SHORTLIST FOR THE 2001 Whitbread Poetry Award

JUDGES
Harry Eyres Poet and Journalist
Daisy Goodwin Head of Features, Talkback Productions
Tobias Hill Poet and Novelist

The following shortlist of five books was selected from 56 entries.

The Age of Cardboard and String by Charles Boyle (Faber & Faber £7.99)
A number of poems in this new collection take their cue from Stendhal, whose characteristic blend of artfulness and candour is sustained throughout this book, in material ranging from intimate narratives to social commentary.
Born in Leeds in 1951, Charles Boyle has taught English in the UK and abroad, and now works in publishing. He lives in London.
The judges: “Thoughtful, lyrical and witty, Boyle’s poetry has the capacity to reach readers on both an emotional and intellectual level, touching both the head and the heart.”

If I don’t knowby Wendy Cope (Faber & Faber, £8.99)
Wendy Cope’s third collection of poems - and her first for more than nine years. A softer, lyrical voice, also present in the earlier books, is given more room to develop in these poems about gardens and contentment and the poignancy of having something to lose.
Author of the acclaimed Making Cocoa for Kingsley Amis published in 1986, Wendy Cope was born in 1945 in Erith, Kent and worked for fifteen years as a primary school teacher in London after graduating from Oxford. She is now a freelance writer and lives in Winchester.
The judges: “A wonderfully readable collection of poems combining the author’s characteristic wit and acuity with a new note of emotional fulfilment. Its grace and simplicity are deceptive - at its core, this book is a testament to the power of a happy ending.”

Bunny by Selima Hill (Bloodaxe £7.95)
Bunny is set in the haunted house of adolescence with each echoing poem opening a door on madness or menace, shame or blame. It tells the story of a young girl growing up in London in the 1950s, confused and betrayed but finding herself becoming independent.
Born in London in 1945, award-winning poet Selima Hill grew up on farms in England and Wales and read Moral Sciences at Cambridge. She has spent most of her life working with children and now lives near Lyme Regis in Dorset.
The judges: “More a narrative poem than a poetry collection, Hill’s Bunny has a richness and rawness that is at once shocking and true.”

Panoramic Lounge-Bar by John Stammers (Picador £6.99)
In this poet’s first collection, the reader is presented with a world of old masters, pop icons, seascapes and film noir in exploded and exploding view. Panoramic Lounge-Bar is reminiscent of an English Frank O’Hara in its louche and lush decadence.
John Stammers was born and brought up in Islington where he still lives. He currently works at the Home Office. Panoramic Lounge-Bar is his first collection of poems.
The judges: “A thoroughly modern, dazzlingly intelligent debut. High on desire, high on travel, at home in a world moving at dizzying pace where boundaries between time and space have dissolved, Stammers is funny, fresh, contemporary.”