T S Eliot Prize 2009 - Reading Groups

This year for the first time the Poetry Book Society will be running a reading group scheme relating to the ten poetry collections on the 2009 T S Eliot Prize shortlist.

The shortlist was announced on the 22nd October and the 2009 winner will be announced at the award ceremony on the 18th January 2010, with the T S Eliot Prize Readings taking place in the Southbank’s Queen Elizabeth Hall on the evening of 17th January.

The judges (Chair Simon Armitage, Colette Bryce and Penny Shuttle) have chosen the ten best single author collections published during 2009. We hope that reading groups will enjoy the wonderful poems from these ten poets and are providing a downloadable sheet on each poet, with a biography, photograph and three poems from their shortlisted collections.

For groups which would like to read the collections in more depth, we are offering reading group discounts for those taking part in the Scheme, with a special offer for all ten shortlisted titles and a discount for eight books or more.

Pamela Johnson, poet and novelist, has written a special article for us on setting up a poetry reading group, which is full of good advice based on her own experience.

The shortlist