recognises the best book of poetry translated into English by a poet who is still alive and who is from a country outside Europe. The poets on the seven-strong shortlist come from South Korea, Iran, Mexico, Palestine and China. The winner will be announced on 9th September 2024, in a ceremony that will take place at the Brunei Gallery. The £3000 prize will be split between the poet and the translator.
All of the shortlisted poetry books will be featured with the Poetry Book Society in a retail partnership. The judges this year are the presenter and poet Ian McMillan, the Irish poet, translator and academic Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin,a poet who is Irish, and Ghareeb Iskander, an Iraqi translator and poet.
“Humble” Actor and Poet to be Honoured with Exhibition
This summer, an outdoor exhibition that will celebrate the life and work of the poet Benjamin Zephaniah will take place in Victoria Square.
Zephaniah, who was from the Handsworth area of Birmingham died in December just six weeks after being diagnosed with a brain tumour. He was 65.
The exhibition, which will be free to visit, will feature over 20 different pieces of art and will take place from 5th – 31st July. It is the latest in a long line of tributes that have been announced to commemorate the poet.
Amongst the items that will feature during the exhibition are a series of black and white photographs of Zephaniah which were taken by the artist Pogus Caesar. There are also images of the typewriter that he received as a child. The Birmingham Museums Trust’s Collection is now the permanent home of the typewriter itself.
There will also be poetry recitals at The Exchange on Broad Street and flags bearing the poet’s image on display as part of the exhibition .
Pushcart Prize Winner 2024 Announced
The poet Yael Valencia Aldana has been announced as the winner of the Pushcart Prize 2024 for her poem
The poem, which was originally rejected by publishers will be featured in the 2024 edition of
The poem is a look at the way in which Black people soulfully yet silently acknowledge one another and is part of the poet’s book “Black Mestiza” which is due to be published in January 2025.
Aldana is a previous winner of the New Poetry & Prose Series Prize from the Kentucky University Press and has been a semi-finalist in the Two Sylvias Press Wilder Award and the Scotti Merrill Award in Poetry.
The Pushcart Prize was founded in 1976 and is one of the most prestigious literary projects in the US. Small presses and literary magazines from all over the world nominate thousands of works of fiction, creative nonfiction and poetry each year with only a handful ever going on to win a prize.
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