Our final news round-up of the week takes a look at two new books celebrating the lives of poets. We also look at the shortlist for this years CBC Poetry Prize.

Tribute Paid to First World War Poet by Author

A new work that honours the war poet Wilfred Owen has been written by Sue Fraser, the Hornsea author.

Wilfred Edward Salter Owen, who is widely regarded as possibly the greatest British war poet, wrote his evocative poems on the front line whilst he was serving during world war one based on his own personal experiences.

The book has been released just before Remembrance Day when the nation will commemorate those who fell in the line of duty.

With his poems, Owen wanted to highlight what he referred to as “the pity of War”. He died in action just a week before Armistice was declared in 1918 on November 4^th. He was just 25 years old.

In the book, Fraser has focused on the last couple of months of the poet’s life. The book which is titled

was authored using her pen name SF Taylor.

The book has been dedicated to the families of all soldiers who have fallen in all wars and Fraser says that she has reflected on how the war changed Owens life, the effect that it had on his beliefs and writing and the rich legacy that he has left for others.

The book explores Owens last few years of life in particular and includes testimonials from people like Jeremy Paxman, Philip Larkin, and T E Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia)

CBC Poetry Prize Shortlist

The CBC 2020 Shortlist has been announced and contains the names of 5 writers.

This year’s finalists are Selina Boan from Vancouver, Hiromi Goto and Andrea Scott from Victoria, Matthew Hollet from Montreal, and Emily Riddle from Edmonton.

The winning poet will be announced on 12^th November. The winner will receive a prize fund worth $6000 from the Canada Council for the Arts and will also be given the opportunity to attend a writing residency for two weeks at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity. The other finalists will receive $1000. All of this year’s finalists will also have their work published on CBC Books.

The longlist for the competition was produced by a team of editors and writers from all over Canada. There were around 3000 English language entries, the three-strong judging panel then reduced this list down to the five on the shortlist; they will also be responsible for selecting the winner.

The Prix de poesie Radio-Canada, the French language poetry competition has also announced their shortlist as well.

New Mirza Ghalib Book Released

Whilst many books have been written over the years about Mirza Ghalib and the likes of William Shakespeare it could be argued that there is nothing more to say. However, amongst scholars of both men there remains a desire for even more knowledge. This latest book on Ghalib, written by Prof. Anwar Mozzam is hoping to address some of the still unanswered questions about the giant of Persian poetry.

Nightingale of an Uncreated Garden is a 290-page book that has just been released and that the author hopes will allow people to see the real Ghalib.