UEA Reader in Poetry, George Szirtes, has won this year’s CLPE Poetry Award for ‘In The Land of Giants’, his first book of poems for children since ‘The Red All Over Riddle Book’ in 1997. The Centre for Literacy in Primary Education launched the award in 2003, and previous winners have included John Agard, Grace Nichols, Roger McGough and Jackie Kay. It is sponsored by Travelling Books. George (pictured) won the Faber Memorial Prize for his first collection, ‘The Slant Door’, in 1979, the T.S. Eliot Prize for his 2005 collection ‘Reel’, and the Forward Poetry Prize (Best Single Poem) for ‘Song’ in 2009. As a translator of poetry, prose and drama from the Hungarian he has won The European Poetry Translation Prize, the Dery Prize, the Pro Cultura Hungaria medal and the Gold Star of the Hungarian Republic, as well as being twice shortlisted for the Weidenfeld Prize. ‘In The Land of Giants’ was published by Salt last year.
George Szirtes wins CLPE Poetry Award
