Forward prize winner Vahni Capildeo shortlisted for TS Eliot poetry award

Trinidadian poet Vahni Capildeo has been shortlisted for the UK's most lucrative poetry award, the TS Eliot Prize.

Capildeo, who won the £15,000 Forward prize for best collection in September, is shortlisted for the £20,000 prize for her work Measures of Expatriation, alongside British poets including Rachael Boast, Ian Duhig, Alice Oswald and Katharine Towers.

Boast is shortlisted for Voice Studies, Duhig for The Blind Road-Maker, Oswald for Falling Awake and Towers for The Remedies.

Others in the running for the award are Scottish poet J O Morgan, Irish poet Bernard O'Donoghue, and English writers Jacob Polley, Denise Riley and Ruby Robinson.

The shortlisted poets all receive £1,500.

Some 138 books were submitted for the prize by publishers, with judges Ruth Padel, Julia Copus and Alan Gills narrowing it down to the final ten.

Padel, the chair of the judges, said: "We were blown away by the brilliance and freshness of the entries, and applaud the contribution of new and independent poetry publishers.

"We were looking for musicality, originality, energy and craft, and we believe the shortlist reflects this in a wonderful range of important and lasting voices.

"There were many more outstanding books from small presses than we were able to accommodate in our final shortlist: it is clear that such publishers are radically altering the landscape of contemporary poetry."

The TS Eliot Prize shortlist readings will take place on January 15 2017 at London's Royal Festival Hall and the winner will be announced at an awards ceremony on January 16.

The nominees for the prize are:

Rachael Boast - Void Studies

Vahni Capildeo - Measures of Expatriation

Ian Duhig - The Blind Road-Maker

J O Morgan - Interference Pattern

Bernard O'Donoghue - The Seasons of Cullen Church

Alice Oswald - Falling Awake

Jacob Polley - Jackself

Denise Riley - Say Something Back

Ruby Robinson - Every Little Sound

Katharine Towers - The Remedies

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