Judge of prestigious award says two best collection winners ‘address the urgent challenges of our time’
Vidyan Ravinthiran and Karen Solie have been named joint winners of this year’s Forward prize for best collection, one of the UK’s most prestigious poetry awards, marking the first time in the prize’s history the honour has been shared.
Ravinthiran, who was born in Leeds to Sri Lankan Tamil parents and now lives in the US, was recognised for Avidyā. The collection is described as having emerged from “journeys of great personal significance, and out of a migrant sensibility tied to three different countries”. The Canadian poet Solie shared the prize for Wellwater, a “self-interrogative conversation with a culture in crisis and a natural world on the brink”.
Each poet received £5,000. The winners were announced at a ceremony at London’s Southbank Centre on Sunday evening.
One judge, Lisa Kelly, said the winners “address the urgent challenges of our time” – climate crisis, war and migration – “with personal insight and philosophical depth”.
