Today’s poetry news roundup looks at the poet inspired film for the City of Culture, the winner of the 2021 Cervantes Prize for Literature and the football club named after a poet.

Film Inspired by George Eliot Featured in Coventry City of Culture Launch

The launch of the Coventry City of Culture year was marked with the release of a film inspired by George Eliot and featuring music from Coolie. The film titled “Timeless Words Made New” was premiered over the weekend.

Words by the poet have been set to a music track that has been put together specially to accompany the film by Coolie who is one of the newest and hottest talents that Coventry has to offer. The film shows the viewer around the city and highlights what its place as a City of Culture means to Coolie. The words of Eliot are projected on the cityscape of the city throughout. These words are the poet’s observations on art and life and are also accompanied by the voices of some of the city’s well-known figures. Each quote has been specially selected due to its relevance in a year when there have been so many difficult challenges for everyone to endure.

George Eliot was the pseudonym of Mary Ann Evans who wrote as a man in order to have her work taken in a more serious light. She was the author of Middlemarch and lived in Coventry during her 20’s and was schooled there in her earlier years. Her quotes which were originally written in Victorian Britain are still as relevant today as they were back then.

The launch of Coventry as the City of Culture was delayed until this weekend as a result of the Coronavirus pandemic.

Cervantes Prize for Literature 2021

The King and Queen of Spain visited Olivia in Valencia to award the winner of this year’s Cervantes Prize for Literature. The winner for 2021 is Francisco Brines. Normally the prize would be presented during a ceremony that is held in Madrid, however, Brines was unable to travel due to his failing health.

The prize was instead presented to him in his own home, the inspiration for much of his poetry. He was not informed in advance of the award due to his health.

Born in Olivia in 1932, Brines has degrees in Philosophy, Law, Literature and History and an honorary doctorate from the Valencia Polytechnic University.

Following the formal portion of the visit, the poet showed the Royal couple around his garden before presenting them with a copy of his collected poems “Rehearsal of a Farewell” (Ensayo de una despedida).

The Football Club Named for a Poet

An Irish man who has been working in Russia since 2106 has been granted permission by the estate of the late Seamus Heaney to create a local football team and name it in honour of the poet, the club is now the Seamus Heaney GAC, Moscow.

The idea came to John Downey following the loss of a friend who was also heavily involved in local football. The idea had been something that the pair had often talked about, but they never got further than talking. The team will be the only ones in the world to be given permission to use the poet’s name in this way. They chose Heaney because both Downey and his friend were Irish, and Heaney’s is a well-known poet in Russia.